Twitter co-founder Evan Williams normally maintains a low-key profile, but when it comes to business, he can talk for hours. In an hour-long interview, with USA Today, Williams discussed his vision for Medium, a blogging site he co-founded. Apart from discussing his relatively new venture, Twitter co-founder also talked about Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and blogging among other topics.
William confident on Medium
William and his fellow Twitter co-founder Biz Stone jointly started Medium with 75 employees. Every month around 17 million people already use it, including some big names such as U.S. President Barak Obama and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Essays on various topics such as tech and design, book chapters and even poetry are included.
The project is undergoing a phase of growth, but the journey ahead is not going to be easy as there are already a number of content outlets online. Many view this two-year old writing platform project as a vanity project by a tech, who is experimenting with the skills of journalism. William scoffs at questions like this, and says that it is not a vanity project at all as the venture has attracted some serious money.
An investment of $20 million was made in Medium by the Venture-capital firm Greylock Partners (and other investors). Revenue opportunities are being explored by the start-up in sponsored content with BMW and Marriott, as well as content and distribution charges.
William Praised Twitter CEO
William noted that his site came with a new homepage and simpler design, and “We need to clarify what we are doing here,” said William. He said that many people have the misconception that to get published on Medium an individual has to be an experienced professional.
William does not want to use Medium’s customer base as a criteria for measuring the success of the blogging platform. “I’m not going to say, ‘How can we get as many users as Instagram, Facebook or Twitter,” Williams says. “There is a toxicity of one-dimensionality in this industry. What is often measured is breadth, and not depth.”
On the recent criticism surrounding Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, Williams said that Costolo is a “great executor and operations guy.” The Twitter co-founder also praised Kevin Weil, vice-president of product.
