Thank you for one million members

Yesterday we had 999,268 members. Today we have 1,000,275.

We’d debated making a fuss about the million member milestone, then backed off because it seemed a little artificial. Our real work is making Medium better for all of you. There are piles and piles of that real work.

But then as we got closer to a million members, everyone who works at the company started tracking our progress. Our internal member tracker updates every hour, and when we logged on this morning, it had ticked over past a million to 1,000,275.

This milestone feels good. That’s what I want to share. Whether we always get it right, the people who work at Medium work here because they care. I’ve never been with a group of people who cared more about doing something good on the Internet.

There is a moment in our not-so-distant past where a million members seemed impossible. So for us, we’re feeling some combination of relief and disbelief: “Wow, this really just happened?”

But on top of that feeling is a bigger feeling of gratitude to the writers here. A million people paid to read your writing. That proves that there is value in your authentic, passionate words. Without you sharing your experiences, expertise, creativity, and ideas, there just wouldn’t be any such thing as Medium.

Supporting the writers are thousands of publication editors who cheer, advise, edit, and curate. Together, you produce the writing that draws in all these members. Thank you to both, our writers and editors.

And to every Medium member: Thank you for being a part of this community. We’re so glad you’re here.