Summary

The article "How to Engage with Medium Writers (And Why You Should)" by Shaunta Grimes emphasizes the importance of reader engagement on Medium, such as clapping for articles, which supports writers both emotionally and financially.

Abstract

The article discusses the stark contrast in engagement between readers who are regular Medium users and those who arrive from external sources like Google. Grimes uses a personal example to illustrate that despite a high number of reads, a post about a 1990s celebrity received minimal claps, suggesting that external readers may not understand the significance of engagement on Medium. The author explains that engagement, such as clapping, commenting, and sharing, is crucial as it acknowledges the writer's effort, boosts visibility, and can contribute to the writer's income on the platform. Even non-paying members' engagement is valuable as it signals to Medium's algorithm to promote the content to more readers. Grimes provides a step-by-step guide on how to engage with content on Medium, including clapping up to 50 times, sharing on social media, highlighting passages, and leaving comments.

Opinions

Engagement on Medium, like clapping for posts, is seen as a form of support and validation for writers, who often experience anxiety about their work being unnoticed or unappreciated.
The act of clapping for a story, especially as a paying Medium member, is likened to leaving a tip and is highly appreciated by writers as it contributes to their earnings.
Even for non-paying members, clapping is important as it influences Medium's distribution algorithm, potentially increasing a story's reach.
Writers are described as taking a risk by sharing their work publicly, and reader engagement is a way to acknowledge this bravery and encourage writers to continue creating content.
The excitement of writers when their work is recognized and when they receive payment for writing is highlighted to emphasize the impact of reader support.

How to Engage with Medium Writers (And Why You Should)

Just in case you didn’t know.

I noticed something recently.

When I have a post that gets a lot of reads from outside of Medium (maybe Google sends it some eyes, for instance) it gets almost no engagement from readers.

For instance, I have a post I wrote a couple of years ago. It’s about a 1990s celebrity — someone that people are obviously Googling, but not many people are writing about, because Google sent nearly all of it’s 6400 readers to it.

And fewer than 30 of them clapped for it. Twenty-six to be exact. You can see that here on this screenshot.

The post above it on the screen shot has just a few more reads and 460 fans. Most of those reads can directly from Medium — meaning that Medium showed the post, maybe that the bottom of another Medium post for example, and someone clicked on it.

Big difference.

It seems to me that readers who are not regularly on Medium maybe don’t know how to engage with writers here, or maybe don’t know why it’s important.

So I thought it might be useful to write a little something about how engagement on Medium works and why it’s important to support writers whose work you enjoy.

The why first.

The biggest why is that engagement supports writers. If you’re a reader, hopefully writers matter to you.

It’s fucking scary to put your work out there in public for strangers to read. It’s hard. Writers are often caught between desperately wanting eyeballs on their work and feedback and all of that — and praying that no one they know will read what ever they’ve written.

If someone is brave enough to put their work out there, it’s an awesome thing to do to show them you appreciate it with some engagement in their post.

When you clap for a post on Medium, you’re letting the writer know that you read their words. You’re acknowledging their work. You’re giving them the chance to check their stats and see that they aren’t screaming into the void. Someone is listening.

Sometimes writers also are trying to make a little money with their work. Medium allows writers to put their work behind a pay wall. When you clap for their story, if you’re a paying member, a percentage of your $5 goes to that writer. It’s kind of like leaving a tip.

Writers really appreciate that. A lot.

Trust me. There is nothing more exciting for a writer than getting a paycheck for writing. Any paycheck. We spend so much time writing without any clue at all whether or not we’ll be successful. Even if your applause only adds a nickel to that pay check, it’s thrilling.

Even if you’re not a Medium paying member, clapping matters. It lets Medium know that you liked that story, which triggers their system to show it to more readers like you.

And now the how.

When you read a story on Medium, find the little hands icon on the left hand side. Tap on it with your cursor. You can hold it down (or repeatedly tap on it) for up to 50 claps.

On the same little menu, you can easily share a post you especially enjoy on Twitter or Facebook.

You can also use your mouse to highlight passages with your mouse, then click the little pen icon to light it up on the screen for other readers to especially notice. If you want to, you can Tweet that highlighted passage by clicking the bird icon.

If you click the little thought bubble icon, you can leave a comment for the writer about that passage.

You can also leave a comment at the bottom of a post.

Thank you for listening!

Here’s my secret weapon for sticking with whatever your thing is.

Shaunta Grimes is a writer and teacher. She is an out-of-place Nevadan living in Northwestern PA with her husband, three superstar kids, two dementia patients, a good friend, Alfred the cat, and a yellow rescue dog named Maybelline Scout. She’s on Twitter @shauntagrimes and is the author of Viral Nation and Rebel Nation and the upcoming novel The Astonishing Maybe. She is the original Ninja Writer.