Is Medium a Social Media or Writing Site?

Can it be both?

Photo by Rubaitul Azad on Unsplash

In the past, I have defended Medium as being a writing site and not just another social media site, yet the distinction isn’t so clear with further analysis.

Saying Medium is both a writing and a social media site doesn’t make sense either, as it can’t really be both exclusively. It could be a writing social site, but not a writing and social media site alone.

In my mind, a writing site would focus on writing articles, essays, stories, etc. (like HubPages). This isn’t necessarily what Medium does. For instance, I’ve seen many so-called articles that are just a paragraph or two, maybe a couple of stanzas for a poem. Essentially, their entire content could fit into a Tweet.

I don’t blame the writers or post creators because they will get paid about the same for this one paragraph as they would a 2,000-word article, at least for most Medium writers.

It reminds me of old social sites called Teckler and Bubblews. Just write a short and sweet little ditty about your day or thoughts and get paid an injection of pennies, quarters, and maybe even dollars.

Medium does have its own type of writing that seems to dominate the atmosphere; topics about life, relationships, how to write, articles about Medium itself, making money online with…