Facebook Notes Wants To Marginalize Medium

Facebook is quietly testing new blogging features that could turn its little-known Notes system into a long-form platform, taking on Medium in the process. Notes has allowed for longer statuses to be posted to a Facebook user's profile, shared either publicly or with only certain groups of friends, but a recent upgrade has added greater image, tagging, and other abilities for some users.

For instance, the new system allows for a large cover photo to be added, as well as giving the option to resize images. Other Facebook users can be tagged, and both links and hashtags embedded.

"We're testing an update to Notes to make it easier for people to create and read longer-form stories on Facebook," a company spokesperson confirmed to The Next Web.

Although their involvement is unclear at this stage, it's possible that Teehan+Lax – the design company instrumental in creating the initial aesthetic for minimalistic blogging platform Medium – took part in the recreation of Notes.

The Teehan+Lax team joined Facebook in 2015.

Medium has been a rising star in online publishing, growing a reputation for allowing writers to easily tweak the design of their articles. It's hardly surprising that Facebook might want to gain the same sort of reputation, especially with its earlier focus on embedding content directly into the newsfeed with things like Instant Articles launched earlier this year.

Exactly when – or if – the broader Notes features will get rolled out to more users remains to be seen.

VIA Dave Winer

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