Have you ever heard of Biz Stone and Evan Williams?Apparently they made that Twitter thing with some other guy. And before that, they had something to do with blogging. Good for them.
However, they got sick of Twitter and left. I like to imagine they left because people started spending too much time using it to bitch about crappy customer service at McDonald’s instead of sharing useful information.
So while they were in seclusion, they went ahead and made a new digital publishing thing called Medium. Apparently, we really needed one more third-party owned network to publish our deepest thoughts and desires.
But what the hell is Medium?
Right now, none of us have a true idea what Medium is. While many people have signed up, it hasn’t been opened up widely yet. The few examples that have been shared combine collections of writing or images. Nothing that hasn’t been done before.
But, I think there are more than enough clues as to what it really is.
Consider that media is the plural of medium. Right now, digital publishing is best suited in one medium at a time.
- We blog one post at a time to express ideas.
- We share photos in albums.
- We post videos to YouTube.
See what I’m getting at? The individual medium is not connected into a cohesive format. Digital publishing, which has the ability to combine these formats into a cohesive model, has yet to do so.
The media has not become a medium. We’ve failed at creating cohesive digital formats.
Dont believe me? Look at a Twitter picture. The picture isn’t tied into the message. It’s a separate link. Is this really the optimal way to share information in an age when a phone can do more than some laptops?
The way I see it right now, Medium looks to correct that by building a platforms that successfully combines different types of media. This brings out a whole host of ideas about how we consume and create content.
So, is Medium the future of digital publishing? Will it change how we read, write, and absorb information? I don’t know yet. But I think they’re on to something that hasn’t been fully thought out yet by us mere mortals.
Have you signed up for Medium? What the hell do you expect it to be?
