CEO Mark
Zuckerberg announced the platform, which is live at Bulletin.com, and
introduced some of the writers that the company has recruited in a live audio
room on Facebook.
Facebook is
pushing to compete in the fast-growing email newsletter trend, as high-profile
journalists and writers have left media companies over the past year to strike
out on their own.
Self-publishing platform Substack is a leader in helping
writers sell email subscriptions, and has lured journalists with cash advances.
Other tech companies are also competing in the field, including Twitter Inc,
which acquired newsletter platform Revue.
Facebook said it would not take a cut of Bulletin creators'
revenue at launch and that creators can choose their own subscription prices.
It is launching the platform with a number of high-profile personalities and
writers, including sportscaster Erin Andrews, author Malcolm Gladwell and
"Queer Eye" star Tan France.
The social network has had a tumultuous relationship with
the news industry, which came to a head in February after a showdown with the
Australian government over paying news outlets for content. Following the
conflict, Facebook pledged to invest $1 billion in the news industry globally
over the next three years.
The company said the articles and podcasts would also be
available through the Facebook News Feed and through Facebook's News section.
"We built Bulletin on a separate website to enable
creators to grow their audience in ways that are not exclusively dependent on
the Facebook platform," it said on the new site.
Facebook said it was primarily launching with U.S. creators
and it was not accepting new ones at this time. But it said the Bulletin site
was available worldwide and it would look to add more international names after
the beta test.
In April, Facebook said it would pay $5 million to recruit
independent local journalists to write for its new publishing platform.
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