Last June, a major revenue guy from Medium spoke at AdMonsters’ Ops conference , laying out a fascinating native advertising model transacted on a time-spent basis. It was a bold plan that sparked a great deal of conversation throughout the event.

So you can imagine I was disheartened when reading Ev Williams’ “Renewing Medium’s Focus” announcing that the nascent publishing platform was reconsidering its revenue strategy and laying off 50 people mainly in sales and other business functions. I’m a regular Medium reader and occasional contributor, and I’ve been rooting for the company to succeed, especially after I learned of its exciting advertising strategy.

“We are shifting our resources and attention to defining a new model for writers and creators to be rewarded, based on the value they’re creating for people,” Williams wrote. “And toward building a transformational product for curious humans who want to get smarter about the world every day.

“It is too soon to say exactly what this will look like.”

Ah, so “Renewing” is a bit of doublespeak to hide the fact that you have no idea how to monetize Medium’s content in a way that will satisfy your idealism.

One of the best responses to this news and the idea that digital media is doomed comes from John Battelle, founder and CEO of NewCo (and former founder and CEO of Federated Media), who notes that, “publishing is community.” Basically, the industry needs to take a step back and reconsider the value not of audiences, but specific publisher audiences.[…READ MORE at: Original Article: www.minonline.com]