Humor

Clap, Clap, Clap

My journey from one hesitant clap to 50 hearty claps

When I started reading posts on Medium a few months ago, I completely ignored the ‘Clap’ feature. I was a ‘don’t leave any footprints in the digital world’ type of person.

I was not active on FaceBook or Twitter, and did not have an Instagram account. Yup! I was a Sivapithecus!! I had not yet evolved.

A few claps and a few interactions on Medium have changed all that.

Early Days

When I first started writing on Medium, only friends knew about my posts. My first post had a few stray claps from friends, and all of them had clapped once. Like me, they were also shy.

Also, most people don’t expect that they can clap more than once, unlike other social sites.

Slowly I understood that claps help encourage. So when I read other posts, I started clapping — once! I gave writers a hearty +1.

Why do Some of us Clap Only Once?

Oftentimes, the simple answer is that we don’t know that we can clap more than once. We also don’t know that the limit is as high as 50.

Sometimes we are just plain shy, and even that one clap takes a lot of effort. We have to drag ourselves out of the comfort zone of being a non-entity online.

And let’s face it — sometimes, we just feel like clapping once for an article. This is rare though.

So a single clap or a few sporadic claps are not always indicative of what the reader actually felt. I have taught myself not to take the number of claps to heart, especially if they are on the low side.

Then Someone Clapped 50 Times for me

I had just started publishing and was not yet addicted to the green dot of notification. As is customary, I opened my eyes in the morning and started checking all the updates in my social life. Opened Medium, saw the green dot, clicked on it, saw that someone had clapped 50 times for my post, and almost fell off the bed.

That’s the day I realized that 50 claps were a possibility.

The Journey From One to Many Claps

Once I started receiving more than one clap, I realized that I had to do unto others…

It was not easy.

Going from a no-footprint mentality to 1 clap itself was a journey. Clapping more than once was almost like getting over some sort of phobia. I was scared. I still don’t know why. Was I afraid someone would judge me?

Will they think, ’What on earth did she like in this article that she has clapped so many times!’.

But I am slowly getting over it, one extra clap at a time. I have understood that claps serve to inspire writers to write more and write better. More claps simply raises the bar for the writer. They have to write better to stay in the 50-clap elite group!

The Horror of Being Judged for not Clapping Enough

I started noting a lot of comments on Facebook about how people don’t clap enough, or clap only once. I felt the need to stand up for my ilk. We had our reasons. Ignorance. Fear. Phobia. Mainly ignorance!

I hesitantly started educating my non-Medium friends that they could clap more than once. Almost all of them were surprised. They did not know it was possible.

This was tricky since it involved telling them to clap more. Is there an ethics issue here? Can I actually openly ask someone to clap more? Marketing something is one aspect, but directly asking for more claps seemed a tad bit over the top…

In any case, did this knowledge turn them into the ’50 claps’ version of themselves? Of course not. Like me, they slowly moved from 1 to 5 to 10 to…

50 was still a huge distance away. Or maybe I just don’t write well enough to earn 50 :)

My Ability to Clap Increased

Slowly, ve..ry slowly, I mustered the courage to clap more for articles that really moved me.

One by one, all the internal filters I had set up without my knowledge began to dissolve. I had not realized I had so many filters. I think the more others clapped up to 50 for me, the more soluble my own filters became.

I began to understand the power of encouragement. I was not losing anything by clapping heartily, but the writer who received the claps was getting such a boost of confidence! I saw this happening to me!

I understood the power of positive reinforcement! That too by total strangers. It was a high like never before!

Such a simple and easy way to spread positivity. And yet, it took me ever so long to make that connection.

50 and Above

Today, I clap up to 50 often. Sometimes an article moves me so much that I just close my eyes and keep pressing the clap icon. I open my eyes at some point to check if I have reached 50 yet.

Some of my filters still haven’t dissolved (thankfully). So all articles don’t get 50 claps. That would be unfair to folks who write really well.

And there are some articles that are so heart-warming or awesome that I really really wish I could go beyond the fixed 50 claps. These articles clearly deserve more. Or maybe some other way of indicating how beautiful the article is.

Pain in the Index Finger

Since my recent crossover from hesitant clapper to hearty clapper, I see one slight problem. As I read quite a few articles each day, and clap a lot, my index finger is getting a little stiff with all the clapping :). I tried switching hands, but it just takes too much time as my left hand is not adept enough!

I wonder if there could be a design change where I can type a number and press a button to indicate the number of claps. This might encourage more people to clap more, and also help people understand that they can clap more than once!

The Transformation is Almost Complete

I think I have completely crossed over. Someone had left a single clap on one of my posts, and I was shocked. I thought that my article must have been really bad. I was about to go down the rabbit hole of self-pity.

Luckily, my brain dug up old data about claps and reminded me about my own journey with regard to clapping. I felt better immediately.

And felt the strong urge to help others understand that clapping more is a journey for some people. That’s just how it is…