What is Medium?

Here at Bonjour, Blogger!, we want to talk about everything to do with blogging, but it can be a little difficult to fit everything in, so it’s a little easy to get caught up talking about Blogger and WordPress as if they’re the only choices available to a potential blogger. We want to tell you about all the other platforms available so you’re able to make the choice that suits you best, rather than just doing what everyone else does.

So, first up, we’re going to talk to you about Medium. Medium is a relatively new (launched in August 2012) platform which is open to everyone with a Twitter account. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, since it was created by one of the founders of Twitter, Evan Williams. (Recognise the name? Probably because he also started Blogger way back in 1999)

Medium describes itself as a place where people can share ideas and stories longer than 140 characters and without the hassle (and perhaps guilt of not updating on a regular basis?) of running your own blog.

One of the features (although you may see it as a downside) of Medium is that all you are able to do is write. No faffing about with the layout, no plugins to update or themes to amend, you just have a blank page to write on. You can do some basic formatting and include images, but nothing you couldn’t do in say, an essay)

As a reader, Medium is like reading a magazine of interesting articles by lots of people, rather than a book of one specific persons essays. It also has a style of writing that they prefer and a list of best practices which makes it feel more like a magazine.

Medium is a great secondary blogging platform for those of us with a specific genre, or a place for those who don’t want to have a blog but sometimes have things they want to put out there. Try it out when you next feel the need to write about something totally new.