18 Comments
User's avatar
Sridhar Pai Tonse's avatar

Medium has lost its bearings - for all the reasons you mentioned. I will not repeat any. And this has been going on for two+ years.

It's silly - you should be able to read the writing on the wall. One more round of layoffs, I hear (Nov).

I am not sure what's left, right?

One thing: I think the web discovers you fast on Medium. That's it.

So what next? 2025 someone will buy Medium and try to rebuild it. May be that will work.

Readers are accommodating - they will come back to look. Writers? Don't know

Expand full comment
Alice in Gothic Land's avatar

Great article, Burk! I've been on Medium for a while too and eventhough I've always earned peanuts there, now it's 0 and it feels crowded, impersonal and very low quality writing. I'll stay, not as a writer but as a fly on the wall, hoping things change.

Expand full comment
Burk's avatar

That’s what I hear from many medium writers. It’s unfortunate. Medium used to be one of the best writing platforms.

Expand full comment
Michelle Gale's avatar

I'm new to blogging, and will be doing it for the purpose of marketing a business. I'm not a Medium member, and I've been unable to access every Medium article I've tried to read in the last several months. If, for example, the people who see one of my posts on LinkedIn about an article I've written on Medium are similarly unable to access my work, that sounds like a disastrous way to market a business.

Expand full comment
Burk's avatar

No if you’re not a member you’re writing free content that everyone can access.

Expand full comment
Michelle Gale's avatar

Thank you for clarifying that. I now understand how I'd have to proceed if I were indeed to do so on Medium.

Expand full comment
Keagen Hadley's avatar

I was considering cross-posting onto Medium, but I am yet to make the leap. Do you recommend that?

Expand full comment
Burk's avatar

From Substack? In General it’s a good idea to post on medium. You can import posts there as well. And set canonical urls so google doesn’t assume duplicate content.

Expand full comment
Larry C. Brown's avatar

I just started writing on Medium in October, so it’s all new to me. I’ll try to give it a go for a while. That said, I’ll be putting most of my effort toward Substack.

Expand full comment
Burk's avatar

Let me know how it goes!

Expand full comment
Nadia's avatar

I stopped publishing on Medium mostly because of the really intense like for like habits rather than community. That and really low quality similar content and not seeing writers I follow made it unenjoyable to be there. Now I just hop in and out, hoping it changes.

Expand full comment
Burk's avatar

Yeah, the like-for-like habit is a direct consequence of the new earning model Medium introduced last year. Since engagement points matter for earnings, people will beg for comments and claps.

Expand full comment
Nadia's avatar

It's nice to pop into Substack and find the writers you liked on Medium. I think as people move more towards micro-consumption and interactions, it's more about being where you need to be at the right time then ever before.

Expand full comment
Burk's avatar

Yes, I agree.

Expand full comment
Carmen Ballesteros's avatar

I was planning on giving Medium another go in 2025. I grew tired of AI content, TBH. I loved Medium because I love to read, but it got to a point that I got bored even as a reader because it was all the same vanilla content, and Medium wasn't even showing me the stories of the writers I followed! It became frustrating and a waste of time.

Expand full comment
Burk's avatar

I can relate. Especially the recommendations, yes. I don't see much from the people I follow.

Expand full comment
Grizel Ubarry/Limitlessliving's avatar

So you did not write this Article on Medium. They can surely benefit from it

Expand full comment
Burk's avatar

I published it there too

Expand full comment