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 ]
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In Times of Environmental Collapse, Storytelling is a Form of Repair

In Alissa Hattman’s debut novel Sift, the world, at first, appears hostile to life, nearly uninhabitable. Skies darken with toxins and smoke. Food, especially produce, is scarce. Drinking water is limited, a result of rivers and other natural bodies that have been poisoned. Fires rage and a... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-09-05 11:00:00 UTC ]
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The Morning After: Twitter hands over Trump’s DMs

Newly unsealed court filings reveal how much data Xwitter has handed over to the January 6 investigation. This includes all tweets sent, drafted, liked and retweeted – even if they were subsequently deleted – by Donald Trump’s official account. This cache also included DMs sent, received or... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-08-17 11:15:13 UTC ]
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Suki Thompson, founder of Oystercatchers, dies aged 56

Thompson raised nearly £200,000 for Macmillan Cancer Research, and donations continue to come in. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2023-08-02 15:16:19 UTC ]
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Twitter’s rebrand to X could worsen its legal and financial problems

Twitter’s rebrand to X is well underway. The name and iconic bird logo have been (mostly) stripped from the company’s San Francisco headquarters, and an “X” has replaced the blue bird atop twitter.com. Elon Musk has said the change is about more than just the name. He wants to turn the service... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-07-25 23:39:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #digital media


Apple has posted the entire first episode of ‘Silo’ on Twitter

Apple is borrowing a marketing tactic from Twitter pirates. The company made the unusual move of uploading the entire first episode of its series Silo to the social platform, allowing anyone there to watch the opening installment for free. The gambit follows Twitter’s move to allow longer video... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-06-27 18:24:03 UTC ]
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Cannes Today—Twitter and Meta make pitches, Omnicom hooks up with Google AI and Grand Prix latest

Welcome to Day Two of Ad Age’s Cannes Today newsletter. Reading this online and want it delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up here.  For real-time updates, follow our live blog. And see all our coverage here. Plus, click here for a recap of Day One. Twitter is beachless but bullish and Meta... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2023-06-20 20:38:54 UTC ]
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‘AI Voices’ in Audiobooks: Storytel in ElevenLabs Partnership

Storytel invests in ElevenLabs, looking to offer automated audiobook readings and 'voice switching' for users between preferred voices. The post ‘AI Voices’ in Audiobooks: Storytel in ElevenLabs Partnership appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-06-13 21:58:52 UTC ]
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Twitter's ad sales have reportedly dropped by 59 percent since last year

Twitter's advertising revenue is down 59 percent during a five week stretch between April 1st and early May compared to the same period last year, The New York Times has reported. It regularly falls short of sales projections, and things aren't likely to change soon (apparently despite the... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-06-06 09:25:43 UTC ]
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New Role for Jellyfish Founder Rob Pierre as The BrandTech Group M&A Deal Finalized

Digital media and marketing group Jellyfish has been wholly acquired by The Brandtech Group, driving their combined revenue to more than $1 billion. Jellyfish, which was co-founded in 2005 by chief executive Rob Pierre, currently operates across 38 offices and employs more than 2,000 people. It... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2023-06-01 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The Morning After: Meta could launch a Twitter competitor next month

Meta has long been rumored to be building a platform to rival Twitter. After months of speculation, there are finally some details on how it might turn out, according to digital media marketing expert Lia Haberman, who has heard about the app through content creators approached by Meta.Haberman... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-05-22 11:15:43 UTC ]
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Meta’s rumored Twitter competitor could launch as early as next month

Folks are spending less time on Twitter since Elon Musk bought the social media site last year, but there’s still plenty of demand for similar platforms like Mastodon and Bluesky. To that point, Meta has long been rumored to be building its own platform to rival Twitter. After months of... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-05-19 18:16:25 UTC ]
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FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried ‘let me see everything’ for new book, says Michael Lewis

The Big Short author was given unlimited access to failed cryptocurrency exchange founder for Going Infinite: the Rise and Fall of a New TycoonMichael Lewis, the bestselling author of The Big Short and Flash Boys, will tell the story of the cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried in... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-05-16 14:28:23 UTC ]
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Serial Storytelling Levels Up: Spotlight on YONDER

The new serial storytelling platform offers readers a premium, highly curated catalog featuring new content delivered daily to mobile devices. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-05-13 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Book Review: ‘The Labors of Hercules Beal,’ by Gary D. Schmidt, and ‘The Storyteller,’ by Brandon Hobson

In new novels by the National Book Award finalists Gary D. Schmidt and Brandon Hobson, adolescent boys navigating parental loss find strength in ancient mythology. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-05-12 09:00:15 UTC ]
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NewFronts Day 3—Twitter shows up after all and inside TikTok’s invite-only event

Welcome to Ad Age’s NewFronts 2023 newsletter. We’ve been sharing a daily roundup of events, interviews and sessions from Interactive Advertising Bureau's dog-and-pony show throughout the week. You can find all of Ad Age's NewFronts coverage here. Twitter went from NoFronts to NewFronts—kind... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2023-05-04 14:42:00 UTC ]
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B.J. Best, Andrew Ervin, and Brittney Morris on Video Games, Storytelling, and the Importance of Play

Writers B.J. Best, Andrew Ervin, and Brittney Morris join co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell live from the Unbound Book Festival in Columbia, Missouri to discuss the narrative realms of video games and the evolving space they inhabit. The group reminisces about their first... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-05-04 08:53:59 UTC ]
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Paying Twitter users can now post up to 10,000 characters

One of the defining features of Twitter since its inception has been the character limit, forcing users to be direct and concise. It’s such a big deal that when the limit was doubled, from just 140 characters to 280, it became a subject of primetime TV gags. But under the guiding hand of... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2023-04-14 14:57:40 UTC ]
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The Steve Jobs Archive releases e-book chronicling the Apple co-founder's life in his own words

Populated with photographs, emails, speeches and interviews, "Make Something Wonderful" is a chronological exploration of the life of Steve Jobs. Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal

[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2023-04-12 22:11:45 UTC ]
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The Morning After: Twitter keeps legacy verified blue ticks around, for now

Last week, Twitter said it would start winding down the legacy verified program on April 1st, but over the weekend, that didn't happen, because (according to The Washington Post) unverifying users is a painstaking manual process. Meanwhile, another report indicated around 10,000 of the... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-04-04 11:15:47 UTC ]
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Catherine Lacey: ‘That constant nervous Twitter energy repels me’

The American novelist, whose latest work is a fake biography of an avant-garde artist, on growing up in Mississippi and why her fiction has ‘never actively involved cellphones or the internet’Catherine Lacey, 37, is the author of three previous novels, including The Answers, currently being... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-04-01 17:00:01 UTC ]
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