Facebook Launches Bulletin, A Standalone Newsletter Platform For Independent Journalists & Writers
Source: Facebook
In February, reports surfaced that Facebook was working on a newsletter platform for independent journalists and writers. Fast forward to now, Facebook’s newsletter platform arrives. Called Bulletin, the newsletter platform will compete with Substack and Revue, which have become the go-to platforms for independent journalists and writers to launch newsletters.
A Standalone Platform
While powered by Facebook, Bulletin operates as a standalone platform due to the social media platform’s goal of enabling "creators to grow their audience in ways that are not exclusively dependent on the Facebook platform.”
In a blog post, Facebook shared the following:
“Through Bulletin, we want to support these creators, and unify our existing tools with something that could more directly support great writing and audio content — from podcasts to Live Audio Rooms — all in one place. We respect the work of writers and want to be clear that anyone who partners with us will have complete editorial independence.”
Access To Facebook’s Existing Tools & Features
Facebook is not only providing journalists and writers with a platform for newsletters but the opportunity to tap into Facebook’s existing tools and features to distribute, grow and monetize their newsletter audience. For example, writers can distribute their newsletters to their Facebook Pages, grow their audience with Facebook Groups, and monetize with subscriptions through Facebook Pay.
Facebook’s Different Approach
The popularity of newsletters has surged during the pandemic. Of course, newsletters have been around for years, but the landscape has started to change with more newsletters being launched by individuals rather than publications.
Thanks to Substack and Revue, the barrier to entry is lowered for launching a newsletter with the option to monetize. With Bulletin, Facebook is looking to jump in on the action, but it’s taking a different approach than Substack and Revue. At the moment, Facebook’s newsletter platform is only available for select creators and public figures like Malcolm Gladwell and Erin Andrews. At the same time, essentially anyone can sign up for Substack and Revue and become a newsletter writer. Facebook will likely open up Bulletin to a broader base of creators down the road, but it’s very selective for the time being.
Regardless of what platform ends up being the leader, newsletters will be a channel that both creators and organizations look to utilize more to reach audiences directly without having to worry about social media algorithms
Opportunity For Influencer Marketing
The opt-in nature of newsletters makes them very appealing to marketers, making me believe there is a massive opportunity in the influencer marketing space. Newsletters are essentially blog posts but with direct distribution since readers subscribe and receive content directly in their email inboxes.
This direct distribution, plus newsletters typically being around a specific topic, is a valuable channel for marketers to partner with creators. These partnerships can be in the form of a brand sponsoring an edition of a newsletter to a creator including a product or service review in their newsletter.
Look out for more newsletter platforms to launch and for an uptick branded content in newsletters over the next few months.
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SOURCE: Facebook
