Post.News, the news-focused social platform launched in 2022 that offered micropayments to publishers, is shutting down after failing to grow “fast enough”
Post.News entered public beta in 2023 with a model that let readers buy access to publisher content through small transactions and reported publisher payments on a CPM basis; its closure ends that experiment in news distribution and monetization. Post’s public-beta micropayment model
The shutdown also fits a nearby pattern of paid-content features struggling to sustain standalone communities: Tumblr had already planned to retire its creator subscription product. Tumblr’s Post+ sunset
First-order effects
Post.News users lose a news-centric social destination, while participating publishers lose a distribution channel and its micropayment revenue stream.
The company’s shutdown halts further iteration of its publisher-payment and paywalled-article access model.
Second-order effects
Publishers seeking traffic and reader revenue have one fewer platform-specific micropayment option, reinforcing reliance on channels that can deliver audience at scale.
The outcome raises the bar for Twitter alternatives that combine social discovery with direct publisher monetization; acquiring users quickly is central to making both sides of that market work.
Third-order effects
If comparable products continue to close, news-social startups may increasingly need to treat micropayments as a feature within a broader, scaled service rather than as the core of a standalone network.
The pattern points to the structural difficulty of building a new social graph and a sustainable content-payment market simultaneously, though this case alone does not establish that either model cannot work.
The trend: News-focused social challengers are testing alternatives to advertising-led distribution, but sustaining both audience scale and publisher economics remains the central constraint.
Really sad to see the news of the Post.news shutdown - less than 6 months after we wound down T2/Pebble. I feel like the space fractured too quickly for any single player to gain enough momentum. Threads seems to survive based on crosspromotion from Insta and FB, and my guess i…
@crumbler
Casey Newton on threads
crazy to think we're now living in the post-Post era
@stop
Doug Bowman on threads
Sad, but not unexpected that Post is shutting down. I had a username over there. But for some reason, I never felt compelled to use it for anything. I think I only went back to it once or twice after signing up.
@taylorlorenz
Taylor Lorenz on threads
Post is shutting down. The app failed to gain traction early, and imo didn't take any meaningful steps to address online harassment, leaving users like myself and others to abandon it. Also the founder took funding from far right billionaire Marc Andreessen. https://www.theverg…
@hellodavidryan
David on threads
The team at Post made a good attempt at a viable time for a “serious publishers and discussion” angle. And the shutdown post is well written too. Having worked on and even founded a few publishing products in my time, I have some feelings here, but it's interesting to put those…
@jdrch@mastodon.social
@jdrch@mastodon.social on mastodon
@Techmeme Saw this coming from 10 klicks out. I was wondering how they were still in business the other day after Artifact folded
@andrewkjennings.com
Andrew Jennings on bluesky
I still do feel like micropayments could/should work for funding journalism, even though all attempts at it have failed. [embedded post]
@bluesky
@bluesky on x
Journalists have always been one of the backbones of social media, and we're hopeful that @bluesky can be a space for healthy real-time commentary and analysis. We're sorry to see a challenger to the social media incumbents shut down, but we're excited to see what the folks at...
@kerrymflynn
Kerry Flynn on x
Another Twitter alternative is over @noam announced that https://post.news/ will shut down in the coming weeks
@lessin
@lessin on x
Just shocking... the core idea was just so sound - must have been an execution problem. [image]
@cbouzy
Christopher Bouzy on x
@BlackKnight10k @skitzymedeani They were seeking a $250 million valuation. https://www.axios.com/...
@alexeheath
Alex Heath on x
another Twitter/X rival bites the dust https://post.news/...
@jayrosen_nyu
Jay Rosen on x
Post News, a start up that tried to take the place of Twitter but with a far friendlier environment for news and journalism — including an attempt to make micropayments work — announced that it will be shutting down soon. [image]
@cbouzy
Christopher Bouzy on x
Post News is trending on Spoutible because it is closing in a month, and its users have started joining Spoutible. If you are a former Post News users, and searching for a safe and welcoming environment, then try Spoutible. https://spoutible.com/ [image]
@cbouzy
Christopher Bouzy on x
I am sorry to hear Post News is shutting down. If you are currently a user of Post News and want a similar experience, please consider Spoutible. We are adequately funded, and we are not going anywhere. https://spoutible.com/...