Facebook launches newsletter platform Bulletin

Facebook has launched a new service, called Bulletin, that will allow writers to publish free and paid newsletters that can be posted to the web, sent to subscribers' inboxes, and shared across Facebook.

As per Mashable, announced by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg via Facebook's Live Audio Rooms on Tuesday, Bulletin is a set of publishing and subscription tools aimed at independent writers in the US.

The new service offers each user their own standalone website with a customisable name, logo and colour palette, and tools enabling them to embed media into their posts and style them as they please.

On the distribution side, the most interesting bit is integration with Facebook Pages, and the fact that the work Bulletin writers do will be eligible for distribution in Facebook News.

"The goal here across the company is to support people making a living doing creative work," Zuckerberg said in the audio call announcing the news.

He added, "We're trying to elevate and support those writers and creators who are already producing high-quality work...[I think Bulletin] can be another great tool for writers and creators to have in their toolbox."

Initially, Facebook has launched Bulletin for a small group of creators. The full list of writers who participated in the launch included Malcolm Gladwell, Jane Wells, Erin Andrews and Adam Gran.

The look and feel of Bulletin is similar to Substack and Twitter-owned Revue, both popular platforms that let anyone start a paid newsletter. But unlike Substack and Revue, which take a small cut from subscriptions, Facebook will not take any revenue cut from Bulletin writers.

Handing over your precious content to Facebook and its massive ecosystem of services can be a scary proposition. But the social media company claimed that writers can choose to move to different platforms in the future, and they are going to own both their content and the subscriber lists.

You cannot currently sign up as a writer for Bulletin, but Facebook said it plans to add more users in the coming weeks.