avatarJames Ssekamatte

Summary

Experienced writers are departing from Medium due to dissatisfaction with changes in the platform's algorithms and monetization model, while new writers face challenges in adapting to new platforms like LinkedIn.

Abstract

The article discusses a trend of seasoned writers leaving Medium, primarily due to changes in the platform's algorithms that have reduced their earnings. These writers criticize Medium for its shift in direction since late 2020, citing issues such as a decline in story reach and the dominance of certain content themes. The introduction of the Medium Writers Challenge (MWC) in 2021 temporarily alleviated concerns about monetization, but the lack of similar initiatives in 2022 has reignited frustration. The author also addresses the so-called "LinkedIn exodus," suggesting it's not as significant as it appears, with only a vocal minority advocating for the move. The author, who is multifaceted in their professional identity, expresses ambivalence about establishing a writing presence on LinkedIn, preferring to maintain a diverse portfolio of interests and income sources. The article argues that Medium's current state is a result of over-reliance on a select group of writers and publications, which ultimately proved unsustainable for the platform's business model.

Opinions

  • The author believes that the primary reason writers are leaving Medium is due to reduced earnings from changes in the platform's algorithms.
  • Some writers are disillusioned with Medium's direction, feeling that the platform is like a "zombie" still operating despite being effectively "dead."
  • The author is critical of the "best" writers on Medium who constantly self-promote and pitch their businesses, including LinkedIn ventures, rather than contributing to a diverse writing ecosystem.
  • The author does not see LinkedIn as a viable alternative for their writing, as it does not align with their multifaceted professional identity.
  • There is skepticism about the benefits of moving to LinkedIn for new writers, as it requires starting from scratch without the support of an established audience.
  • The article suggests that Medium's past reliance on certain writers and publications was detrimental to the platform's long-term health.
  • The author acknowledges benefiting from the old publication model but recognizes it as unsustainable, despite the short-term financial gains.

All The Best Writers Have Left Medium

And they are so committed to letting you know about their exodus

Photo by Chandler Chen on Unsplash

One of the self-proclaimed best Medium writers called Medium a zombie that still sleepwalks its way through the corridors of the internet even though it's as dead as a doornail.

According to him, this reality results from the directions Medium has chosen to take since late 2020. From awful algorithms that have greatly impacted the reach of the stories on Medium, to the insufferable people who won’t stop writing about how fucked the world is becoming, or the middle-aged women who made boatloads of money on Medium through complaining about the patriarchy, privilege, and self-help bros.

But let’s face it. There is only one reason why writers are leaving Medium. — It’s about the money.

These writers only think that the algorithms are awful here because the reads they get aren’t giving them enough money as they used to. The inevitably occasional drop-in views now impact these writers much more in terms of earnings and it is extremely frustrating.

Medium (knowingly or unknowingly ) bought itself a full year when it launched the MWC in 2021. Many writers braved the storms hoping that June of 2022 would bring something similar but that never came.

What Medium did in June of 2021 got writers less concerned about the fact that the algorithms had become shittier. So long as the money was coming in, people were still writing.

A year later, the high expectations that we had in 2021 are not there to carry us along and everyone must now truly evaluate what in the world they are doing by writing here (or anywhere for that matter).

The LinkedIn Exodus

I am just going to start by saying that it is not as big as it seems to be. It's just that a few writers talking about it are making the most noise.

I am an engineer, an artist, and now …a writer(?)… I have thought about having a writing presence on LinkedIn and each time I think about it, it makes me sick to my stomach.

The reason why I am not interested in writing on LinkedIn is that I just can’t figure out how to sum up my account as a writer, yet I have all these other things am greatly passionate about.

Writing is not my only source of income thanks to my engineering and art skills so I am conflicted as to whom I should be on that platform. Many of my friends with whom I graduated know me as a civil engineer, and yes, I geek over structural analysis from time to time, but the engineering that gets my mind excited is software engineering. I love going through hours of math research trying to find out useful formulas I can combine into algorithms and develop software for.

Writing makes up only 1–3 hours of my days and the rest of that is engineering, except when I have some art to do.

I am writing all this to say when it comes to writing, for me, LinkedIn is not an option and I don’t know if it ever will be.

There are also so many other writers out there that have just started writing here on Medium. They may never have written much or stuck somewhere long enough to learn the way things work. Also for these writers, moving to a new platform to start again is the kind of distraction that they do not need.

Many writers would benefit from taking a shot at writing on LinkedIn. But you would be mistaken to think that you as a new writer with little to no experience or audience will make it there.

Joining any new platform requires that you learn the ropes from scratch. If you have an audience with you there or anywhere else, that will fast-track your progress but if you don’t, it's like erasing everything you worked for just to start again.

Sure, Medium is probably dead already but even in this death, many writers here will do better here than they will do on LinkedIn over a given time frame. Somehow, we keep buying into the idea that some platform is going to make our internet business dreams a reality only to be hit with the cycle of realities that don’t match our expectations.

Besides, it’s these “best” writers of Medium who led to the death of the platform. They will call themselves the best writers yet all their material is some form of a business pitch. Even the doom spelling of Medium’s death that they do is also an opportunity for them to pitch their LinkedIn businesses.

These people lack the basic decency or self-respect and empathy to want what’s best for you. All they care about is getting signups to their email lists and possibly purchases of their online courses.

Thank God, publications that had created a “cool-kid” phenomenon on Medium finally died off due to a lack of funding from Medium. They weren’t the arms of Medium like these “best” edium writers claim, they were f*cking clutches that stopped medium from learning how to walk.

Medium’s current “death” is the death of these unscalable, unpractical business blasphemies and maybe it won’t recover since it relied on them for way too long but, if it does recover, it will be much stronger and better for ditching these suckers.

To think that a platform as big as Medium relied on a few writers and select publications is evidence that it was doing something really wrong and no matter how good those parties benefited from it, it was sooner or later going to hurt the business as a whole, and I am glad Medium didn’t wait for that to happen.

If what this “best” writer said about Medium, its algorithm, and the engineers is true, of course, the algorithm is fucked up. It had to be. These writers, publications, and the expectations they had for payments were in a way holding the algorithm hostage, and the engineers needed to extricate themselves from that mess. It is the only sensible thing to do.

I am one of the people who benefited from these publications by the way. I made hundreds of dollars for barely any views and it was sickening to get the money that I knew others who had better results than me didn’t have.

I am not saying that the money was bad, I am saying that I realized how unsustainable that practice was and even though it was great in the short term, it was just a disaster waiting to happen. Can you imagine being paid $100 each time your work got accepted in a publication regardless of whether it would do well or not? The money is great, the practice is stupid for your business.

Yet this is the part of the practice that these “best” writers claim Medium can’t do without.

Miss Medium with that bullshit.

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