Content Strategy & Reality Check
66K Real Readers More Important Than 100K Fake Followers
There are more meaningful metrics to measure the success of publications
2023 Update. Illumination now has 66K+ clean followers.
ILLUMINATION received 3.7 million minutes of reading within the last 90 days. There was not a slight change in key metrics after losing 63,000 fake followers in the last two weeks. We keep receiving average 50,000 minutes of reading and 50K+ unique visitors daily. And some days more…
Even though the initial effect of losing followers was shocking for writers, it is a blessing in disguise, in my opinion.
We no more use followers as a metric as it is false and useless. We also don’t use views as a metric since we receive millions of views but a majority come from external sources hence do not add much value to our writers.
Instead, we focus on reading times which is a measurable metric for success. These 90 day reading times confirm that within the last 90 days, just ILLUMINATION itself generated 63,183 hours of reading time, roughly equating $63,000 income to our contributors. It is a remarkable achievement for a publication that is only a year old.
So ILLUMINATION is illuminating more than ever, supporting 10,000+ writers on Medium and giving meaningful content to discerning readers. Just yesterday, another great group of writers joined our exciting journey. Here is our onboarding pack as evidence. They are happy because we respect them and give options to succeed. We give them clear roadmap to grow. And practical conduct and engagement guidelines.
Like many other writers, I lost about 1,000 fake followers. I am grateful for my clean 9K real followers.
But!
How many times should I say followers do not matter on Medium?
I told before Followers Don’t Mean Anything On Medium Anymore.
Some aspiring writers are still chasing followers.
Once more, I recommended writers to Stop Wasting Your Time On Gaining Followers.
Why another story about followers?
Earlier I read an article from S M Mamunur Rahman using ILLUMINATION as an example for losing substantial followers. It sounded that out of 18,501 publications on Medium only ILLUMINATION lost followers. Putting my publication front page as cover photo created such a perception. Obviously, reputation of ILLUMINATION makes it a good candidate for sensational stories. That is fine by me. It creates more visibility for our beloved publication. I didn’t even care about allegations and thanked those who helped us grow unintentionally.
Yes, ILLUMINATION lost 63K fake followers. However, it is not only this publication. I know another significant publication that lost over 100K fake followers. These are alarming numbers, as I point out to the Medium support team. But it is the reality of attractive platforms I will touch on in a minute.
Mamunur’s sensation creating journalistic story mentions it must be hard to digest this news by Dr Yildiz and Dew Langrial. This statement is far from truth. I am delighted for Medium to clean the platform removing fake and spam accounts. Losing fake followers is the skin off my nose. My focus is on discerning readers and real followers.
My focus is to give excellent reading experience to our readers and support our writers to gain visibility, improve reading times, and earn income from their content. My only disappointment was Medium took a long time to take action on this critical issue even though we created awareness on this issue. One of our writers Chowa Sekai created weekly reports reporting fake accounts to Medium. The famous Laila story by Chowa is an example of this.
Furthermore, ILLUMINATION Editors invest their time to keep Medium clean from plagiarism and duplicated content. We removed over 250 plagiarists by constantly checking content using our tools. My publications have zero tolerance for plagiarism. We also encourage our writers to comply with photo copyright rules. Our editors spent hundreds of hours of precious time on dealing with this issue and they still work hard on this.
Back to fake accounts as it disturbed many of us. Like many brilliant writers and readers, Jennifer Geer asked an excellent question in an article on ILLUMINATION-Curated. The Real Question Is: Why Did It Take Medium so Long to Purge Itself of Spam Accounts. Writers and readers got a false impression of their followers.
Great writers focus on meaningful engagement as Trisha Dunbar say Stop Focusing on Follower Count and Start Building a Meaningful Community.
I want to touch on a few critical points.
First of all, let’s ask a fundamental question.
Why do so many fake and spam accounts target Medium?
As I pointed out in this article Actually, Medium Favors You: Why do you need canonical links for your articles published on Medium?, there is something special about Medium. And it is good for us.
Medium is one of the most trusted domains and platforms on search engines. Look at the SEO power of Medium.com from this diagram.
It is a platform with five million backlinks. Medium has a domain authority of 95, one of the highest on the web.
That’s why I wrote the following article:
Don’t worry about the number of followers.
Instead, find ways to increase our regular readers with meaningful engagement.
What does meaningful engagement mean?
Read more than writing.
Yes, I am a prolific writer who posted 1281 stories to Medium. However, I reviewed and read over 150,000 articles and left 6,938 comments on stories that resonated with me. I shared my first years success on Medium.
