Svbtle vs Medium

Since last October I've been away from the Internet, well not completely, but not following my favorite blogs in a daily basis, wait… Not even in a weekly or bi-weekly basis.

Because of that I have missed the day when Svbtle opened its door to everyone interested in a nice space to blog. I have been reading some svbtle blogs ever since it was featured on Hacker News, it seems it was on top news again the day it became open Open for everyone.

It is interesting to see lot of comments on both days were about the ugly kind of person Dustin is for keeping the platform closed, now that it is open someone said:

Dustin is a little too late on this one. Medium came along and scooped up whatever chance Svbtle had of becoming accepted by the masses. It should have been open from the start, Dustin's elitist attitude got in the way and I think it's only a matter of time before Svbtle dies.

I really do not think you can compare Medium and Svbtle, they are two different things.

Medium

Well Medium is like a magazine where you may have a column for you to write on it. It started being invitation only but soon it was open for everyone. You can write in your column read others columns, comment on theirs and they can comment on yours. In fact anyone can comment on your piece of writing, but it is not like the common way to add comments in a blog. People can pick a paragraph and comment about it specifically and then someone else can join the conversation on that specific paragraph, works really nice.

Medium gives little but most of times enough control on how your post will look like, you can format the text very little, which is good for the most of population. Medium's CEO said:

I find that the happy medium (yes, I did that) between no formatting and full control is the most efficient and comfortable place to live. Once you get used to it, everything else feels like stepping back in time.

With Medium everything is under one domain medium.com all columns look alike. Well is a magazine you contribute content to it, you get readers for what you write, you interact with them, so it is also a nice community.

Svbtle

On the other way Svbtle is a blogging platform like Blogger or Wordpress.com where you can create your own site, with your own name and your own domain. Your content may be featured in Svbtle front page (you can opt-out). Even though it is a lot like other blogging platforms, it has a very narrowed set of features. Blogger, Wordpress.com or Tumblr can be customized a lot, while with Svbtle you can only change your icon and main color. All sites will look the same (Good looking for anyone loving minimalism). There is no interaction with readers, as there is no way to comment on anything, readers may contact the writer via Twitter or email if the writer choose to share that information.

Choosing the right one

Now that we know they are not comparable, specially not only because they have a similar appearance. We can choose which one to use.

First, you do not have to choose, you can use both of them, but if you want to belong to a community of writers, and you love interaction, then you may be better on Medium, if on the other hand you just want your place to write your own ideas, and make them available for anyone interested in your words, then Svbtle is a good place to be, of course you can choose Wordpress.com too, you can add your own domain and it is more customizable.

If you want something in the middle, Tumblr may be the place to go, you have your place, while still belonging to a community, just maybe not a readers/writers community.

Pick your any of them, and start sharing your ideas.