MEDIUM
Bizarre Spikes in Stats are Just the Bone I need
What keeps you writing here on Medium?
There’s something happening here What it is ain’t exactly clear — Buffalo Sprinfield
I’ve seen some weird things here on Medium. You stick around long enough and keep your eyes open and the magic will soon reveal itself to you, one white rabbit at a time.
I see at least 4 of these magical moments in today’s stats:
I’ve had 2 spikes of reads over 400 this month, and one that almost made 400 — but look at today! 793 reads so far today and I am just sitting down to lunch. The day is young. I must write.
There are some strange things about Medium. Weird spikes in stats, but more often, strange plummeting of numbers as well. Curators magically disappear from time to time. We think they are real. We’re not sure anymore.
They pop out of hiding occasionally and toss some of us doggie bones. We wag. We leap. We write.
Like magic. Magic puppy bones for tail-wagging writers. It’s ok, they paid me 200 bucks last month to keep sniffing out these weird, magical bones and I am totally down for that.
I try to picture what 793 people look like. That’s a lot of people. What is their demographic? Their racial make-up? Their locations? My Wordpress shows me a handy map where I can see what countries my readers are in — maybe Medium could give us a handy map like that? That’d be nice.
MPP is a weird thing all by itself. We are paid by reads but sometimes those reads are mere seconds on a 9 minute article. Then the person claps and comments like they read the whole thing. We get paid a few pennies for it. Just, weirdness. Maybe sometimes people just read remarkably fast? I am a slow reader myself — so when I read for you, I really do the thing. I hope my 793 readers today took more than a few seconds to evaluate my work. My MPP might just jump a few dollars and make my day! Whole bucket ‘o dog bones!
I can’t figure out exactly where my spikes in reads are coming from. No one article seems to be going viral. It’s been a strange search with no clear answer. It would be nice to know what I am doing right — what people want to read, so I can pump out more of that stuff.
Maybe we are all stuck in some Alice in Wonderland-like place, with magical talking cats hiding in the wings, waiting to serve us tea and take us on adventures. It’s ok, I’m game. I’ve not got much else better to do. I could use a bit of adventure in my life.
Hey Medium people — one more thought. I’d like some badges for my effort. Maybe a “One-Year-Writer” status badge or a “Hey I made the top 5.4% this month” badge, or “I survived the Great Curation Drought of 2020”. Like cute stickers for our profile that let readers know we are the “real deal.” I’d be cool with that.
I guess that’s all for now. I really need to get back to searching for the white rabbit in my stats. It’s my big adventure for the day. Way better than the freelance article I am supposed to be writing right now.
Let’s do this thing, fellow weirdos. Write the thing. Read all the things — make someone’s day with your comments and your pennies. We’re all in this crazy place together! Here, have some tea.
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Christina M. Ward is a creative and research content provider, often writing in topics such as marketing, productivity, wellness, chronic illness, climate change, social justice, politics and parenting. You can join her Author Newsletter, or follow her on social media.
