In a mark of the rising popularity of newsletters, Facebook has officially entered the ring with Bulletin, a new subscription service offering a curated selection of free and paid newsletters.

The service, inspired by the success of the Substack subscription platform, launched with an initial selection of newsletters by writers and journalists such as Malcolm Gladwell, known for "Outliers," and the author of "Tuesdays with Morrie," Mitch Albom.

Gladwell's Bulletin newsletter, for example, looks at everyday topics through a different lens, with a recent article devoted to the question of "Have we misunderstood the future of the automobile?"

Other newsletters cover topics such as health, science and news.

While most of the newsletters are by US-based writers, anyone in the world can subscribe, and Facebook plans to extend Bulletin's selection, with a focus on local news and international creators.

Bulletin is a separate website from Facebook, which the social media giant explains is so newsletter writers are independent of the platform, though users will have to use Facebook Pay for paid subscriptions and have an account to join subscriber-only groups.

Bulletin's content will initially be accessible on Facebook feeds as well as on a separate user page for each newsletter, and the platform has promised that any "creator" who wants to leave Bulletin for another newsletter platform will be able to take their followers.

During the launch phase, Facebook isn't taking a cut of the revenue from the writers - unlike Substack, which takes 10%, or another competitor, Revue, bought by Twitter, which takes 5%.

 - dpa