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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Facebook Is Working on a Twitter-Like App That Lets Publishers Send Mobile Breaking News Alerts to the Masses

Facebook is working on a stand-alone mobile news application that seems to be part of its Facebook for Business initiative.   This product, which sounds similar to Twitter, seems to be different from Facebook for Work, an initiative that wa ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #business initiative


Facebook reportedly testing Twitter-like breaking news app

App that would allow publishers to highlight and push news events to Facebook users is said to be in alpha-stage testingFacebook could be preparing to take on Twitter at its own game, with a standalone news application for mobile phones.The product, which is reportedly in “alpha” stage testing... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #facebook users #mobile phones #business initiative


Twitter: Programmatic Pays More When It's 'Personal'

Twitter’s mobile ad exchange has found that publishers make a lot more money if they just get more personal. Instead of holding an open auction for every bit of ad space, app publishers should forge special relationships with some buyers to ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishers make #ad space #app publishers


Twitter’s New Article Preview Cards Could Be a Boost for Publishers

Here's another one for the Twitter-is-becoming-Facebook files: some article previews to external sites have started auto-expanding in your timeline on Android and iOS devices. As you browse your feed, you'll notice that tweets from some publi ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-07-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Oculus founder responds to flak over 'exclusive' games

Oculus VR came under fire last week after its CEO said the company will fund development of about two dozen “Oculus-exclusive” games for its virtual reality headset. The company has now responded to the complaints, saying some of those games may eventually come to other VR platforms.The spat... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2015-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AuthorBee Platform Debuts on Twitter

AuthorBee allows Twitter users to aggregate, organize and archive related social media content, making it easier to locate subject categories and share a variety of labeled content with other users. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Founder of Peter Owen Publishers steps down as m.d

Peter Owen has stepped down as m.d. of his eponymous publishing house, with Nick Kent taking over the position. Owen has also handed over the position of publishing director to Antonia Owen, but will remain chairman of the company. Antonia Owen is Owen’s elder daughter, and previously held the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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UK Twitter event for E L James

E L James will be holding a live Q&A from the Twitter head office in London's Piccadilly next Monday (29th June). The bestselling author of the Fifty Shades of Grey series will hold the live #AskELJames Q&A at 6pm. The five best questions on the day will win a signed copy of the latest... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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AuthorBuzz Founder M.J. Rose’s Best Practices for Marketing

M.J. Rose, the founder of AuthorBuzz, shares her best practices book marketing, pitfalls to avoid, and other challenges of reaching readers. The post AuthorBuzz Founder M.J. Rose’s Best Practices for Marketing appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-06-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Leap in sales and profit at Egmont UK

Egmont Book Publishing has reported soaring sales and profits at Egmont UK, thanks partly to the success of Minecraft. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Matt Haig 'crucified' on Twitter for planning book about masculinity

‘If a man wants to write about gender and the pitfalls of masculinity, they’re met with sneers,’ says the bestselling author, who disputes criticism that he is antifeministThe author Matt Haig found himself “crucified” online after suggesting that his next non-fiction title could be a book... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Four challenges for Twitter's next CEO

Dick Costolo has stepped down as CEO of Twitter after five years on the job, relinquishing his post amid longstanding problems including sluggish growth and frequent abusive comments posted to the social network. Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey, who is also CEO of Square, will be interim CEO when... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2015-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Caitlyn Jenner Is on Pace to Break President Obama's Twitter Follower Record

Bruce Jenner effectively completed his gender transformation today—at least in the public sense—when the former Olympian appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair with the headline, "Call me Caitlyn." His new identity, Caitlyn Jenner, then got her own Twitter handle, @Caitlyn_Jenner, where she... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2015-06-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Anthony Bourdain Invested in This Website After Founder Sent Him a Drunken Email

Among the many ways for a business to raise capital these days, sending a drunken e-mail to Anthony Bourdain probably isn't the most fruitful strategy. But it worked for Roads & Kingdoms, a burgeoning web magazine offering an eclectic mix of food, politics, and travel fare."It was like a... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2015-05-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twitter reportedly eyeing $1bn Flipboard acquisition

Social network and magazine app have been in talks since the beginning of the year, according to reportsTwitter is discussing the possibility of acquiring the social media aggregation app Flipboard at a valuation of more than $1bn, according to reports.Twitter’s chief financial officer Anthony... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-05-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Founder Buys Back FastPencil

Courier Corp. has sold its self-publishing unit, FastPencil, back to company cofounder Steve Wilson. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Meerkat integrates address books, befriends Facebook after Twitter snub

Meerkat is reducing its dependency on Twitter by integrating address books and letting users post live video streams to Facebook.Installing the updated app now brings up an option to enter your phone number and give Meerkat access to your address book, so it can find other people who are using... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2015-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tweets versus Wall Street: analysts fear for Twitter in the battle for advertising

The social network’s results and revenues are failing to impress investors – especially when compared with Facebook’s and Google’sGood news travels fast, but bad news even faster – especially if it’s the release of lacklustre results from Twitter. That’s what happened on Tuesday last week when,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-05-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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eBay founder Pierre Omidyar is Hawaii's richest person, Forbes says

Pierre Omidyar, founder and chairman of eBay, who lives in Honolulu and has a net worth of $8.1 billion, is the richest person in Hawaii, according to Forbes magazine. The 47-year-old billionaire Hawaii resident, who also is a co-founder of Honolulu Civil Beat, ranks No. 168 on the 2015... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal

[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2015-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Twitter boss confirms plans to expand curated 'experiences' to all users

Users should not panic about a Facebook-style filtered timeline just yet, but Dick Costolo says curation will happen for ‘logged in users’ as well as passing visitorsTwitter will expand its efforts to “curate” tweets and media for its users, according to chief executive Dick Costolo, although... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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