Breaking News: Medium Brings Back the Mobile Editor Next Week
+ 3 more updates that you don’t want to miss!
Yes, it’s true — the requests of so many Medium writers have been answered and it’s happening sooner than anyone expected.
Actually, it’s happening after only a month and a half since Tony Stubblebine became the new CEO of Medium and since then the platform has been brimming with transformation.
Tony has made it one of his missions to listen to the requests of his fellow writers and so far he has not disappointed. On the contrary. Changes have been on the fast-forward path to completion, the first one being the new tipping feature.
Also, as part of a more focused approach towards a more performant platform, Medium did let go of 29 employees on August 29th.
While the latter might be on a less positive note for the employees involved, the following changes are an answer to what the readers have been asking for.
Change №1
Starting with the week of August 29th, 2022, the new mobile editor will be available for use again.
It’s a much-requested addition to the app, especially for the authors who use their mobile phones to write, edit and publish their stories.
The new version will be almost identical to the old mobile editor, but not for long. Medium is taking into consideration all the requests and feedback they receive and will incorporate some of them into the editor.
One of the requests that will be implemented in the future will allow editors to accept or reject drafts directly in the app.
Change №2
After an on-again-off-again trajectory, the custom domains feature is also back, and this time for good. This allows a writer to add a custom domain to their Medium profile or publication.
The feature first became active in 2015, then removed in 2018, then added back in February 2021, and removed again in May of this year.
While these permutations didn’t affect existing custom domains, it’s important to note that it was an experimental feature and expected to go through some changes.
Much like the custom domains, the newly implemented Tipping Button is also experimental. It is a beta version and is being tested against the market, so it might be going through some changes and adjustments as well.
Its success will depend on how the Medium community receives it, but don’t count on it just yet.
Change №3
The Following Feed will no longer be algorithm based.
Many writers asked for a simple, reverse chronological order list of content from the authors they follow. Medium built it and tested it against the older, algorithm-based feed.
The new “true following” feed worked very well. Reading time from the following feed increased by 110%, as readers were interested in creators they hadn’t consistently seen in a while.
For the future, Medium is considering building even more filters that would help readers control the feed, such as muting support or hiding already-read content.
Over the last couple of years, Medium received and fixed a lot of bugs related to empty follow feeds and now it feels more confident knowing that if a reader follows someone’s writing, that content will appear in their following feed.
More important than these changes, however, is Medium’s aspiration to build a better platform together with the writers and readers, working towards an innovative product that everybody can rely on.
Medium is not only listening. It’s also implementing. And that’s great news!
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