Magazine publishers are finding new ways to connect with readers through Facebook by giving them an opportunity to read content and subscribe without leaving the social networking site, AdAge reported last week.

Until recently, companies have widely used Facebook to direct traffic to external Web sites. But coming in July or August, with the introduction of a new system being developed by e-commerce application development company Alvenda and Time Inc.'s subscription division, called Synapse, users will be able to access magazine content integrated in the Facebook news feeds as blurbs. Users will be able to expand the blurbs in order to read the full story and ads will appear along with the story on Facebook itself, without being redirected to an external link.
Users will also be able to subscribe to magazines of their choice within Facebook.

"Consumers don't want to leave where they are on the web, wherever they are," Alix Hart, VP for online marketing at Synapse, told AdAge. "Facebook is a place where we think that over the coming year there are going to be more and more opportunities to present magazine offers in a really relevant way to consumers, as they're starting to share magazine content in a much deeper way than ever before."

This new system also presents an alternative revenue maximising opportunity for publishers by integrating magazine content along with ads on readers' news feeds to grab maximum reach.

"News feed purchases have a wide potential on Facebook," Meghan Keene at Econsultancy told The Atlantic. "Facebook had 450 million users in April. If those users can purchase items in their news feed as easily as they can purchase Farmville points, there's no telling how many conversions Facebook could offer."

The integration of ads on Facebook news feeds, promotion of magazine content and subscription services via the social networking platform marks the beginning of a "deeper, mutually-beneficial relationship" between social media and publishing, according to The Atlantic.

The idea for this new system originated from a suggestion by the Magazine Publishers of America. Facebook will take nothing from the profit generated through magazine subscription sales on its platform. The revenue generated will be shared between Synapse and Alvenda, Wade Gerten, CEO at Alvenda, told AdAge.

"Currently, there isn't a way to monetize a blurb in Facebook's news feed - but allowing for extended quotes, complete with advertising, could be a huge additional revenue stream for publishers," an article by MediaBuyerPlanner stated.