(Reuters) – Facebook Inc is rolling out a new publishing platform in the coming months in the United States that lets independent writers and journalists reach new audiences and monetize their work through email newsletters and individual websites.
More writers and journalists are lately getting on the email newsletter bandwagon preferring the editorial freedom intrinsic to the medium, which also allows them to move away from ad-reliant business models that have been on a steady decline.
Competition is heating up in the space between firms like Substack, Medium, and Twitter’s recently acquired Revue, which lets content creators try out a mix of paid and free email newsletters to reach potential readers.
Facebook’s new platform, which let writers monetize via subscriptions, will be integrated with Facebook Pages, the company said, adding it will also allow writers to create groups to engage with their reader community.
The world’s largest social network had pledged last month to invest at least $1 billion in the news industry over the next three years, following a high-profile stand-off with the Australian government over paying news outlets for content.
(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru and Sheila Dang in Dallas; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
