The Facebook Journalism Project has spawned several initiatives over the past four years to help media companies and publishers—especially local publishers—develop new ways to generate enough revenue to sustain themselves. Now, the social networking giant is turning its attention to independent experts, journalists and writers. (Adweek)
Facebook will soon begin testing partnerships with a small group of independent writers for a new publishing platform, sources say. (Axios)
The platform will allow independent writers and journalists to reach new audiences and monetize their work through email newsletters and individual websites. 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. (Yahoo / Reuters)
The idea behind Facebook’s product is that writers can charge for subscriptions to their work and potentially create additional revenue streams while relying on Facebook to engage their community. Facebook will let them create Groups for their work as well, and it will also provide metrics on their newsletters. (The Verge)
It’s reportedly a free-to-use system that will tie in with Pages, letting writers publish live videos, Stories and other material that goes beyond articles and newsletters. Facebook is paying the test group to help get the tools started, according to the sources. (Engadget)