(originally posted on Medium)

I’ve been longing for something “between Twitter and Medium” and in some respects today’s Medium changes look to be just that. That said, I’m honestly still a little mindfreaked by them and am struggling to get my thoughts in order. Here’s a quick stab:

  • A few months ago I switched my Twitter bio url to my Medium posts in the hopes that, over time, the product would evolve to replace the blogs many of us used to call home in the late 90s- 2000s. Today’s changes make me happy I made that bet.
  • At least for me, Medium used to be a place that I ended up after seeing a link shared to Twitter or from an email. The new homepage suggests it should be a place where I start, like Twitter. Feels like a personalized magazine that I consume and contribute to in the same place. Neat.
  • If the above is true, it makes me immediately more conscious of who I’m following — something I realized I’d never before considered on Medium beyond following new authors of pieces I’d stumble upon. I was surprised to see my Following count be 600+ but I guess they just grabbed most of those from Twitter? I now want to curate that list much more actively.
  • Also, if it is a place to start, where will it fit into a media diet I already feel is forcing me to add a notch to my belt.
  • The fact that the team at Medium executed a design that made all content feel premium was quite a feat. I wonder if there’s going to be some cognitive dissonance as a result of seeing more lower quality content in that same premium-feeling interface.
  • It’s only been one afternoon but I love the input box at the top of the Home screen. In fact, this post happened as a result of “just starting to type…” so bravo. What is not clear to me is what the actions are on one of those posts — I don’t see the Share to Twitter, etc. buttons. (ps: gonna let this post fly and see if they show up after hitting Publish)
  • I’ve always wondered what the future holds for Twitter, Medium and the relationship between them. It feels like Twitter wants to be more Medium-y and Medium wants to be more Twitter-y. Today’s moves somehow makes that future clearer and more murky at the same time.

Anyway, there’s clearly still a lot left to process with these changes but as a light user now, I suspect they might lead to heavier usage both on the consumption and creation side, which is exciting.

Finally, kudos to the team at Medium for making really big change in the service of what seems like a strong vision. I’m excited to see what else they’ve got cooking (especially native iOS publishing tools).