Post, a publisher-focused Twitter/X alternative backed by a16z, is bringing its social news-sharing app to Android today along with new tools that will make it easier for creators to share their newsletter content on the platform. By doing so, writers will have additional opportunities to monetize their existing publications, thanks to Post’s micropayments system where users pay a small amount of money to read individual items in their feed.
To date, the company has already signed up more than 100 partners to publish on its platform, including The Boston Globe, The Brookings Institution, Fortune, The Independent, Insider, LA Times, NBC News, Politico, ProPublica, Reuters, SF Chronicle, MIT Technology Review, USA Today, Wired, World Politics Review, CNN, Semafor, Mashable, The New Yorker, Yahoo Finance and others.
However, the new creator tools will make Post more accessible to smaller publishers, including individual newsletter writers. To use the feature, a one-time setup process is involved that allows creators to have their content ingested and distributed through Post’s platform automatically –similar to importing an RSS feed.
At launch, the company says 115 creators are working with Post to be verified and leverage the new tools, including Robert Reich, George Takei, Dan Rather, Aaron Rupar, Dave Pell, Scott Galloway and Allison Gill of Mueller, She Wrote, who collectively have more than 200,000 newsletter subscribers and 400,000 followers on the platform. Post expects with today’s public launch of the tools it will soon have many more creators come on board.
Founded by CEO Noam Bardin, previously CEO of Waze at Google, Post uses a micropayments system where users can buy a bundle of “points” in packets, which they use to pay for access to news articles on an individual basis. For instance, 300 points is $4.20 but you can buy up to 10,000 for a 9.5% discount, at $126.70. Publishers can choose how many points it costs to reach their content, which can be as low as one point or up into the double-digits, if they prefer.
Post generates revenue by taking a small percentage of these sales, and Bardin has previously said that the average CPMs publishers have been getting from Post’s platform is $25 for a paid post.
In addition to the launch of the creator tools, Post is releasing its app for Android, which follows its arrival on iOS and desktop. All three platforms include a number of new features, including native video uploads, push notifications, trending topics, expanded editing tools, sharing capabilities and autosave.
This June, Post said it had over 440,000 registered users on its platform and declined to update that figure today. However, the company said that over the past three months, active users have been growing by an average of 30% month-over-month and they spend over 30 minutes per day on Post.
“We are thrilled to see the incredible growth and success that Post has achieved through our strong partnerships with publishers and creators,” said Bardin, in a statement announcing the new releases. “Our commitment to providing top-tier creator tools and a user-friendly app has been integral to our success. We offer creators a seamless way to reach new audiences and new monetization options with low-lift, efficient tools. With features like auto-ingestion, tipping, and micropayments, we are paving the way for a future where content creation and publishers are more efficient and accessible than ever before,” he said.