Media publications and Facebook are starting an experimental process offering content to readers on the social network without the need to continue to an external link to better attract fleeting millennial readers.

The amount of free mobile content available is pulling the millennial age group away from subscribing to publications. Moving forward with this feature could be the answer for these media sites to reach this demographic.

"Facebook is increasingly becoming a one-stop shop and is circling the wagons, to provide as much functionality as possible, within the Facebook walled garden," said Wilson Kerr, vice president of business and sales at Unbound Commerce, Boston. "External links cause people to leave Facebook and by displaying content and news information as a part of the Facebook experience, they can likely drive up the total time spent on Facebook by their users, per day.

"Obviously this could have significant impact regarding advertising revenue," he said.

Currently on Facebook, links are posted from outside sources, meaning interested users must continue on to an external source. This may be a nuisance especially for mobile users, which is the majority of readers. Also, this possible feature will allow for a more seamless reading experience benefitting Facebook and reaching a greater audience for these publications. 

Importance of Facebook
The attention span for a mobile user has decreased over the years, causing a lot of content to be overlooked. The more steps a user must take to access information, the less likely they are to engage.

The New York Times, Buzzfeed and National Geographic are some of the publications said to have a future with the new feature. 

Buzzfeed already has a large following on Facebook with more than 36 different pages and tens of thousands of followers for each one. It makes a lot of sense for it to continue with the new Facebook feature.

For publications such as the New York Times, it may have monetary consequences in the future by offering content for free to such a large user base and losing the pages views. However, the benefits of reaching its millennial database could outweigh these ramifications. 

Charming the millennial
These news sources need to create captivating content for this feature to be beneficial for them. If done correctly this can be a huge asset. 

The millennial demographic is still interested in reading the news. They just do not want to pay for it. Moreover, the piece has to be engaging. 

A GFK executive at the 2015 Mobile Marketing Association Forum New York explained the wants and needs of a new millennial generation and encouraged marketers to incorporate this in advertising (see more).

With Target reporting that Facebook?s new product ads are delivering two times the conversion rate on mobile, the offering could help the social media giant grab a bigger piece of marketers? growing dynamic retargeting budgets (see more).

"Traditionally Facebook has been a collection of postcards from all over the Web, shared by a social network of people," Mr. Kerr said. 

"If Facebook can expand and extend the boundaries of what this means to include content that allows users access while staying within Facebook, they can likely expand their advertising, as the price you pay for this free access to content," he said.

Final Take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer and Mobile Commerce Daily, New York