What it does
Medium is a platform for reading and writing articles on countless topics. It acts as both a publisher and a social network, connecting readers directly with individual writers and curated publications. Users can discover content based on their interests, engage with authors through comments and highlights, and publish their own stories.
Where it shines
Medium's strength lies in its clean, reader-focused interface and its unique engagement mechanics. The reading experience itself is distraction-free, as seen when the user opens an article at 01:58. The app truly stands out with its highlighting feature (02:16), which transforms passive reading into a social action. By allowing users to highlight specific sentences, Medium creates a public record of what resonates most, providing granular feedback to writers and fostering contextual discussions.
UX highlights
- The onboarding flow prioritizes personalization, requiring users to choose topics (00:37) to ensure the initial feed is never empty.
- Highlighting text (02:16) functions as a low-friction social gesture, deeper than a 'clap' but easier than a full comment.
- Responses to articles are often tied to specific highlights, creating more contextual and threaded conversations (02:32).
- The floating action button for creating a new story (04:44) is always accessible from the main feed, encouraging content creation.
- The text editor provides simple, inline formatting options (05:07) that appear contextually, keeping the writing interface clean.
- The "Refine recommendations" section (08:30) gives users explicit control over their feed by managing followed topics, writers, and muted authors.
Monetization & growth
The app uses a soft paywall model. During onboarding, a subscription screen appears (01:35) after personalization but before the user sees their feed. It offers monthly and annual plans for its "Member" and "Friend" tiers. Inside the app, some articles are marked as "Member-only" (01:58), but the app sometimes grants free access to one, using it as a lead-in to another paywall prompt (02:05) triggered by interaction. This "one free taste" approach is a classic content sampling strategy.
Who it’s for
Medium is for curious readers who want to explore topics beyond mainstream headlines, written by experts and enthusiasts. It's also for writers, from professionals to hobbyists, who want a platform with a built-in audience to publish their thoughts, build a following, and potentially earn money. The app serves both consumers and creators of long-form content.
Notes & opportunities
The user experience is generally smooth, but the distinction between a "clap" (seen at 03:13) and a "highlight" isn't explained, which might confuse new users. Additionally, the process of finding and managing muted authors requires digging into the "Refine recommendations" settings (08:50), which could be more accessible directly from a user's profile. Finally, the app asks for a rating (06:38) relatively early in the session, which might feel premature for a user who is still exploring.