Summary

An author's article on documentaries, initially receiving little attention, unexpectedly gained significant traction months after publication due to Medium's algorithm promoting it based on readers' interests.

Abstract

The article discusses the unpredictable nature of Medium's content promotion algorithm, where a post about lesser-known documentaries that initially garnered minimal engagement experienced a sudden surge in popularity four months post-publication. Despite the article's initial underperformance, it continued to accumulate a small number of daily reads, which eventually allowed Medium's algorithm to identify and match the content with the interests of a broader audience. This led to increased read times and a peak in views, highlighting the sometimes delayed and enigmatic behavior of platform algorithms in content distribution.

Opinions

The author acknowledges the enigmatic nature of Medium's algorithm, comparing it to Churchill's description of a riddle wrapped in a mystery.
There is an element of surprise and satisfaction from the author regarding the belated success of the article.
The author suggests that persistence in content creation is valuable, as even older posts can gain recognition over time.
The author notes that the post's continued, albeit minimal, engagement was crucial for the algorithm to eventually promote it.
It is observed that once the algorithm identified a critical mass of reads and corresponding interests, it began to distribute the content more widely.
The author emphasizes the unpredictability of viral content and the impossibility of replicating such success intentionally.
The author encourages other writers to check the stats of their seemingly underperforming posts, as they may experience a similar resurgence in readership.

Four Months Later: Why Did My Article Suddenly Get So Popular?

An underperforming post suddenly takes off like a rocket

If you write on Medium, you know the algorithm is, to paraphrase Churchill, a mystery wrapped in an enigma.

A strong story with a great headline and cover image will bomb while something you jotted off in half an hour will launch like a rocket.

Why? Sadly, we’ll probably never know.

Well, now the algorithm is doing something extra wonky, although I have no complaints about it.

An article I posted to crickets months ago suddenly skyrocketed in views.

On January 17th, I published this post recommending some lesser-known documentaries I love.

I’ve Watched Hundreds of Documentaries. Here Are the 6 Most Inspirational.

Excitement, laughter, awe, and tears — all without leaving your couch

medium.com

I figured since the Medium crowd tends to be intelligent and care about current events, documentaries might be their jam.

When it underperformed I was a little disappointed, but also glad that I tried writing about something new. For months, the post got very little traffic. To be honest, I’d all but forgotten about it.

However, the difference between this post and one that just sinks like a stone is that, while it never got significant reading time, it continued to get a read or two per day over the course of several months.

I had no idea, however, because I’d long ago stopped tracking it.

In late March, I started getting notifications that people were clapping for this piece and commenting on it. I ignored it for a few days, but the notifications kept coming.

Finally, at the beginning of April, I checked the stats on this post to see that it was suddenly getting an hour or more of read time each day.

You can argue that’s not much but it is when the post is two and a half months old and was never popular in the first place.

The views continued to grow for several weeks, finally peaking at 2 hours and 35 minutes in one day.

The mysterious case of the exploding stats / Screen capture by author

I think the key to this mystery lies in the fact that, at the same time the story exploded, the algorithm filled in the “Your Readers’ Interests” part of the stats page (below).

You’ll note the stats page doesn’t show your readers’ interests until there is a critical mass of reads. The algorithm needs enough readers to analyze the overlap in their interests.

Over the months, the algorithm was biding its time, waiting for enough results to come in for analysis. Once they did, it finally started sending the story out to a wider audience — resulting in higher read rates.

I’ve heard a number of writers, including Sinem Günel, talk about this happening with their posts. Up until now, I’d never had it happen.

There’s no way to replicate this success. There’s no way to write a post that you can guarantee will capture a little bit of attention each day for months on end.

But remember, that post you had high hopes for, the one that underperformed — go and check the stats.

It may just get its due recognition yet.