Stories on AMP will allow you to create engaging content that will be shown directly on Google's search engine
In the world of "Stories" (the images posted on social platforms and that disappear after twenty-four hours) the only company that was still missing was Google. It took a little longer than the competition (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Snapchat), but even the Mountain View company finally announced its Stories. But that will be different than those of its competitors and will be based on AMP, the "superfast" pages present on mobile and much used by publishers to attract traffic.
The AMP Stories will not cover, at least for the moment, the selfies of users. But they will be reserved only for publishers, who will be able to use them to create captivating content. Stories on AMP, in fact, will feature photos and animations accompanied by a short text. This is a new format that could potentially change the world of communication: short clips with movies capable of immediately engaging the user.
What are AMP Stories
Everything is based on AMP technology, acronym of Accelerated Mobile Pages, created by Google together with publishers to create pages that can be opened faster from smartphones and tablets. This type of pages are present within the search engine and are marked by a small icon in the shape of lightning. Within the AMP pages, Google has added AMP Stories, a new content format based on the "Stories" already present on social platforms. The format is identical: an image (almost) full screen accompanied, however, by a short text that explains its meaning. Stories on AMP can be used to create engaging content on a given topic and will be displayed directly within the search engine (only on mobile).
How Stories on AMP work
Stories on AMP can be consulted in the same way as Stories on Instagram or Snapchat. Pressing on the right side of the screen takes you to the next image, while pressing on the left side takes you back to the previous one. At the top of the image there are small bars that indicate at what point in the Story we have arrived. Compared to Instagram Stories, however, there is no time limit to see the content: you will go to the next image only when you have finished reading.
To access the AMP Stories, just press on top of the content that we will see within the search engine. For the moment, AMP Stories are only available for publishers and Google has already shown the first examples made by CNN, Wired, Cosmopolitan, Mashable, Meredith, Mic, Vox Media and the Washington Post. In the future, even simple users will be able to create Stories on AMP, but it will still take some time. The same applies to Italian publishers, who will have to study through the official page of the project, how to implement AMP Stories within their content. In fact, it is not a simple transposition of the pages of the website in a different format, but content that must be created from scratch and designed specifically for AMP Stories.