Followers
Follower To Follower #15
Reading and growing, too!
(This is an old article, more than 60 days old. Many of the people tagged are no longer active.)
Welcome, friends!
We’re changing things up a bit- no more 3 reasons why you’re here.
Oh no! 😲
It’s ok, though — you know why you’re here, and that’s good enough for me!
Although if you don’t know why you’re here, then a double welcome to you!! Because that means you’ve been tagged, and you’ve come across this series for the very first time!
The way this works is I’ll write about something interesting that newbies (and even some not-so-newbies) may not know, and then I introduce some tag links to help connect people.
It’s not follow-for-follow. I promise.
Though, people do use f4f as their method, for TOS purposes I want to clarify that’s not technically what this is for.
Follower To Follower is just that; bringing people I’ve followed together.
If you see people that interest you, then by all means follow! If you want to try f4f, that’s completely your choice! But, as I state in these posts — no one is required to follow back.
Ok, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk a bit about another similar practice:
Read For Read
According to Medium rules, this is also technically an “artificial inflation of metrics.” However, I can’t help but wonder what the harm is in it, exactly?
I mean, let’s think about it for a bit…
The idea is basically, “I’ll read your article if you’ll read mine.” Ok — that’s just reading, right? How exactly do people artificially read?
The way Medium is set up, there doesn’t seem to be much harm in it. For example, let’s say someone didn’t actually read and just clapped and left a generic comment… well, the read time still only logs the time spent on the article’s page, so it’s not really paying anyone more money that way.
And if they do read?? Isn’t that just reading?
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Anyway, the point of bringing this up is because I created a page on Monster Alley specifically for “read for read,” or R4R. I’d like to find a way to use it to help people get their work seen; though I’m a little conflicted with how that would work…
I’ve Got A Favor To Ask
I’m just one person, you know? As I write this, it’s Wednesday, 7/20/22. I’ve got the tags for the next several F2F articles; I’m currently on #18! On top of that, there’s two full browsers with at least 30 names each waiting to be sorted in the background — potentially to be added to future lists.
Good Lord, what have I got myself into?
So, I need some help. Not with F2F, I’ve got that front pretty well covered. But maybe someone in here would want to write a weekly R4R post for Monster Alley? Something to showcase the work of others while skirting the boundaries of TOS?
Boundaries… you’ll want to know what I mean by that, don’t you?
Well, the artificial part of the whole thing is when people make the exchange transactional. I’ll do this if you do kind of thing. Which would seem implied by the whole “for” part of read-for-read.
But I’m just using that tag because it’s easy. Not for the transaction.
Instead, I think it would be a great place to share the great articles you’ve come across — bonus points if you found them from F2F! You can write your thoughts on the article, and really help build your tribe doing so.
Meanwhile, it can also be a place for newbies to share stories to be considered — again, with no requirement to add people or read or anything.
See, the requirement is the bad part. Without the requirement, it’s no more transactional than any other normal interaction on the platform.
If this sounds like fun for you, first become a writer for Monster Alley, then submit your take on the idea with one of the tags as “r4r.” That way it’ll show up on the R4R page!
Let’s build a community by connecting others, shall we?
Now, on with the tags!
Remember: no one is required to follow anyone else, ever. This isn’t a “follow-for-follow” kind of list (though what you all do with it is up to you).
5. Jerome Gizinski* 6. Hetul Patel 7. Omaima Ali 8. Katherine Tang
9. Monica Woodward Luberto 10. Muhammad Adeel 11. Victoria Virgo
12. Hamid Jafari 13. Saba 14. Aneesa Dawood 15. Alexander Semenyuk
16. Life Explorer 17. Esther Uwanah Edet 18. Bernadette Wallace
19. Awanish Sharma 20. Ian Writes 21. Jewel Ayuk 22. Fasha Flow
23. Devon Cobos Garcia 24. Aafreen Qureshi 25. Kathleenrey Rey
How To Get Mentioned In A Future List (Or Not)
Let me know in a comment on any F2F article like this one, and I’ll add you to a future one. UNLESS you request not to be on a list, then you’ll be removed-no questions asked!
There’s also an Evergreen version in the works-if you’re interested, click the link and sign up to the newsletter below for more details as it develops!
Remember to clap, comment, and either follow Monster Alley (where they’re published) or save the list for more of these! Good luck on your climb!
Until next time, follow each other, follow the dopamine, and follow yourself, always!
Hey, look: a newsletter. And also Twitter.
Support writers, read without limits, and be part of the community — all for $5.