Facebook announces the first stage of its newsletter push

A new article on Social Media Today reports that after it shared initial details of its coming newsletter platform last month, Facebook has now confirmed the first elements of the new project, which will see the company pay out $5 million in funding to local journalists in order to kickstart the product, and generate initial interest.



This was originally reported by Reuters:

Facebook is partnering with the International Center for Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists to evaluate applications. The platform will then provide the selected participants with access to experts and services to help them build a newsletter business through the app.

Newsletters have gotten popular again recently, as more and more journalists are going it alone and generating incomes through the establishment of dedicated audiences. With traditional newsrooms struggling, particularly throughout the pandemic, paid newsletter subscriptions offer a viable alternative, with only a relatively small paying base required to make it a profitable endeavor.

Hence, Substack and Revue are working on expanding on their offerings, with Substack, in particular, reportedly offering deals of up to $300k for top writers in an effort to lure them across and expand its business. Social platforms are now also looking to follow suit, using their massive audience reach as a lure to help writers establish audiences.

Twitter recently went as far as buying Revue, and Facebook shared some initial details about its coming newsletter platform last month.

I'd be interested in getting people's thoughts on this. I mean, who would want to be a journalist and reliant on Facebook to make a living after what happened down in Australia recently?