Even the internet guys are having trouble figuring out how to make money from long-form journalism.

Medium — the high-minded blogging site started by Twitter co-founder Ev Williams — announced Wednesday it will ax 50 jobs, or a third of its workforce, as it closes its New York and Washington offices.

In a lengthy post on Medium, Williams blamed the ad-driven economics of the web and admitted he needed to refocus in order to find a new business strategy.

The job losses are in business, sales and support, he said.

“They tended to do packages of sponsored content more than what you would consider a standard ad. It’s hard to scale an ad business these days without a standardized ad model built into the platform,” said Noah Malin, head of social MEC, North America.

Medium built a name for itself as a place where people could answer their critics. Postings and readership have risen 300 percent since last year, Williams said.

In late 2015, Amazon’s chief spokesman Jay Carney used Medium to respond to a critical New York Times story on the company’s tough workplace practices.

But growth hasn’t kept pace with spending at Medium, and Williams lashed out at ad-driven media as a “broken system” that doesn’t serve readers — replete with “fake news” and clickbait that his startup has failed to fix.

“The vast majority of articles, videos, and other ‘content’ we all consume on a daily basis is paid for — directly or indirectly — by corporations who are funding it in order to advance their goals,” Williams wrote. “And it is measured, amplified, and rewarded based on its ability to do that. Period. As a result, we get … well, what we get. And it’s getting worse.”

In response, Williams said Medium will search for a “new model for writers and creators to be rewarded, based on the value they’re creating for people.”

“It is too soon to say exactly what this will look like,” Williams wrote. “This strategy is more focused but also less proven. It will require time to get it right, as well as some different skills.”