Meta Offers an Finish-of-Yr Update on the Progress of its ‘Bulletin’ E-newsletter Platform

Meta has provided a Update at the end of the year on its bulletin newsletter platform, which it launched for the first time again in April as part of a push to enable a stronger connection between creators and subscribers by leveraging the company’s vast reach to drive newsletter growth.

And although it has not yet become a major competitor for Substack and other newsletter providers, Meta is making steady progress and could still become an important aspect for authors in various niches.

As explained by Meta:

“When we launched Bulletin, we started with a small group of voices to learn how best to support their work. Six months later, we have 115+ publications in the Bulletin and we are thrilled with all of the ways this first group has made meaningful connections with their audiences. This is the beginning of our overall effort to connect people in more meaningful ways with content from a wider range of sources and experts.”

In terms of growth traits, Meta says that more than half of Bulletin creators now have over 1,000 free email subscribers, “with many having more than 5,000 or 10,000”. Which is reasonably solid – but on the other hand for a platform that connects almost 3 billion people, one could think that the growth rates have a significantly higher reach potential. That’s essentially the promise of the option, and by comparison, those numbers would also suggest that about half of bulletin writers have fewer than 1,000 subscribers. What is not surprising, however, is still at the beginning for the option.

One of the most interesting use cases for the Bulletin platform is to facilitate local news and provide a platform for local news providers, many of which have been shut down or are otherwise badly hit by the COVID downturn. If Bulletin can provide a fairer path for local journalists and updates, it could become a must-have tool for many users, and Meta shows how local news providers are using its suite of engagement tools to maximize connection.

“Experiments with engagement tools on Facebook and Instagram have resulted in subscriber growth and deeper reader connections, especially in places where the appetite for relevant coverage is great. The Kerr County Lead, a local news publication in Kerr County, Texas, hosts Facebook live videos every weekday to involve its local readership. “

Meta added 25 local news journalists to his bulletin writer’s stalls back in August it funded during the initial stages of its inception. And again, with so many local newsrooms closing in the last few years, the platform could stand a great chance of becoming a major hub for this if it can provide local news writers with a viable way to make money from their coverage while at the same time relevant news content for Facebook users is highlighted in feeds.

This seems like the most practical way for Bulletin to grow. Other newsletter platforms offer similar revenue and connection capacities, but no other platform has the reach of Facebook, especially when you consider leveraging The Social Network for local community groups and local news discussions.

Bulletin could essentially become the replacement for your local news publication – although it still seems far from being an important, workable element.

What’s next for the platform? Meta says that in the coming year ‘thoughtfully increase the number of creators of the bulletin as it enhances the experience before future expansion.

“This will encompass a range of different topics and types of content, from video-first and audio-focused creators to long and short form authors and more.”

Meta is also adding new third-party tools and integrations to enable more creative and research options (including partnering with LexisNexis for data insights) while providing free educational opportunities for bulletin creators to help them build their own newsletter business .

Tying your odds to Meta comes with some risk, as Meta has historically changed the rules for YouTubers and companies to limit their post reach and shift their incentives based on their own engagement focus at a given point in time . But it could still be a viable avenue for building a newsletter business, with the reach and connectivity that Meta’s networks offer opening up significant opportunities – if the bulletin offering can be done right.

You can read the bulletin’s annual review here.