Follow the Follower?

Summary

The author, Max, discusses the implications of Medium's new rule requiring 100 followers to earn money from writing, sharing his decision to follow back those who follow him to help others reach this threshold, despite some ambivalence about the practice.

Abstract

Max reflects on the "medium game" where writers must acquire 100 followers to monetize their content on Medium. Initially frustrated by this rule, Max worked to increase his follower count to meet the requirement. Having achieved the 100-follower milestone, he contemplates whether to follow other writers who follow him, ultimately deciding in favor of this approach. He justifies his decision by noting that writers are paid for engagement, not followers, and sees the number of followers as a measure of impact. However, he acknowledges the complexity introduced by the new rule, as it may encourage following with the expectation of reciprocation rather than genuine interest in the content. Despite understanding the stance of those who refuse to follow back, Max chooses to support others by following them, recognizing the challenge of gaining followers and awaiting potential changes or repercussions from Medium.

Opinions

Max is critical of Medium's new rule that requires writers to have at least 100 followers to earn money, viewing it as an unnecessary hurdle.
He believes that the number of followers is not as important as the engagement (view time) that content receives, which is the actual metric for writer compensation on Medium.
Max sees followers as an indicator of a writer's impact but is aware that the new rule might lead to insincere follow-backs.
Despite some writers' opposition to the "follow back" culture, Max decides to follow those who follow him to assist them in reaching the 100-follower threshold.
He empathizes with the difficulty of gaining followers and remembers his own struggle to reach 100 followers.
Max is open to changing his approach if Medium's policies change or if there are negative consequences for his account.
He values the community's feedback and is interested in hearing how others navigate this issue.

Do I play the medium game or not?

Yes, we all know the medium game I feel many of us are forced to play. Should we follow the follower or just stay out of the game altogether?

Well, obviously I don’t know how you will play this game, but I have spent a great deal of time thinking about the positives and negatives of this situation.

But before I get off-topic, I really would like to say that I am not a fan of the new rule Medium has put into place of having 100 followers before you are allowed to earn money for your writing. When the rule came out I did not have the requisite number of followers, so I got really busy doing what I could to get a few more. I think I was 30 or 40 short or something like that.

Now, I am very glad to say that I have reached the 100 follower mark. That is a sigh of relief because my plan was to make back the initial annual fee and after that, I was not too worried. From then on it would all be gravy, as they say.

But now I am still left with the question of if I will follow the follower or not.

To give the bottom line before you get too bored with my ranting…

Yes, I have decided to follow those who follow me.

In the end, I really don’t see that it is harmful either way. We, the writers on Medium, are not paid for followers, we are paid for view time. As you view time goes up, the money you are paid as a writer goes up. That seems to make sense to me and I am fine with it. After all, that is what I signed up for.

The follower idea also is a useful tool that lets the writer know if they are making an impact — at least that is the way I see it. The more followers I have is an indication of the number of people interested in my writing.

With the new “100 followers” rule however the line has become a bit muddled. Are people following me because they like my stuff, or are they following me in the hope that I might follow them back?

So why will I follow the “follow back” rule? I will do this at least until someone tells me it is not allowed or perhaps my account will be suspended. I do not know.

But I will follow those that reach out to me because I know, personally, how hard it can be to reach the 100 follower mark. I recall I was writing for a few months before I hit the magic “100” level.

I know that there are a few writers, as I have bumped into them, that are 100% opposed to the “follow back” rule. In a way, I can see the point in it. If we are just following each other, in a very real sense, who is the leader? One way that I can tell if someone is doing a bang-up job in their writing is to see how many followers they have. It is public information so it is very easy to check. By the way, if you look you will notice that I am still languishing when it comes to followers. Well, I guess time will tell.

But I truly do understand those that will NOT follow back if followed. I get it. And I am fine with it. I think we all will have to make our own decision on the issue at some time or other.

Also, one does not need to make their stand on the issue public, but I have decided to do so. I hope I will not be reprimanded for that. I am not sure what I would do if push came to shove in regards to my medium membership. I will wait to see what happens. In any case, for now, I will continue as I have stated above.

So there you go, my rant for the day. Would love to hear your feedback and let me know how you are dealing with this issue.

All the best… Max