<s>
It	O
is	O
owned	O
by	O
A	B-Protocol
Medium	I-Protocol
Corporation	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Williams	O
,	O
previously	O
co-founder	O
of	O
Blogger	B-Application
and	O
Twitter	B-Application
,	O
initially	O
developed	O
Medium	O
as	O
a	O
means	O
to	O
publish	O
writings	O
and	O
documents	O
longer	O
than	O
Twitter	B-Application
's	O
140-character	O
(	O
now	O
280-character	O
)	O
maximum	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Evan	O
Williams	O
,	O
Twitter	B-Application
co-founder	O
and	O
former	O
CEO	O
,	O
created	O
Medium	O
to	O
encourage	O
users	O
to	O
create	O
posts	O
longer	O
than	O
the	O
then	O
140-character	O
limit	O
of	O
Twitter	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
the	O
company	O
,	O
as	O
of	O
May	O
2017	O
,	O
Medium.com	B-Protocol
had	O
60million	O
unique	O
monthly	O
readers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2016	O
,	O
Medium	O
acquired	O
the	O
rich	O
media	O
embedding	O
platform	O
Embedly	B-Protocol
,	O
a	O
provider	O
of	O
content	O
integration	O
services	O
for	O
numerous	O
websites	O
,	O
including	O
Medium	O
itself	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
That	O
same	O
year	O
there	O
were	O
7.5	O
million	O
posts	O
published	O
on	O
the	O
platform	O
,	O
and	O
60	O
million	O
readers	O
used	O
medium.com	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
platform	O
software	O
provides	O
a	O
full	O
WYSIWYG	B-Application
user	O
interface	O
when	O
editing	O
online	O
,	O
with	O
various	O
options	O
for	O
formatting	O
provided	O
as	O
the	O
user	O
edits	O
over	O
rich	O
text	O
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Once	O
an	O
entry	O
is	O
posted	O
,	O
it	O
can	O
be	O
recommended	O
and	O
shared	O
by	O
other	O
people	O
,	O
in	O
a	O
similar	O
manner	O
to	O
Twitter	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Posts	O
can	O
be	O
upvoted	O
in	O
a	O
similar	O
manner	O
to	O
Reddit	B-Application
,	O
and	O
content	O
can	O
be	O
assigned	O
a	O
specific	O
theme	O
,	O
in	O
the	O
same	O
way	O
as	O
Tumblr	B-Application
.	I-Application
</s>
<s>
Users	O
can	O
create	O
a	O
new	O
account	O
using	O
a	O
Facebook	B-Application
or	O
Google	B-Application
account	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Users	O
may	O
also	O
sign	O
up	O
using	O
an	O
e-mail	O
address	O
,	O
when	O
they	O
are	O
signing	O
up	O
using	O
the	O
mobile	O
app	O
of	O
Medium.com	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Posts	O
on	O
Medium	O
are	O
sorted	O
by	O
topic	O
rather	O
than	O
by	O
writer	O
,	O
unlike	O
most	O
blogging	O
platforms	O
,	O
including	O
Williams	O
 '	O
earlier	O
Blogger	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
platform	O
uses	O
a	O
system	O
of	O
"	O
claps	O
"	O
(	O
formerly	O
"	O
recommendations	O
"	O
)	O
,	O
similar	O
to	O
"	O
likes	O
"	O
on	O
Facebook	B-Application
,	O
to	O
upvote	O
the	O
best	O
articles	O
and	O
stories	O
,	O
called	O
the	O
Tag	O
system	O
,	O
and	O
divides	O
the	O
stories	O
into	O
different	O
categories	O
to	O
let	O
the	O
audiences	O
choose	O
.	O
</s>
