Google, Twitter tie up to challenge Facebook's Instant Articles

Popular search engine Google and micro-blogging site Twitter have reportedly teamed up to provide media houses and publishers a better and quicker platform to display their stories on smartphones without delays, media reported on Friday. Citing multiple sources, tech website Recode reported about a feature that will show instant articles to users who click on a link in Twitter or in Google search results. The full articles will pop up on their screens almost immediately. The difference between the Google-Twitter move and other mobile publishing projects is that they will not host publishers’ content. The Google-Twitter effort will be open sourced and is expected to launch soon with a small group of publishers. The new solution will help readers see stories from “cached” pages from publishers’ websites instantly. There are publishers whose websites load slowly on mobile devices that turn off the readers. Ads displayed within the original story will also reportedly appear in the instant version, the report added. Unlike Facebook’s Instant Articles or Apple’s upcoming app, Google and Twitter will not present their answer as a branded product. IANS