Basket Village USA
In news that will surprise no one, Meta confirmed today that it closure of its newsletter platform “Bulletin”Just 18 months after its initial launch.
In another sign of Meta’s fleeting interest in the latest trends, the company launched Bulletin in April 2021, as part of an effort to capture a share of the growing newsletter market, with platforms like Substack seeing growth. mass by facilitating direct connection between writers and their audience. . Twitter also acquired newsletter platform Revue, and it seemed, at the time, that newsletters could offer a new, additional source of revenue for creators, aligned with social apps.
On top of that, Meta also saw an opportunity to provide a platform for local publications that had been shut down due to the pandemic. With local businesses’ advertising funds drying up, due to lockdown measures, many smaller publications had to close, and Meta saw this as a chance to make Facebook an even more critical part of community engagement, by providing a direct route for freelance journalists to serve their audience through the app.
As part of its initial push, Meta allocated $5 million in funding to have local publications converted to Bulletin instead.
And it kind of worked. Bulletin, finally at some point, pressed more 115 publicationswith more than half of the creators on the platform reach more than 1,000 subscribers.
But this year, in tougher market conditions, Meta lost interest.
The company has gradually reduced its investments in news and original content over the past few months. Back in July The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta had reallocated resources from its Facebook News tab and newsletter, in order to ‘focus more on building a more robust creator economy”
In other words, Reels – Meta’s primary investment focus for the future of the creator economy is short-form video content, which drives more views, more engagement, and is the big trend Meta is chasing. currently.
Accordingly, Meta says he will close Bulletin early next year.
According Meta:
“Bulletin allowed us to learn more about the relationship between creators and their audiences and how to better support them in building their community on Facebook. While this off-platform product itself is ending, we remain committed to supporting the success and growth of these and other creators on our platform.
As long as they create Reels, I guess.
Again, the decision here comes as no surprise, but it serves as yet another reminder that Meta is chasing every trend it can, and it has no real long-term commitment to any of its new pushes.
Video is the thing, as it has been many times before, and Meta will keep pushing that until the audience loses interest. Then it will be something else that Meta will offer to brands, publishers, users, etc.
Logically, Meta follows the latest trends in order to maximize the benefit within its tools. But it’s worth noting that when he loses interest, he tends to move on, leaving anyone invested in his latest whim out in the cold.
Overall, Bulletin isn’t huge, and it won’t impact a bunch of writers and editors, per se. But even so, for those who have invested in the platform, in good faith, it’s a bitter pill, and while they will now be able to move on to other platforms as well, it’s good to remember that Meta chases trends and moves on fast.
“Do not build on rented land”. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”. Don’t trust social platforms to continue supporting that feature or platform you rely on.
Closing the Bulletin may seem like a side note to many, but it’s an important reminder that you need to diversify your strategy to avoid such impacts.
