Twitter co-founders seek to shake up Web publishing with Medium
- 15 August, 2012 14:38
- Comments
Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone, who were also leaders at Blogger, have unveiled a preview of Medium, which they describe as a new Web publishing platform.
With Medium, they aim to inject a dose of collaboration into Web publishing and distance it from print publishing practices. They also want to raise the quality of content.
"When you consider we've been publishing on paper for over 500 years and on the Internet for only a couple decades, it's no surprise we haven't figured it all out. It's still early days," Williams wrote in a blog post.
Medium, developed at the pair's newest company called Obvious, is an attempt to re-imagine and rethink Web publishing from scratch, with the knowledge and experience they have accumulated since Blogger's launch in 1999.
"That sounds pretty grandiose, so let's not get ahead of ourselves. Truth be told, we're just starting the journey of figuring out what all that means," Williams wrote.
Medium organizes content into buckets of categories, each with its own theme and template, providing context for both contributors and visitors.
"Together, the contributions of many add up to create compelling and useful experiences," he wrote.
Some sample categories already up on the site include Been There, Done That, Look What I Made and This Happened to Me.
In addition to posting on existing categories, people may also create their own. Readers can rate contributions -- photos, articles -- so that the most popular get more prominent placement.
Posting content on Medium for now is limited to a hand-selected group of contributors, but Obvious plans to open it more broadly in the near future. People with a Twitter account can sign into Medium and rate content right now.
"We haven't tied everything in Medium together yet, partly because we expect our ideas to evolve rapidly as we experiment and learn from usage," he wrote. "Our philosophy is that quality begets quality, so we will grow Medium smartly, ensuring that our platform is valuable to everyone in this increasingly mobile, connected, and noisy world."
Juan Carlos Perez covers enterprise communication/collaboration suites, operating systems, browsers and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Juan on Twitter at @JuanCPerezIDG.
Recommended
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.
- Bookmark this page
- Share this article
- Got more on this story? Email CIO
- Follow CIO on twitter
-
Why change management doesn’t work
-
Larry Page wants to see your medical records
-
Dual-Persona Smartphones Not a BYOD Panacea
-
After two-year hiatus, EFF accepts bitcoin donations again
-
CIOs struggle to deliver timely mobile business apps: survey
-
Cloud Computing for Midsize Businesses: Delivering Innovation and Efficiency
It’s time for midsize companies to start thinking differently about infrastructure. This white paper provides a brief overview of cloud computing, explains how midsize companies can benefit, and describes the steps they can take to take advantage of what it has to offer. Read now. -
Best Practices for Migrating to SharePoint 2013
This white paper details a number of best practices for migrating to SharePoint 2013. These best practices also apply to migrations to most earlier versions of SharePoint. Download now. -
Choice and Control – Considerations for Developing Enterprise Cloud Strategies
Enterprise-wide cloud implementation can be a challenging process, requiring a thoughtful, strategic approach. In this whitepaper, IBM® shares considerations for developing enterprise cloud strategies. It looks into how the rapid-scale enterprise-class environment can help enable the type of agile infrastructure that aids organisations in quickly meeting the demands of an ever-evolving marketplace, thereby providing true business value. Read now.
Get exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis. 
