Medium wants to become something else, again

In an internal email that was later published online, Evan Williams, the founder of the medium online site Announced Clear change in company editorial and business strategy, Founded in 2012 As a crossroads between blog space and social networking. In editorial roles, Williams urged employees – whether they work as reporters or teachers – to leave the company in exchange for five months’ salary.

Williams’ announcement will certainly mark the closure of nine news sites created by Medium in 2019, the most popular of which is the technology platform. Onjiro.

In its early years, the medium has gained considerable popularity with its intuitive features and clean and elegant graphics, especially on mobile devices, and has become very popular as an alternative platform for publishing a wide variety of texts: from pieces to fiction to magazine articles to very long articles.

However, since 2017, thanks to the relocation of some content creators to other sites and the more risky business model, he has introduced a number of changes: first he considered dozens of employees to be redundant, then removed those ads from the site, and then he accepted one. paywall From $ 5 a month, then between 2019 and 2020 he hired dozens of journalists to work on nine news platforms with different approaches and audiences. Siobhan O’Connor, a former editor of the well-known magazine, was hired to coordinate the editorial offices Time.

But now Williams explains, despite the quality of the editorial staff – “innovative and impressive” – ​​the average user and subscriber has continued to grow in recent months, “no visitors to our news sites.” Williams explains that there are many explanations for him, of which he cites one in particular:

The role of newspapers in the Erate moderate era – in the world, not just in the middle – has been reduced. I am not referring to the expertise behind this, but the idea of ​​a brand that affirms credibility and trust. Have faith [dei lettori] Today it is more important than ever, and there is one more reason why there are so many popular newspapers. But today credibility and credibility are recognized above all, for personal voices, instead of a brand. “

Williams says the medium will “support independent personalities on our site,” but not designing them into a container. Basically, Williams wants to reflect the model of the substock, which is the same as it has been for the past two years. Is remarkably successful You can create a newsletter for any company or journalist, especially in the United States, and ask readers to fund it on a monthly or annual basis.

– read more: Success of the substock

It is not yet clear how middle-class employees picked up the news: the company noted that journalists who do not leave work voluntarily by accepting compensation will change their duties. Writes The New York Times. O’Connor, on the other hand, will leave the company.

Many viewers came to Williams’ decision – who linked to Twitter before the middle – within a month of the company’s employees trying to form an internal union. Williams was very openly opposed to forming a union He also hired an external consulting firm To thwart the efforts of positive employees.
Some insiders inside the company say that journalists and teachers were among the union’s most active promoters, and that this was a factor in Williams’ decision. “The editorial office is the department that most explicitly and openly supported the attempt to form a union”, Said one Motherboard A middle-aged employee who wanted to remain anonymous.

Some viewers also shared this idea. Nile Patel, Director of Technology Site On the edge, Commented on Twitter, “A lot of people in the tech world don’t like more independent journalists because they allow a better business model (maybe, who knows), but 1,000 horses is the size of a duck rather than the size of a horse.

Not because it’s a great model (but who knows it yet!), But because it’s easier to bully 1,000 duck-sized horses than a horse-sized duck really feels like a lot of tech people want more writers to be independent. With a legal panel

– Nile Patel (ckreckless) March 24, 2021