Medium Silently Rolled Out A Huge New Feature!
This morning I did what I normally do on Saturday mornings. Get up, make coffee, pour a cup, and sit down at my computer to read Medium articles I missed throughout the week. Then I dig into writing my own work.
This week I flipped it, instead of reading first, I wrote first. As I was in the middle of my writing I went to snag a link to one of my previous articles and noticed something — HUGE!
An Audio Option
Do you see it?!
On the right side next to the read time, there is a play button. This is HUGE!
Being the excitable and curious person that I am, I clicked it to see it in action. The voice highlights each word it’s reading. While it’s playing you’ll find controls in the lower right-hand corner that look like this.
The audio controls pop up is small as to be non-invasive. However, you’ll notice a few things. On the left, there is an icon of a person with audio next to them and on the right, there is an icon that looks like an odometer of a car.
These are two additional in-depth features.
Voice Options
First, the left icon of the person speaking, this option allows you to change the voice.
Each voice still sounds choppy and robotic, but, this is evidence that Medium is diving into the audio world. Why does this matter?
Audio is Trending Upward
In the last 10 years, audio-based content has been on the rise. This includes podcasts, audiobooks, music, and more… Look at these two images from ExplodingTopics.com
Podcasting searches are up 89% and audiobook searches are up 44%
This is huge for Medium, it means they are trying to expand the platform into a realm that has strong growth over the last decade. It could even mean better distribution of your articles. Your article could get minimal views on Medium, but, through some external audio-based channel, it could go viral.
Audio Speed Options
Second, the icon on the right of the odometer. Allows you to speed up your audio content. Now anyone who is a huge audio listener knows, sometimes, you want your audio faster. Whether you just don’t have time to listen to it at normal speed, or you’re sick of the long breaths the narrator is taking.
This option gives you the power to surpass that hurdle.
Takeaways
Medium is making moves to expand the platform from just blogging into a multimedia platform. Be sure to use this huge feature on your own articles and those of others. I haven’t seen it in the mobile app yet but I’m sure it's coming.
When it arrives on the mobile app, if they allow you to queue up article lists. Wow, that is going to be incredible. Now I know what some of you are thinking. The audio robots aren’t fun to listen to. I agree, but this means they’re working on it and that my friends is exciting! I look forward to the expansion of Medium into a multimedia platform.
How do you hope to utilize this new feature as it continues to develop?
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