Post, a Twitter alternative that’s rethinking how publishers interact with social media and monetize their readership, has launched to the public.
The startup, like others in this space, gained traction following Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, as people began to look for a new place to read and discuss the news, as well as share their thoughts with their followers.
Post aims to create a platform where publishers can earn money through micropayments, in which users pay a small fee to read individual news items.
This could include articles from traditional media outlets that would otherwise be behind a subscription-based paywall, but it could also include other types of media, such as subscription newsletters or free and ad-supported content available elsewhere.
The Post website itself debuted in November 2022 as a closed beta with 650,000 people on its waitlist, 430,000 of those people actually created an account, and it caught the attention of publishers.
Today, the company has 25 premium publishers on board and hundreds more in various stages of development. Some, such as local news publishers, are waiting for the platform to be enhanced with new features.
The Boston Globe, The Brookings Institution, Fortune, The Independent, Insider, LA Times, NBC News, Politico, ProPublica, Reuters, Semafor, SF Chronicle, MIT Technology Review, USA Today, Wired, World Politics Review, and Yahoo Finance have all signed on as partners.