Laura Hazard Owen in Nieman Journalism Lab, recounting the long, complicated, and extremely frustrating history of Medium
Less than a year after Medium abruptly canceled the membership programs of its remaining publishing partners, the company is coming back around like an ex promising you they’ve changed. “We are seeking partners to create new publications on Medium, which we will help fund and distribute,” it said in a blog post Tuesday.
It’s not the first time, of course. Medium is nearly seven years old. It’s raised $132 million in venture funding, and it is not profitable. It has undergone countless pivots. When I saw that new search for “partners” last week, I started trying to count how many — and then ended up documenting the history of Medium via articles and tweets and Ev Williams statements. Why do that? I don’t know. I guess I was trying to figure the company out in my own head.
This isn’t the first time I’ve linked to a critical analysis of Medium on Blog Ipsa, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. For all the fanfare, you do have to wonder what Medium’s plan is.