The Big Boxes and Locals on Medium
There is an interesting dynamic happening on Medium. I am not talking about the new policy regarding reading time and payment, it is…
There is an interesting dynamic happening on Medium. I am not talking about the new policy regarding reading time and payment, it is something else.
I will scroll through my front page and look for an article that may interest me and then, finding one, click on it. It is there that I notice the source. I just clicked on two articles one on clipping apps and the other on the world’s longest flight as a laboratory. The first was from PC Mag and the second from Bloomberg. It immediately struck me, is this like the big box stores moving into the neighborhood and pushing the locals out?
One thing I like about Medium is the variety of writers and writers being themselves. I love the ability to read my favorites, whether I agree with them or not, and enjoy their message and their word craft. I also enjoy being one of them myself.
The writer writes on Medium usually without the usual hierarchy of approval from editors etc. This is the writer giving his or her work directly without anyone changing it or telling the author to use a different tack. It is like the Mom and Pop store who market their retail operation the way they feel the neighbors and regular customers expect, not what New York wants them to do, on Podunk Road in Massachusetts.
Once the big box people come in, they also come in with the hierarchy and the highly edited work and focused articles. They will always be great reads, but I do not want to see the “locals” moved out.
In Massachusetts there is a great hardware store and many times when I lived and worked in that area, I would go there instead of the big box store. They key here is that the small locally owned Curry Hardware store sits in the shadow, literally, of the big box Home Depot.
They seem to function well together. What is fascinating is that it seems everything I need to buy in the hardware store I can find at Curry even though it physically has a tiny footprint compared to Home Depot.
The difference is service. If I need something, I can ask any of the employees and they will find it for me immediately or at least direct me to it. It is quick and easy, whereas if I go to Home Depot I need to look for it myself. It has such a large selection that time searching is valuable time I could spend doing other things. Further, the customer service reps know me at Curry whereas no one knew me at Home Depot.
Both stores have their advantages, but I greatly appreciate that Curry Hardware co-exists with Home Depot.
I no longer live in the area, but I never forgot the lesson I learned there of how to co-exist in the shadow of the big box people moving into the neighborhood.
I think that will be a lesson for all of us as well. We always need to make sure we offer what the large publisher cannot: our own perspective, research and word craft. This may make the difference regardless of how many big box stores move into the Medium neighborhood.