One thing that struck me as I wrote my post about Best Buy stopping issuing API keys to free email accounts, was the fact that Best Buy operates their developer blog on Medium--something I am seeing more of. As I discover new API-centric companies via my blog, Twitter, Product Hunt, AngelList, and the many other ways I tune into the space, I'm seeing more companies operating the blog portion of their presence in this way.
One of voices in my head points out that this just doesn't seem like a good idea. It reminds me of hosting our blogs on Posterous. Medium doesn't let you map your domain, or sub-domain to your blog (invite only), but I'm sure is something they'll do soon. They don't have RSS, and they don't have a read API either? *warning bells* While I get the Medium thing, it seems like one of those neatly tended gardens, where as many roads out are gated off with friendly hand-painted signs.
However some of the other voices in my head chimed in that Medium is just asking for non exclusive license to use your content. They let you delete your account, and I know they are working hard on their API strategy. Also, I'm a big supporter of API providers being as scrappy as possible, as many of us have to do as much as we can with some often very non-existent budgets. Best Buy rocks it at leveraging Github, Medium, Twitter, and all the channels I usually recommend. So in the end I really can't bitch about API platforms using Medium for their blog presence.
When you use Medium you get the network effect for your blog presence--something I'm working to understand better, and leverage more as part of my own work. I'll keep tracking on the APIs I find that use Medium for their blog presence. Right now my only complaint is simple -- THERE IS NO RSS!!! Beyond that, I'll just track on and see how it all plays out. My advice is to still to utilize a WordPress, Jekyll, Blogger, or other hosted service where you can map a subdomain to, keeping all the valuable exhaust within your domain. Then follow the POSSE principles when incorporating Medium into the communication strategy for your API platform.
