Comments, notes, and suggestions from the Mediumsphere.
Are we clapping or are we not?
Personally I’m clapping! I’m a big fan of Medium, almost an addict! And I’ve already commented on katie zhu’s post and spread my love for Series, the new product that the company debuted a few days ago.
Photo credits: katie zhu
Of course, as every newly-released product, it’s going to receive lots of scrutiny — in particular from the Medium community who loves the product as it is and often times seems to adjust slowly to changes. Like me, many Mediumers are addicted to Medium — in a good way! — and enjoy the simple, elegant, networked storytelling it allows.
How not to agree with Formed News when they write: “To Medium, we LOVE your platform! We all think it is great for everyone to express themselves.”
How WE are going to use the “Series” feature here on Medium…_Just yesterday we told you our plan for Formed News and how we would be using social media to interact with you all in…_medium.com
In a way, Medium is also polarizing and some users seem either projected away from the platform or critical of it because of the changes and the recent re-focus efforts by Ev Williams and the management.
For example Stephan Jaeckel writes: “This seems mot much different from starting a publication and adding new contributions to it. So I doubt it will be a game-changer at all. Also ANDROID-Users are excluded from this feature :-(.”
“I’ve been using Medium for about three years now and, as I stated recently, I’m not going anywhere,” says Justin Cox 🍩 in a post on the launch of Series.
Series’ are Medium’s venture into serialized storytelling. This is HUGE for the fiction community.
The Future of Storytelling on Medium_I’ve been using Medium for about three years now and, as I stated recently, I’m not going anywhere. In that time Medium…_writingcooperative.com
He adds: “While this is one of the coolest evolutions Medium has made in awhile, the killer feature is that users can subscribe to Series’. This means a Series is meant to be updated. When a writer hits publish, the story doesn’t have be over. Followers are notified each time a Series is updated.”
And in fact, earlier in February, Dakota Shane wrote about Ev’s announcement at _Upfront Summit: “_In the next couple months, Medium will be releasing one of it’s biggest features yet: a subscription model.”
Wow, It’s Official — The Subscription Model is Coming to Medium…_At Upfront Summit, Ev Williams made an enormous announcement. In the next couple months, Medium will be releasing one…_medium.com
How that subscription model will roll out remains to be seen, but it seems that Series is part of the new model that Medium is trying to embrace to bring revenues.
“With this new form of storytelling, more influencers will (hopefully) be attracted to Medium in addition to big brands and publishers,” says Dakota. “And wherever these folks go, the money follows shortly after.”
WTF is Medium’s New “Series” Feature, and What Does It Mean For Us?_I’m sure we’ve all been wondering, WTF is the new Series feature we’re seeing on our Medium mobile app? I know I was._medium.com
One thing that many are agreeing on is the Snapchat-inspired capabilities of Series.
But this is “a good thing” as Steve Cole puts it.
Medium “Series”👏🏽👏👏🏿👏🏾_Snapchat for actual stories and why that’s a good thing_medium.com
“At first glance, it looks like yet another version of the feature known originally from Snapchat,” says Adam Juras. “But after checking a couple of series on Medium, especially ones with more serious content like the series by Melinda Gates, it feels different.”
Stories, Status, Series and other words that start with S_A couple of days ago I wrote about the new Stories feature from Snapchat, Instagram and WhatsApp, concluding with a…_medium.com
Interesting what Abhishek Chakraborty writes:
Millennials and teens are famous for their short attention span. They seem to love things which don’t demand a lot of cognition or thinking. For example, you can express your creativity easily through Snapchat by clicking a picture and then drawing some stuff over it. Or just go to plain old Instagram and put some photo filters. There you are…awesome result with minimal effort. Instant gratification. Hedonism at its best!
Medium used to be different. Medium needed a lot of attention. It takes some effort to write your own story, or even read someone else’s story. It takes some time in processing and understanding the text, and then retaining the knowledge to gain fulfilment or gratification. When I have another platform where I can get this pleasure so easily, then why waste so much of energy here, right? Why don’t I go and read some Snapchat stories before they disappear?
Medium was burning money and firing employees, so they needed some feature to tap into the attention deficient citizens of the internet who are the major sources of company valuation. Hence Series!
How Medium is Trying to be The Snapchat For Text_We Already Had Stories. So Now We’ve Built Series. Beat That!_blog.prototypr.io
Many Medium users are now experimenting wth Series.
Here is my first attempt at Series:
Digital Diplomacy on Medium - Medium_View the series Digital Diplomacy on Medium. Series are a new type of immersive, episodic story format._medium.com
“What interests me is using the series format as a way to tell an on-going piece of fiction, or maybe one that plays out in bite-sized segments,” says Elliot Nichols.
I’m trying out my first series_The development of Series here on Medium is interesting to me. You don’t need me to explain what the new mobile-only…_medium.com
Herrin comments: “The great thing about this is it gets people to start publishing now and not wait until everything is perfect.”
After using Series, Sebastián GdeLyL has published a few notes, ranging from how to share the new stories to linking them to a Medium profile.
Quick notes about Series_Dear Medium and Your Friends @ Medium,_medium.com
Some other users like Zac Chapepa are waiting to use it and are reflecting on the tool. He writes:
- It’s a cool feature.
- I’m probably going to use it often, perhaps create one myself.
- It is fun but how many would I have to read?
- What happens if I love the series more than the stories in my feed?
- Are publications dead?
On board the new Series…____ __medium.com
Similarly, Michael Cohen posts a few thoughts and recommendations about Series.
Five thoughts on the new platform:_@Medium looks committed to this. You don’t put something in the top-left corner of your app if you want to hide a…_medium.com
“Is Series good for Medium?,” asks Tanner Brodess. “Is it an improvement or a downgrade?.”
Is “Series” Good For Medium?_What do all great songs, movies, books and stories have in common?_medium.com
Food for thought!