Jide Ogunsanya
Facebook bulletin, is simply Facebook’s newsletter subscription service that lets you read and subscribe to articles you care about, while the writers earn money when you pay to access their exclusive content on the platform. It is an alternative to Substack and Twitter-owned Revue that offers support focused on content creation, monetization and audience growth.
Some articles are freely available on Bulletin, while some are behind a paywall, with paid subscribers getting access to extra features like dedicated Facebook Groups or special badges.
Bulletin is built on a separate platform from Facebook — on its website @ bulletin.com but it relies on Facebook’s infrastructure, including Facebook commenting abilities, Facebook groups accessible only by subscribers and the use of Facebook Pay to process premium subscriptions payments,
On Bulletin, creators will get the opportunity to determine the paid subscription price by themselves and and will have the ability to take their subscriber lists and content with them. They can create Facebook groups, free or subscriber-only, to nurture a community of readers. Within their groups, they’ll also have the ability to create subscriber-only content or host subscriber-only conversations.
Writers will have the ability to leverage Facebook’s existing tools like Facebook Live or Live Audio Rooms to continue the discussion with their communities. To help writers keep discussions respectful, there will be comment moderation tools, like the ability for writers to control who can comment (such as paid subscribers only), and turn off comments.
Each Bulletin creator will have a standalone website under their own brand, and will be able to customize their publication’s name, logo and color palette. They will also have access to analytics tools to help them understand their audience and grow their subscribers over time.
Bulletin content will be eligible for distribution in Facebook News and other discovery surfaces to help audiences easily find articles, podcasts and more from a diverse range of creators, covering the topics and communities they care about.
Facebook Bulletin Charges for Writers
Bulletin’s FAQ states that Facebook will not take a cut from creators at launch. As at the time of publishing this post, Facebook has not said when or what it will charge creators in the future. For reference, Revue, recently acquired by Twitter, currently takes 5%, while Substack takes 10%.
At this time, you cannot register as a writer on Bulletin.com as the service is still in beta but it might be a good idea to keep an eye on how the platform will develop and evolve if you’re interested in bringing subscriptions to your audience and monetizing your content.
