Friends of Medium: Are We There Yet?
Lessons learned while trying to subscribe to the new ‘Friend’ level of the Medium membership
There’s a ton of confusion surrounding the new ‘Friend of Medium’ rollout, and many friends have asked me to keep them posted on how I’m navigating the process.
I’ve made an effort to keep everyone in the loop and spent the last couple of days responding to queries from fellow authors.
I might have missed someone, so I’m writing this story to keep everyone updated on how I’m handling the membership upgrade so far.
Day One
I was one of the first to express my satisfaction with the new membership level in response to Alex Benzer's announcement.
I look forward to upgrading my membership. I’ve supported this idea for a while, strongly believing that we need to pitch in and give more to keep Medium a haven for human authors writing for human readers. (…) Thank you so much for this amazing update.
Yet, my initial excitement was short-lived as I quickly realized I wouldn’t be among the early birds
Lovely! :) It’s a shame I’ll probably not make the early bird shortlist as the feature isn’t available on my account. I can’t wait to pitch in!
I subscribed to the membership four years ago via the Medium app and Google Play Store.
I regret that decision now, as this probably explains why the process has been so challenging.
When I went to Medium settings to cancel my current membership level, I learned I had to run the process not directly on the platform but from Google’s side.
So I logged in to my Google account to cancel my Medium subscription. I also deleted my PayPal payment option (just in case).
It seemed everything had been taken care of, but that was not the case. My membership was still active on Medium, and I couldn’t figure out how to upgrade.
I sent a ticket to Medium Support, and only a few minutes had passed when I got a kind reply stating my plan had been canceled.
I remember thinking.
Wow, that was fast.
Hold those horses, Rui! Nothing had changed. I still couldn’t upgrade, and I had a new issue. Now that I was no longer a member, I couldn’t read stories in full.
So I went back to support, and they fixed the immediate problem. My membership capacity was restored.
Day Two
On the morning of November 28, I started noticing I was not the only one having these issues.
My email has been swarmed with messages from stressed friends having trouble upgrading, and I’ve also been trying to help those commenting about their troubles on-site.
Some members were able to immediately join the bandwagon by canceling their membership, but that’s not a general rule.
This doesn’t work for everyone.
I did it and still couldn’t subscribe to the new level. Don’t make the same mistake.
Wait for it and update.
As Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine, clarified here, the new membership level is pro-rated, so it’s in your best interest to keep your membership active.
Medium Director of Product Breana Jones helped me deal with the anxiety of not being able to get things done with a kind response.
Breana explained how we’ll be able to update our current membership and subscribe to the new one. This way, you’ll also retain the amount spent in your current membership tier.
If people start canceling their memberships, the accounts revert to non-member status, and they can’t even read stories in full.
This happened to me!
I had to go back to support to have it fixed. I advise everyone to wait for a popup or email from Medium clarifying things, so you know when everything is ready for your new subscription process to run smoothly.
Day Three
I had trouble sleeping, as I spent most of the evening online discussing the new level of membership with the Medium community, checking my email, and logging in and out of Medium.com.
It was way past midnight when I decided to take a break and try to get some sleep. I woke up early and was in for a surprise. My response below tells the whole story.
It’s now Wednesday at 9 a.m., and I am still unable to upgrade. This situation is becoming increasingly challenging.
When I woke up around 5 a.m., I reached for my phone to check the app. I saw the popup and immediately clicked on it, but nothing happened. A message instructed me to check Medium.com.
In response, I jumped out of bed, went downstairs, and opened my laptop. After logging in to medium.com, I checked the membership page, and now I could see the option to upgrade. I clicked on it, but once again, nothing happened. It redirected me back to settings/membership.
As a last resort, I canceled my subscription for the second time in the last two days, but nothing changed.
Please fix this issue for us. Non-members seem to have no problem signing up, but the ‘veterans’ are struggling with it. Thanks for your help, I appreciate it!
Fellow author Jason Morton was experiencing the same; eleven hours ago, he was also having trouble upgrading his subscription.
I tried to reassure him by sharing all the info I had at the time:
I’ve heard from the Product team that they’ll be rolling it out to everyone this week. Let’s wait and see. They mention that the rollout is phased and random. There’s nothing we can do on our side
So, truth be told, there’s not much we can do on our side; the upgrade hasn’t been rolled out to everyone yet.
Medium Chief of Staff, Brittany Jezouit, made it crystal clear here when she explained that the process is random and not based on location, membership level, or any actual criteria.
It should be completed for everyone within the next few days, so all we can do for now is sit down and wait.
Lesson learned
This time, if I manage to upgrade my membership, I won’t do it via the app and a third party (Google Play Store). I’ll try to subscribe directly from Medium.com to be on the safe side of things, and I advise you to do the same.
What about you? Are you there yet?
What are your thoughts on the upgrade so far?
I’d love to know more about your insider’s scoop on the new tier, and I’m sure the community is dying to hear from you. I invite you to join the conversation below.