Here is my reading ratio. It is almost six times more than writing.
And I shared those thousands of articles that I read on my socials. For example, within the last 14 months, I contributed 152K tweets sharing the stories I reviewed and published in my publications. Those tweets get millions of impressions.
Reading, commenting, showing reactions, and sharing are meaningful engagements for writers with their readers.
I know some writers only write and don’t bother reading and commenting on other articles. They expect to be followed and read. They complain that no one reads their stories. First of all, they don’t create visibility to their stories. They don’t connect with others.
Unless you give first, you cannot expect to receive. It is a universal rule. Reciprocity and serendipity are scientific phenomena.
We can use this platform with care and diligence.
Medium made a substantial investment on the platform.
It is lovely that now engaging writers get a bonus. I shared my thoughts and sentiments in these articles.
Another Sunny And Joyful Day On Medium: Many engaging writers received substantial bonuses, and they are grateful.
An Unexpected Move From Medium: A game changing approach to keep talent
Many of our stories are curated. Number of Curated Stories Dramatically Increased
We have a cleaner platform. Medium has now committed to keeping it clean.
If we all collaborate and engage, we can make this platform even more remarkable. I write on many platforms and even earn more income on other platforms, but I still feel at home on Medium because I can create meaningful engagement here. Meaningful engagement is more important than earning income to me. There are not many writing platforms allowing meaningful collaboration like Medium.
Yes, there are still issues with the distribution as our stories are not receiving the desired number of views and reading times, but I believe Medium will fix them. Last 14 months, none of my stories were distributed to topics due to glitches in the platform, but they are now being distributed after fixing bugs, and I am grateful to reach out to a broader audience. Like many writers, I want my important and high impact content to be spread across the globe. Medium provides an excellent means for doing this.
There is no perfect platform and will not be. Perfection is delusion. But as writers and readers, if we own Medium and contribute meaningfully, we change the culture to be even more supportive and nurturing.
If each of us takes personal responsibility to keep this platform clean, we all can reap the benefits. Medium only exists because of writers and readers. We are the ones who can protect this platform.
We can provide feedback to the administration team to further improve it. The Medium administration team has proven its commitment to improvement, as evident from the recent changes.
Let’s stop chasing fake followers and focus on real readers who can help us grow.
If you want to survive and thrive on Medium, please check this article.
If you want to be a top writer, you can check this story giving you insights and practical guidance.
And if you want to triple your writing income, you can check this article.
Thank you for reading my perspectives.
I wish you all the best in your writing career. Many thanks to discerning readers who support us. We strive to make you delighted by providing engaging, informative, and inspiring stories every day.
About the Author
I am a technologist, postdoctoral researcher, author of several books, editor, and digital marketing strategist with four decades of industry experience.
If you are a new reader and find this article valuable, you might check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of sensible experiments.
I write about various hormones and neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, GABA, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, adrenaline, glutamate, and histamine.
One of my goals as a writer is to raise awareness about the causes and risk factors of prevalent diseases that can lead to suffering and death for a large portion of the population.
To raise awareness about health issues, I have written several articles that present my holistic health findings from research, personal observations, and unique experiences. Below are links to these articles for easy access.
Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Thyroid Disorders, Anemia, cardiac output, and major disorders.
I also wrote about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Phosphatidylserine, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, Cod Liver Oil, and other nutrients to improve metabolism and mental health.
Disclaimer: My posts do not include professional or health advice. I document my reviews, observations, experience, and perspectives only to provide information and create awareness.
I publish my lifestyle, health, and well-being stories on EUPHORIA. My focus is on metabolic, cellular, mitochondrial, and mental health. Here is my collection of Insightful Life Lessons from Personal Stories.
If you enjoy writing and storytelling, you can join Medium, NewsBreak, and Vocal as a creator to find your voice, reach out to a broad audience, and monetize your content.
You may also check my blog posts about my articles and other writers’ articles contributing to my Medium publications. I share them on my website, digitalmehmet.com. Here is my professional bio. You can contact me via weblink.
As a writer, blogger, content developer, and reader, you might join Medium, Vocal Media, NewsBreak, Medium Writing Superstars, Writing Paychecks, WordPress, and Thinkers360 with my referral links. These affiliate links will not cost you extra to join the services.
You might join my six publications on Medium as a writer by sending a request via this link. 19K+ writers contribute to my publications. You might find more information about my professional background.
If you enjoy reading, you may join Medium with my referral link for limitless access to my stories and other writers.
