Can Publications Disappear And Statistics Crash? Well, Apparently So.
What would you do when it happens?
I need to declare that I am no Lamentosarous Rex. There are many reasons when things happen. I believe we have to understand it first before commenting. Of course, it does not stop me from voicing my observations followed by and then what.
We have a positive inclination towards the things that we enjoy doing daily. We think of our ability to publish work on Medium the same way a running enthusiast would lace up for a run every evening.
The running enthusiast (by and large) does not actively plan for a physiotherapy session because he stepped in a pothole and twisted his ankle.
The writing enthusiast (by and large) does not actively plan for the sudden and mysterious disappearance of their favorite publications and declining viewership.
We know that anything can happen. We still get shocked when it does. Contingent planning does not take away the emotional shockwave when reality bites.
Let me begin with the mysterious case of a disappearing publication.
One of my favorite publications that I contribute bi-monthly has disappeared since yesterday. I mentioned “yesterday” because I checked yesterday. They could have evaporated many days prior.
I was ready to publish a story, and I was surprised that it was no longer on my drop-down list.
That publication is Innovation.
It got me thinking, and I went to check stories published previously in The Innovation. They are still intact, and they have shifted to a self-publication mode. That affected 10–12 of my stories with good traction within the publication.
I thought of the following: -
- Can publications become defunct out of the blue?
- Can non-Medium publications be taken down out of the blue?
- What is the impact on potential viewership and readership when stories move from an external publication to a personal publication?
- Are we informed, at all, by our affiliated publications if they choose to cease operations?
My observations are Yes, Yes, No Clue, No. Before I get throttled, I want to clarify that these are my observations and not real answers. I am trying to find my answers as well.
When we know what is going, we can plan for them. It is impossible to plan for anything when we are unaware of anything.
My best tip that I can think of (at this point) is a direct extraction from investment intelligence. We have to diversify our writing portfolio.
It ensures that we have other publications to work with when one tanks.
And then, there is the curious case of dismal performance metrics.
Liam Ireland wrote a story on that yesterday, and he has written it well. Hence, I am clipping his story here to avoid sounding like a broken recorder.
I did not bother myself with the viewership and readership statistics because I am a new contributor. My tenure writing in Medium is six short months.
Henceforth I did not bother with the performance metrics because I know there would not be any numbers worthy of examination.
I peeked at my statistics after reading Liam Ireland’s story. These are the screenshots.
To summarise, all observable metrics fell across the board between December 2020 and January 2021.
- Views went from 2,864 to 1,570.
- Reads went from 784 to 510.
- Fans (clappers) went from 371 to 283.
That is a statistical decline of 45%, 35.1%, and 23.7%, respectively. How would February be? I am uncertain since February is a shorter month in terms of the day count, relative to the big months of December and January.
When I reviewed these metrics, I started thinking if these are issues attributable to me (hence I can control) or not (I cannot control, so I do not get bothered).
Items that I can control include: -
- Writing better.
- Publish more stories.
- Finding more publications to publish my work.
- Find trending topics to write and hitch a trend ride.
Bullet points 1, 2, 4 involve more time on my part. It presents a time and commitment conundrum with other competing work obligations.
Endeavoring to write better is a long-term goal and involves daily effort. It takes a long time. Grammarly brings us that far.
Publishing more stories depends on the disposable time on hand. We can split a six-minute into two * three-minute stories and publish them in 2 separate publications.
The time incurred is longer than writing one 6-minute story because we need to source for more images, different hashtags, and running through editorial checks twice.
Finding trending topics is a Search Engine Optimisation game. I must have the time to think about what to write after seeing that top search or trend. It boils back to a time commitment.
Searching and registering for more publications circles back to a time and continuous presence consideration. One and done is like hit and run. It seldom works for the long haul.
All these are statistical talk. I wanted to understand if readers are disappearing, more writers have sprouted, and whether my stories are still in circulation finding like-minded people.
Could it be an algorithm change?
I have lived through two algorithmic changes on Linkedin, so I know what that does to our engagement. It is akin to a stock market crash.
Algorithm changes are like game rule changes. We learned to play the game well because we know the rules. From there, we know what we can do to win, what we must not do to lose.
We cannot dribble a basketball in a game of soccer. A goal scored with a basketball gets disqualified. Soccer is an international game where a team of eleven goes against another eleven.
We play by the game rules. Imagine I say that I am bringing a team of fifteen players so I can win. Good luck.
Players focus on any changes in the rules of the game. It dictates how we play. I do not know if there has been an algorithmic change on Medium. Based on my statistics, I think something has happened in the background.
I have to observe more before I make further comments.
For now, I choose to focus on myself. Opportunities arise when writers are abandoning the platform because there is less competition. A feasibility study is required to understand whether readers are switching platforms in droves.
Readers are customers.
And since I cannot dictate both of the above, I choose to have eyes on the task at hand.
I choose to focus on writing better.
And to that point, I want to thank Maria Rattray, Liam Ireland, Britni Pepper, Lanu Pitan, Karen Madej, Dr. Preeti Singh, Thewriteyard, and Dr Mehmet Yildiz for supporting me in this journey.
Of Curiosity, Awareness, And Actions.
Aldric
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About the Author:
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure.
Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.
As a Consultant by training, I believe in making the complex simple.
Because simplicity adds value.
And with clarity — We grow.
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