Can Twitter co-founder take an 'evolutionary leap' into storytelling?

Collaborative publishing website Medium, which aims to reinvent the blog, secures first external investmentMedium, Twitter co-founder Ev Williams's online publishing venture, has no shortage of ambition – to reinvent the blog as a digital storytelling format and match the impact of the microblogging service, no less.Williams, who launched Medium in August 2012 with Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, has said their aim is "re-imagining publishing in an attempt to make an evolutionary leap" by building a new platform from scratch that would put an emphasis on ideas, stories and collaboration. To achieve this, however, the company will have to get over several hurdles, not least addressing the confusion over Medium's perceived strategy and business model, summed up by Reuters media commentator Jack Shafer, who describes it – while not lacking potential – as up to now being "a mystery wrapped up in a hashtag concealed by a catchy URL".This uncertainty has clearly not put off investors: Medium, which employs 50 full-time staff, announced last week that it had secured its first external investment, a $25m funding round led by Greylock Partners, with participation from Google Ventures and individual investors. Initial funding for the platform came from Williams's investment vehicle The Obvious Corporation.Perhaps this enthusiasm shouldn't be a surprise. As well as co-founding Twitter, Williams launched blog publishing service Blogger in 1999 and Medium is, ostensibly, similar – with... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #move forward

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Pick Your Favorite Book of the Year Twitter Contest

In a tweet with the hashtag #PWbestbooks, tell us the title and author of your favorite 2015 book, and tell us why for a chance to win our top 10 books of 2015. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-11-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book chain founder Philip Joseph dies

Bookseller Philip Joseph, who co-founded UK bookshop chain Books Etc with his son Richard Joseph, has died. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twitter Announces New Tools, Partnerships For Finding And Publishing Embedded Tweets

Online publishers are about to get a lot more options for embedding tweets in their stories, with Twitter announcing a new “ecosystem” of products around embedded tweets today at its Flight developer conference. ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-10-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twitter And Facebook Are Turning Publishers Into Ghost Writers

Publishers are in danger of becoming dumb content in the smart pipes of platforms like Facebook and Twitter. The quest for smoother user experience seems to pose actually visiting a publisher’s site as friction. With content consumption bei ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-10-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Is Twitter a Book Publishing Company?

The definition of what a publisher does is up for grabs, and one German executive predicts his company will one day employ more IT pros than editors. The post Is Twitter a Book Publishing Company? appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-10-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What Twitter's New 'Moments' Feature Means to Viewers, Media Companies and Brands

Twitter today unveiled Moments, the long-rumored content-curation feature that industry observers believed for the last several weeks would be called Project Lightning. It's got something for everyone—viewers, media companies and brands.  Moments is designed to make it easier to use the... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2015-10-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Heyday Books Founder to Retire

Malcolm Margolin, founder of Berkeley-based Heyday Books, will step down on December 31 after 41 years. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Why the founder of #ShoutYourAbortion had to go into hiding

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-10-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Cumulus Media Names Mary Berner CEO as Co-Founder Steps Down

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[ Advertising Age | 2015-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Obituary: Tarcher Books Founder Jeremy Tarcher

Jeremy Tarcher, the founder of the publishing company Tarcher Books (now part of the Tarcher Perigee imprint of Penguin Random House), died September 20. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Infographic: How Twitter Is Reshaping the TV Landscape

TV lovers who tweet can have real-time and potentially very profitable benefits for shows and advertisers, according to newly updated research from Twitter. The TVxTwitter Playbook features research from Twitter compiled using its own internal data as well as data from Nielsen and others.  ... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2015-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon founder invests $200m in space project

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-09-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Wordery founders sell 49% stake to Connect Books

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-09-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Five lessons startup founders can learn from Aziz Ansari's dating struggles

Comedian Aziz Ansari opened up at a Boston marketing conference on Thursday about his dating history, including the tale of unrequited love that ultimately became the genesis of his recently published book. Ansari, who teamed up with a New York sociologist to write the book, "Modern Romance,"... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal

[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2015-09-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dashner promotes The Fever Code with Twitter game

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[ The Bookseller | 2015-09-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twitter publishes targets for a 'more diverse' workforce in 2016

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[ The Guardian | 2015-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Storytellers From ‘The Moth’ Join Jemas and Double Take for ‘Living Dead’ Line

Mix one maverick comics publisher, a horror movie classic, a renowned video game company and some of the best oral storytellers from NPR’s popular The Moth Radio Hour and you have a pretty unusual mix for a new line of comics. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How Twitter more than doubled its advertising audience

Twitter has revamped its mobile ad network to target up to 700 million consumers, more than double its own audience of 310 million users. The key to the larger reach is its ability to target lookalike users, ones who share characteristics with its core audience. Today, Twitter introduced new ad... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2015-08-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twitter Gives Promoted Tweets and Video Ads More Mobile Reach

In November 2014, then Twitter CEO Dick Costolo touted the idea that around 500 million people consume the microblogging platform's tweets even though they don't have an account on it. During an earnings call at the time, Costolo was trying to explain why the company's persistent user-growth... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2015-08-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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