The Financial Times has launched a Facebook application that will give students free access to FT.com.
The free subscription offer will be available through an application available in college groups within the social networking website.
Students will be able to apply for a free annual subscription, normally worth £98.99, for a maximum of four times, and will be able to display their membership of FT.com on their Facebook profile.
“This application is part of our ongoing efforts to reach a new generation of readers who we hope will become life-long fans of the FT,’said Ien Cheng, publisher and managing editor of FT.com.
Last year, FT.com changed its website to a part-free access model under which users can read up to 30 stories a month for free before having to subscribe.
Under a “first click free” arrangement with Google, the first click-through from Google News searches is not counted towards the 30-story limit.
Last week, the FT launched an exclusive, paid-for social network for senior executives in the media, telecoms and technology industries.
In its end-of-year results this week, Financial Times parent company Pearson said FT.com attracted 150,000 new registered users since the new access model was introduced in October last year.
Digital subscribers to the FT grew 13 per cent in 2007 to 101,000. Its most recent ABCe certificate showed FT.com had 6.3 million unique users in September 2007.
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