After a long period of slow morphing from social platform to market place, Facebook has set a new course towards publishing by developing tools for independent writers that will allow them creating contents and have them ready on the platform.
The project will start in the US with the possibility for small businesses to expand their reach through new channels and media formats. This will highlight furthermore the importance of content-creation as the main tool to move information and reach users.
It’s an important move by FB especially since Twitter leaped towards newsletters by acquiring Revue, a service similar to Substack, going beyond the boundaries of their platform and reaching new audience segments.
FB will likely face new challenges in terms of online debating and censorship now the company fully steered into publishing. Users subscribing to this type of service can expect topic limitations on what they can publish if FB policies are included, so we can anticipate the online debate to expand furthermore into a micro galaxy of its own.
Publishing has moved from mainstream realms onto smaller and more successful authors/creators over the last ten years, this thanks to internet and the wide availability of electronic devices that allow for a better variety of content browsing.
Personally, I think it’s a great idea to improve how businesses can connect to their audience and customer base. Fresh new approaches are essential to create new curiosity by developing ways to understand social behavior especially in these pandemic times.