Introduction to Importing Articles

This document provides an overview of the systems that enable publishers to automate the distribution of Instant Articles to Facebook and manage how Instant Articles are published and displayed.

Choose the Best Method for You

Instant Articles offers three ways to convert your mobile web articles to Instant Articles:

1. by using a supported third-party publishing tool such as the WordPress plugin;
2. with the Instant Articles API;
3. or through an RSS feed.

API or RSS

If you use a custom CMS, setting up a dedicated RSS feed feed or using the Instant Articles API are the ways to go. The main difference between the two is that using the API allows you to manage articles and receive errors and alerts instantaneously through your own CMS. If you use an RSS feed, Facebook pulls articles from the feed several times an hour. And you’ll need to use Creator Studio on your Facebook Page to delete articles and see errors and alerts.

Third-Party Options

WordPress and Drupal support Instant Articles plugins. In total, more than 10 partners offer native integrations. If you don’t have a team of developers, a plugin is the easiest solution to set up and maintain. It’s a great way for bloggers or independent publishers using third-party platforms to publish Instant Articles. Learn more about the Instant Articles Partners Program.

Before You Get Started

Bear in mind a few important concepts that apply no matter how you import your content to Facebook.

• Content distributed via RSS or API must be formatted in Instant Articles markup. After Instant Articles-formatted content is distributed to Facebook, a web-based editor (accessible via your Facebook Page) is provided to revise and manage the content as needed.

• To provide a reliable Instant Articles experience when readers tap links to your articles on Facebook, create an Instant Article version of each article whenever a new article URL is published to your website. When an Instant Article version of an article is published, readers on Instant Articles-enabled devices will see the story as an Instant Article whenever they discover it on Facebook.

• Publish new stories as Instant Articles only when they are also publicly available on your website. The Instant Articles system requires access to each article's standard web URL to render content properly.

• Publishing an Instant Article does not automatically create a new post on your Facebook Page. Instead, new Instant Articles are added to the Instant Articles library associated with your Page. To add a post on your Facebook Page, you must still compose and publish a post to your Page. Automated publishing of Instant Articles vis RSS or API simply means that whenever enabled readers encounter the URL of your article while using Facebook, the article will be rendered as an Instant Article.