Clapping once is an INSULT! — Story of 50 Claps 👏
And, Ladies and Gentlemen, don’t clap just yet! 😂 — Read first!
Hello, Hello my superheroes! 🦸♂️
Fellas… I hope it’s not too late… 😨
Stop! Don’t clap! ⛔👏
With these opening words, I am risking to receive 0 claps, but hey Martynas… You only live once (#YOLO) — so let’s take the risk! 🎯
And actually, that’s how it should be all the time — you should always start reading with 0 claps, READ the story first and only THEN decide how many claps to give! 😎
Let’s see what will happen in my case! 🤞😁
“Clappers” vs Number of Claps — The Obvious “Eureka” moment!
Recently I had a nice chat on Discord with Alessio Michesi, and I have to give him a credit for describing this moment:
So just in case, if you’re very new to Medium, this platform has the “clap” icon that you will find on every article and (!) Medium List:
And when you click on it, you show your support for the author and the content (article or list) itself.
You can clap not only ONCE but give up to 50 claps each time!
Because of this “multiplication”, two different concepts are born:
- Clappers — number of members who clapped.
- Number of Claps — the total number of claps they gave.
I hope it’s clear enough! ✅
⚠️ Very important! Number of claps you give is very important! Read further and you will find out why!
When to clap 50 times?
Now! Just kidding. 😁
Let’s dive into the Medium docs and see what’s written there:
English is a second language to me so it took me a few moments to realize the meaning of this sentence.
And if I understood it right, it means one simple thing:
You should clap 50 times ONLY when you think that the content is really amazing! Otherwise do not clap to the max! Give 5, 10 or any other number of claps.
That’s what Medium wants us to do!
Let’s imagine this — you clapped 10 times on one story, and 50 times on another story. In that case, a story that received your fifty will receive more “points” in the Medium ranking system.
And if you clap the same amount on every article (no matter how much you actually enjoyed it) it will send confusing signals to the Medium algorithm.
In other words:
Reserve your 50 claps for the best stories you read!
And what about clapping just once?
So I think you got the point about 50 claps. But what about the 1-clap thing?
Well, I did a little research at it seems that some of the Mediumers are not happy with that!
Remember that claps are not only a signal to the Medium rating system but also a signal to the author — by clapping only once you’re saying: “Your content is not that good because otherwise I would have given you a fifty!”.
The 1-clap can also show that you’re a newbie here — maybe you did not have your “Eureka” moment yet and haven’t discovered the 50-claps secret!
At last, one clap might also indicate that you didn’t engage with the content very well. Maybe you did a horrible sin (so-called crime against humanity 😅), and… did a “clap-and-run” thing!
The term “clap-and-run” means that some user opened your article, quickly clapped on it, did not read it at all (so destroyed your Read Ratio) and ran away to another “victim”!
Evil users do that because they have one hope — that the author will notice their gesture of “appreciation” and, in return, will check out their own stories! So it’s a good example of black-hat fake engagement techniques!
Usually those “clap-runners” are in such a hurry that they only clap once!
So to sum up:
Don’t clap once either!
If you “kinda” liked the story but it’s not the best you’ve ever read — clap a few times but not once!
Practice time!
Now it’s time to practice!
If you liked my article please click that beautiful “clap” button!
Click it once, click it twice, click it fifty times — just be honest!
Any amount is OK to me — I think I will be able to handle the TRUTH! 😂
Thank you! 🙏
And if 50 claps are not enough —there is one more secret to discover:
The Extra Mile
I have found a lot of articles about this and similar topics (like dealing with “clap-and-run” users), so if you’re interested — check them out!
- Going in a hurry? You’re killing your Medium profile by Alessio Michesi
- What is the Real Meaning of a Clap? by Stephen Sovie
- Engagement, Done Wrong, Will Hurt Your Medium Account by Sílvia PM, PhD 🍂
- The Medium Account Theory, How Engagement Can Cause Stop in Traffic. by Bin Jiang
- Do You Suffer From Clap Disease? by L.A. Walker
- One Clap Is Not a Slap by Michelle Teheux
- Why is Giving Only One Clap So Annoying on Medium? by Gin Rabai
- Clap Once or Clap 50 Times? Does It Even Really Matter? by Alex Praytor
- Who Gives It A One-Clap Clap? by Cristina Cmn
- Here’s How We Get Rid of the Clap-And-Runners by Smillew Rahcuef
- Readers Should Be Unable to Clap For First 30 Seconds by Susie Kearley
- Why I Put A “Clap & Run” Disclaimer At The Beginning Of My Articles… by ALEX KIRKLAND
- Are You Sure They’re Clap and Runners?😉- Ultimate Mindset Shift by Emy Knazovic
- “It’s Not Personal, It’s Business” — The Clap-and-Runner’s Perspective? by Brandon Ellrich