Medium
Medium (█)
Medium is a platform\/publisher hybrid designed primarily for text stories, although
images and video can also be included. Features include a
timestamp (e.g. "1 day ago”), reading-time estimate, optional left-rail
margin notes and per-paragraph commenting. Users can also bookmark,
share (via Twitter and Facebook), and embed posts. The newly added "clap button" serves as a 'like' feature where writers are paid according to how many 'claps' they receive, provided the article is behind the Medium paywall. While there is some built-in engagement through the Medium community, it is still important
to actively share content on Facebook and Twitter.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Streamlined design | Very limited visual customization |
| No effort to set up or maintain | Not ideal for audiovisual work |
| Range of licensing options | |
| "Collections" curate content from other places (See First Draft News, pictured above) | |
| New custom domains feature |
Pro tip: Use “highlighting” to create a pullquote effect. Medium will auto-generate an image of the text that can then be tweeted out.
Metrics
Medium offers a range of common metric types:
- Views: Number of users who clicked on the article
- Reads: Number of users who spent enough time on your page to have read the article—as determined by Medium
- "Claps": Medium's equivalent of a “like.” Users can 'clap' as many times as they want with writers being paid a weighted sum according to how many they generate.
- Referrers: Data about how (search, social media, direct links) users are finding your work.
In addition, Medium supports Google Analytics ID as long as the Medium page is a custom domain.
Case studies
Newsroom
In September 2017, Medium announced major publications such as Bloomberg and The New York Times would be featured on their platform with editors at Medium hand-picking selected articles to be promoted on their new subscription-based service. For a monthly fee of $5, users are given unlimited access to a curation of articles that are "based on our members' interests".
The Big Roundtable collaborated with Medium to produce “The Open Rehearsal Project,” which provided a backstage view into journalist Noah Sneider’s everyday life and correspondence with editors in the U.S while he was reporting from Ukraine. Stories were cross-posted to Noah’s and to The Big Roundtable’s Medium pages.^[](#ftnt1)[](#ftnt1)[](#ftnt1)[1]^
Classroom
Popular workplace chat-app Slack publishes it's blog exclusively on Medium. Read more about their work here.
Additional Resources
Tutorial\/help: Medium FAQ