avatarCoach Robin 🫠

Summary

Medium's "Boost" feature is a curated distribution system designed to increase the visibility of selected articles, potentially reaching an additional 500 to 100,000 readers, and writers must meet specific criteria to be eligible for this opportunity.

Abstract

The article discusses Medium's "Boost" feature, introduced by CEO Tony Stubblebine, which aims to amplify articles that Medium deems exceptional. To qualify for the boost, content must be constructive, original, relevant to the author's expertise, well-crafted, and memorable. The selection process is competitive and follows a zero-sum model, meaning not all articles can be boosted. The boost can significantly increase an article's views and engagement, with results varying from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars in earnings. Only certain publications have the ability to grant a boost, and while the exact criteria for selection remain opaque, the feature is seen as a way to reward quality content and provide exposure to both established and emerging writers on the platform.

Opinions

  • The author suggests that the boost is akin to receiving a significant number of new views, likening it to a thousand helium balloons lifting the article's statistics.
  • The process of obtaining a boost is likened to being one of the "cool kids," implying that it is an exclusive and desirable achievement within the Medium community.
  • The author expresses a degree of skepticism or humor about the boost's effectiveness, referring to it as a "fun little bonus" akin to finding money in a pocket.
  • There is an indication that the boost is not a guarantee of success and may not be "life-altering" for every recipient.
  • The author suggests that self-promotion and personal effort can sometimes be more effective than waiting for a boost from Medium's curation system.

The Reason You’re Not Getting the Boost

And how to get it — and how it works

The boost is like getting a thousand helium balloons attached to your story’s stats. Photo by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash

Have you heard about The Boost yet? Apparently, all the cool kids are doing it. That’s right, they’re gettin’ high on Medium’s supply. And what are they supplying? Glad you asked, views from new eyeballs.

I’ve done some Medium sleuthing to come up with all the details one would hope to know about the boost. So much sleuthing that my eyeballs hurt and I can’t read that graph. But, I bring you all the ‘deets’ (that’s how the youths say details, I think) about how it all goes down.

Back at the end of February, Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine announced Medium’s new Boost feature. A curated distribution system designed to identify Medium articles that they think are too cool for school and want to share to a larger audience.

If you get ‘the nod’ from Medium, your article could be shown to an additional 500 to 100K readers. That vexing delta aside, it’s an opportunity for us mere writing mortals — as it is open to everyone, including Medium newbs.

But, it is a zero-sum game. The boost didn’t create more readers, so they can’t give the boost to everyone — or it would cancel itself out. Let’s take a look at what it takes to get the boost so that you can increase your odds.

To be boosted you need to use relevant, effective, copyright-free images — but they don’t boost posts about Medium so I can do whatever the hell I want here. (Shitty) Image by author, quote by someone smarter than me

The Criteria

The boost is available to all writers, however, Medium set the criteria they are looking for. They laid out exactly how to be a cool kid.

If you want to be a bad-and-boujee cool kid your article should include the following:

1. Constructive

Your article will be considered ‘constructive’ if it offers a key takeaway message, makes your reader’s life/job/relationship better, and elicits an emotion (including laughter).

2. Original

Your article needs to bring a fresh perspective to an existing topic, or shed light on something new, unknown, or sparsely examined.

3. Relevant Experience

Your article should be something that you are an expert in the subject matter in, or have relevant lived experience with. It should be thoroughly researched (with source links), have first-hand credible experience, and demonstrate in-depth knowledge and insights (that you communicate effectively).

4. Well-Crafted

It also needs to be high-quality, well-written, clear, narratively strong, grammatically correct (and free of spelling errors), and compelling. It should also have a value-driven image, properly formatted (title case), and an intriguing headline (no clickbait).

I absolutely did not steal this one from Douglas Adams. (Idiotic) Image by author.

5. Memorable

It should get your readers thinking, be memorable even days later, be compelling enough to share on social networks, and overall show value to being a Medium member.

These ‘cringy’ (gen-z speak for embarrassing) elements will disqualify your story from achieving boost status:

  • Clickbait title or image
  • Is in violation of Medium’s Rules
  • Is sponsored, affiliate linked, press releases, crypto airdrops, is not in English, erotica, is a meta post (about Medium itself), uses copyright images, or contains dangerous/illegal/harmful content.

I recommend reviewing Medium’s Quality Standards for ultimate article ‘rizz’ (gen z thought they were clever by shortening the word charisma) :

Who Can Give You the Boost

Medium announced that 15 pubs have the ability to give the boost to their articles. These boost curators however can (and have) selected pieces outside of their pubs as well. They did not reveal which pubs, but said that more will be rolled out (but no new details or dates on that have been announced since February).

This one goes out to my twisted sisters. (Ludicrous) Image by author.

Medium recently wrote a post in 3 Min Read highlighting some stories that have been curated with the boost. From that list I have figured out 8 of the 15 pubs that currently have boosting abilities, and which pub editor was given these magical rizzy superpowers:

I have also heard that these pubs have boosting powers, however it was not confirmed by Medium in that article:

What Are Boost Results Typically Like?

This is a hard question to answer as results seem to vary greatly. I’ve had to scour Medium to find posts that were boosted, and luckily a few of my friends spilled the tea about their boosts.

Here are the examples I have found:

So, it appears that the majority of the boosts are between the 500–1000 additional view mark. The boost generally lasts 2–3 days, and then the author’s account stats return to normal.

The authors range from a few hundred followers to tens of thousands, however, the majority seem to be lesser-known authors (which for me, is awesome to see). The topics seem quite varied, from tech to cats, self-help to photo essays. And pork chops.

Here. I wrote this one. That’s why it’s not as funny. (Stupid) Image by author.

Will You Get The Boost?

Maybe. Here’s the thing, it’s a zero-sum game — not everyone can get rizzy with it (otherwise it just cancels itself out, because there’s only so many readers here and that hasn’t changed). I think of it like getting a fun little bonus, like finding a 20 in your jeans pocket.

It is however temporary, and for most of the recipients — not life-altering. Well, unless you only need $20 more to buy a boat.

I don’t plan on getting the boost and I decided to boost myself instead. What I hadn’t planned on however, was that my self-boosting would have more effect than the actual boost.

You can read about that rizz here:

Medium
Writing
Boost
Ideas
Self Improvement
Recommended from ReadMedium