India becomes Facebook's first market for Instant Articles on Android

Facebook is rolling out Instant Articles to Android users in India with IndianExpress.com and four others publishers.

With this, India has become Facebook's first market where Android users would be able to access the content.

India has also become the third region after US and Western Europe to get Instant Articles.

Instant Articles has so far been limited to iOS users only, and according to Facebook executives, the move showed their commitment to the region.

Users of iOS too would get to see Instant Articles from indianexpress.com.

The 3.3 million followers of The Indian Express' Facebook page would now be able to access multimedia-rich posts, optimised for mobile users.

The content would open in an instant, even on 2G networks.

According to commentators, in view of the inconsistent internet infrastructure and connectivity problems in India, Instant Articles is a natural fit here.

While Instant Articles will be initially available to around 5 per cent of Android users, a full rollout was expected by the year end.

''We're excited to be working with The Indian Express to bring their great and proven journalism to people in India with Instant Articles," said Andy Mitchell, director, News and Global Media Partnerships.

Instant Articles is a great fit for Indian Express' growing digital brand and its blend of great storytelling and young / intelligent audience. We look forward to working with them to scale the product on Android," Mitchell added.

The social network started rolling out Instant Articles earlier this year, as a way for users to read news stories up to 10 times faster than before.

The publishing partners of the company would provide interactive news stories with images, auto-play videos, interactive maps, and audio captions among others.

In order to distinguish  normal stories shared on the News Feed, Instant Articles would feature a lightning bolt on the top-right corner.

Facebook has partnered with several publications including The New York Times, National Geographic, BuzzFeed, NBC, The Atlantic, The Guardian, BBC News, Spiegel and Bild.

Facebook has roped in The Indian Express, India Today, The Quint, Aaj Tak and the Hindustan Times for Instant Articles in India.