What is Medium?
A comprehensive guide to help you understand the basics of Medium and how it works.
If you love reading or writing, you've probably come across Medium. It's one of the most popular blogging platforms on the internet, offering a clean, distraction-free space to share stories, ideas, and expertise.
Medium is a platform where anyone can write and publish articles on virtually any topic.
Unlike other blogging platforms like WordPress or Blogger, Medium focuses on simplicity and community. Writers don't need to worry about setting up their own website or managing hosting — they can dive straight into writing and reach an engaged audience.
Whether you're a budding writer, an expert in your field, or someone who loves diving into well-written content, Medium has something for you.
It is the go-to platform for writers because it simplifies the publishing process and eliminates the need for technical expertise. Writers can focus solely on their content without worrying about managing a website or handling design.
Medium's ecosystem provides a built-in audience and publication tools that significantly enhance reach and engagement. The platform's strong SEO advantages also mean articles are more likely to rank well on Google, giving writers greater visibility and impact compared to other blogging platforms.
Medium's Business Model
Medium isn't just about writing and reading—it has a unique business model to support creators and sustain the platform.
Unlike other platforms like Substack or Patreon, which primarily focus on subscription-based earnings for individual creators, Medium offers a centralized system where writers can earn through the Partner Program based on reader engagement.
This model allows for a more community-driven approach, with opportunities to leverage Medium's existing audience rather than solely building one from scratch.
1. Medium Partner Program
The Partner Program allows writers to earn money based on the engagement their articles receive from Medium subscribers. The more people read and engage, the more you earn.
2. Medium Subscription
Readers can subscribe to Medium for $5/month or $50/year to access unlimited content and support writers.
3. Friend of Medium
This plan allows users to share other people's paywalled articles by creating a "Friend Link," enabling others to read the content for free. Additionally, these users want to support writers on the platform, so they pay a premium subscription fee.
The Four Pillars of Medium's Ecosystem
There are four types of people who contribute to Medium's ecosystem, each playing a unique role. Together, these groups create a dynamic community where ideas are shared, collaborations are formed, and conversations thrive.
1. Readers
People who seek inspiration, advice, and stories across topics like technology, personal growth, or culture.
Many also look for high-quality resources to educate themselves and gain a deeper understanding of the concepts they want to explore.
2. Individual Writers
Authors, bloggers, and thought leaders who want to share their knowledge, express their creativity, and showcase their expertise. They use Medium to build a personal brand, connect with an engaged audience, and grow their influence.
Additionally, several freelance writers are building their writing portfolio on Medium to land more opportunities, showcase their work, and justify their worth to potential clients or employers.
3. Companies
Businesses, startups, and organizations use Medium as a powerful marketing channel to educate their audience, share industry insights, and make important announcements.
Medium's platform allows companies to establish thought leadership and communicate effectively with a wide audience.
4. Talent Seekers
Professionals and recruiters searching for talented writers to collaborate with or hire.
What Makes Medium Articles Special?
Medium articles are the heart of the platform. Writers can format their articles and embed multimedia assets such as images, videos, hyperlinks, and more to enrich the content and make it more engaging for readers.
Additionally, Medium's focus on engagement metrics, like claps and comments, benefits both readers and writers.
- Claps: Instead of likes, readers can give claps. Each reader can give up to 50 claps per article, depending on how much they enjoyed it. 100 claps from 50 people is better than 100 claps from just 2 people, as diverse engagement signals higher interest and quality.
- Comments: Readers can engage with writers directly through comments, sparking meaningful conversations.
- Highlights: Readers can highlight specific text within articles, enabling them to save important insights and share key takeaways with others.
- Reading Time: Articles display an estimated reading time, encouraging readers to dive into content they can finish in one sitting.
- Shares: Articles widely shared across social media platforms often see a boost in visibility on Medium itself.
How Your Stories Reach a Wider Audience
Medium helps writers reach a larger audience through its unique system of publications, tags, topics, and boosts. These features make it easy for readers to find content they care about and for writers to gain visibility.
Medium Publications
Publications are collections of articles curated by individuals or teams, often focused on a specific niche. Writers can submit their stories to publications to tap into an established audience. Examples include Towards Data Science or UX Collective, which cater to enthusiasts in specific fields and amplify the reach of contributed articles.
Tags and Topics
Tags and topics play a vital role in organizing Medium's vast array of articles.
- Tags are keywords chosen by writers to describe their work, such as
"
artificial-intelligence", "data-science" or "machine-learning". - Topics are broader categories curated by Medium, like "
technology", "self", or "blockchain".
Medium also has a dedicated team of curators who actively review and boost articles that meet high-quality standards. These curated articles often receive a significant visibility boost, appearing in topic feeds and recommendations.
Medium's beauty lies in its simplicity and versatility. Whether you're here to read, write, or connect, the platform offers tools and opportunities for everyone. If you haven't already, give it a try — you might just find your next favorite article or become someone else's.
Beyond Medium
Our Medium API provides developers and programmers with tools to access data, analyze engagement metrics, and seamlessly integrate Medium content into their projects. Learn more about its features here.
If you're a writer with a growing audience, Medium Portfolio Pages can help you showcase your Medium journey - Highlighting your stats, achievements, and top articles to make an impression and land new opportunities.