Don’t underestimate the humble newsletter

Melissa Blum is the CEO & Founder of M.T. Deco. Credit: Mary Latham

If you didn’t catch it, Facebook rolled out a subscription initiative for free and paid newsletters and podcasts called Bulletin at the end of June. According to Campbell Brown, VP, Global News Partnerships, it’s an effort to support a growing number of independent writers who are “making a living by connecting directly with their readers.” In other words, Facebook is trying to capitalize on the growing newsletter trend by luring high-profile journalists and writers, who have left larger media companies over to its platform and away from competitors like Substack, Medium, and Twitter’s Revue. 

The program launched with roughly 40 experts in categories including arts/entertainment, sports, business, food, health, and community/human interest. Facebook is allowing the writers to set their own subscription pricing and is not taking a cut -- yet. Then in August, the group expanded to include 25 local and independent journalists who will be paid from a $5 million pot in multi-year deals. The play for local writers is part of Facebook’s promise to support local news after its showdown with the Australian government back in February where it pledged to invest $1 billion in the news industry globally over the next three years.

Read the full piece on Substack here.