Mark Zuckerberg is dropping product news in live audio rooms, a cool new feature on Facebook. So today, Zuckerberg took to Clubhouse, Facebook’s direct competitor, to announce the launch of Bulletin, a newsletter platform.
Bulletin is created on a platform-independent of Facebook, according to the FAQ on the company’s website, to “allow creators to grow their audience in ways that are not completely dependent on the Facebook platform.” Bulletin relies on Facebook’s infrastructure, including the use of Facebook Pay to purchase premium subscriptions and join subscriber-only groups and live audio rooms, even if you don’t have a Facebook account.
Substack and other competitors take a “hands-off” approach to content management, allowing anyone to establish a newsletter. Every writer on Facebook’s Bulletin, on the other hand, was hand-picked to participate. Nonetheless, Substack has been chastised for funding anti-trans discourse through its contentious Substack Pro program, which paid certain writers to write on the platform. Despite its carefully moderated format, Bulletin will not be immune to the problems that beset Substack.
Malcom Gladwell, Mitch Albom, Erin Andrews, and Tan France are among the first writers on Bulletin; the FAQ also notes that the beta program is currently focused on the United States, with only two international writers (“We will look to include more international creators after our beta program launch,” Bulletin says.) Facebook is paying its contributors upfront for their work and has no plans to grab a portion of their income so far. Writers will be able to take their subscriber lists with them if they decide to leave the platform.