Watch out Stage 2
Medium is funded by memberships, not ads, and pays writers from that pool. It has also kept AI-generated writing out of its paid program (2024). But your followers and distribution belong to Medium’s recommendation system, so an audience built there is hard to take elsewhere. No documented extraction in the last three years. Stage 2.
- Since
- 2012
- Category
- Creator economy
- VC-backed
- Yes
- Public
- No
- Website
- medium.com
- X
- @Medium
The promise
Its first promise, and how much is kept · Scoring
100% kept
“Medium is a new place on the Internet where people share ideas and stories that are longer than 140 characters and not just for friends.”
Why it’s rated 2
The criteria it meets, with sources · Method
- Alignment 1 of 3
-
- A1 Paid for without surveillance
- Lock-in 1 of 4
-
- L1 Network or reputation
- Extraction 0 of 7
- None
- Decline 0 of 3
- None
Result No extraction that meets the stage 3 test, and either some lock-in or no alignment criterion, so stage 2.
News signals
Sourced reporting, tagged by strategy
Apr 15, 2024
Medium bars AI-generated writing from its paid Partner Program
Governance shift
Aug 11, 2021