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  • Medium: A Different Kind of Blogging Platform?
Technology Articles > Software > Home & Hobby > Medium: A Different Kind of Blogging Platform?

Every once in awhile, a new publishing platform promises to change the way that people read and write. One of the latest platforms is 'Medium.'

Medium was developed by Ev Williams, one of the co-founders of Twitter and Blogger. After taking a tour through the site, I've found Medium to be comparable to so many other blogging platforms. What, exactly, makes Medium different?

The Medium Experience (Or 'My' Experience)

Medium is currently in beta mode. I signed up for the service using my Twitter account (as was the request), and was granted access to view what other Medium writers were posting. I was not granted writing access (yet). New posts were listed on the right hand side of the screen, and were set up with a small photo of an author next to his or her post.

Posts ranged from social networking advice to prose. Clicking on a post brought me to the content of that post (some posts have photos and images, and other posts are purely text-based). Again, a small headshot of each author is posted to the lefthand side of each post. Underneath each author's post is something resembling a biography (though more like hipster jargon such as "I dream in colour, or I dream of genies, or something like this").

Clicking on an author's name brought me to more posts created by that author, and a small blog-like homepage for the author in question. Medium has a minimalist appeal that's nice to look at, but I'm still wondering how this blogging platform is unique.

My Quest to Find Uniqueness

How is Medium different and why do I want to use Medium instead of another blogging platform? I suppose that Medium is easier to set up. Settings and interface features seem relatively straightforward. Writing a post seems to be simple enough too. So, if I'm looking to get my words out "there" without a whole lot of website building fuss, Medium might be a thought.

But, my mind has not been blown. I'm not over the top about Medium. I want to be. I hope that the site takes on something really earth shattering soon, and that the site is further developed. Right now, though, I don't see much point in posting to Medium. I could join the rest of the Medium posters and simply write for fun (when access is granted, of course). I might even do that when my time to post comes.

Would I send clients to Medium to look at my work, though? Would I ask friends to read what I've written? Medium, to me, is reminiscent of what Open Diary used to be -- though a lot more minimalist and a lot less dependant on advertisements. Right now, the authors on Medium are of the "cool" sort -- posting about commutes, and business-specific terms that many have to Wiki to understand.

Medium claims to be for the masses, though, so it will be hard for the site to keep this cool appeal. What might you use Medium for? I'm not sure; but you can check out the site now by clicking here.