More details may have just emerged about Facebook’s alleged rival Substack for independent writers and publishers. Axios sources say Facebook is almost ready to start testing “partnerships” for the currently unnamed system with a handful of creators, and clarified how this publishing platform will work.
It’s supposedly a free-to-use system that connects to Pages, allowing you to post live videos, stories and other materials that go beyond articles and newsletters. You can create groups and check statistics about your work as well. And yes, there will eventually be ways to make money from your writing, like subscriptions and “possibly other forms” of income. Facebook is paying the test group to help start the tools, according to the informants.
The tool allegedly aims to feed the Facebook Journalism Project, giving journalists and other writers a way to distribute their work, especially after the pandemic has left many people out of jobs. To maintain Facebook’s longstanding tradition of imitating products, however, it may also be to frustrate rivals. Substack is the clear example with more than 250,000 paying subscribers, but Facebook may also have to worry about the acquisition of Twitter’s Revue and LinkedIn’s planned creators program. This future publishing tool can keep writers and readers on Facebook, especially if they thrive on multimedia content.