A good idea but I feel giving value to a one liner or a link would be difficult, unless a set of criteria is defined early on. But I do agree that even short posts can have value and should be rewarded.

However, unlike Steemit, Medium is not a social network - it's a publishing platform.

Regarding this I differ. As of now we are just that, a publishing platform. I do understand we are in beta and changes are proposed, but the changes happening are more about the coin than the social aspect of things, and this worries me.