Fairfax rolls out FB Instant Articles

Facebook users will be able to read Fairfax Media stories just that little bit faster after the media giant became the first local Australian outlet to sign up for Facebook's Instant Articles program.

The program hosts articles on the Facebook News Feed, enabling users to read Fairfax stories, view videos or explore maps direct on the Facebook website.

This saves consumers the time of uploading the article on an external site.

Fairfax editorial director Sean Aylmer said this would improve Fairfax readers' mobile experience and the company's online reach.

"Our strategic partnership with Facebook underlines the tremendous mobile innovation happening at Fairfax and our unrelenting commitment to putting audiences at the centre of our publishing model," Mr Aylmer said.

It is already available to iPhone users and will be rolled out for Android users in the coming weeks.

Facebook has over 1.5 billion users worldwide, and around 14 million across Australia.