FRIEND OF MEDIUM

How I Finally Took My Medium Membership to the Next Level

Everything about Medium’s new ‘Friend of Medium’ membership tier and how it empowers you to support our community

The “Friend of Medium” upgrade has been an emotional rollercoaster for the empath in me. I have to say this carried a lot more friction than I expected when I first read Alex Benzer’s story.

The cat had only been out of the bag for a couple of hours, and being among the first to read it, I thought I had that sweet tote literally in the bag.

I’m still upset with myself for missing out on the limited-edition tote bag for the first three days of my subscription, so please forgive me for all the bad-bag jokes in this story.

For once, I wasn’t going to miss the bandwagon, and I was just a click away from being among the first 500 subscribers who would get that coveted tote bag.

I clicked on the membership link in Alex’s story, and it turned out to be a dud for me, even though it was working for several people, as I could read in the comments.

Darn! There was nothing there—just my membership settings page telling me I’m still set with my current plan.

If I want to cancel, I have to do it over on the Google Play Store.

Why didn’t you use a credit card back then, Rui? Why did you register via the app?

Well, I have been cracking my head over this, and I seem to recall there was an issue with currency conversion, and to subscribe in US dollars, I had to use PayPal on Google.

I learned my lesson, and later on, I’ll be further explaining why this time around I subscribed to Medium.com and not the app and used a credit card instead of PayPal.

If you’re residing in a non-dollar country, this is the best option, and I’ll explain to you why.

If you have read both the pilot and the second installment of my “Medium Friends” saga, then you probably know how for the last four days I’ve been struggling to bag that coveted golden heart-shaped badge.

I’ll spare you the details about the first three days. You can check them afterward if you like. And I hope you do, as there’s a lot to learn from my experience.

In hindsight, I realize that I approached the task at hand proactively, as I usually do. I took action, and even when things went sideways I still pushed forward and reached out to Medium Support.

However, when that didn’t work and time kept ticking away, I’ll admit that frustration got the better of me.

I found myself saying out loud, ‘Forget it. Just sit and wait for it to sort itself out.’

Guess what? Just like in many aspects of life, putting things off wasn’t going to get the job done here either.

I had already thrown in the towel when I got the pop-up on the app and still couldn’t upgrade.

I was ready to just sit idly by and let the problem fix itself.

The devil was in the details, and I could hear it whispering in my ear:

Let it go, Rui; allow them to sort things out for you, and before you know it, everything will be fine.

But I couldn’t just bag it. The problem wouldn’t simply vanish on its own. The new level had already been rolled out to almost every other user on the platform.

I had been left out, even if I couldn’t see why.

I’d be writing a completely different story if it weren’t for Breana Jones coming to save the day, as she usually does in the kindest of ways.

I’d be like old Ebenezer Scrooge, all grumpy about the humbug of people cheering about how they made it to the new level, while I was grumbling about the Gring who stole my Christmas tote bag.

Breana advised me to go back once again to Medium Support and ask for help. Breana’s reply was the trigger I needed to get back on my feet and give it another go.

In so many of life’s ordeals, what we need is a friend to come and shake us out of the slumber by pointing out that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, that every maze is an exit, and that chaos is not a pit but a ladder.

How to upgrade to the “Friend of Medium” level

We’re on day four of the rollout, so I’m guessing by now almost everyone on the platform has access to the new upgrade feature.

For most users on the platform, this will only require a few clicks, as they’ll see a popup on Medium.com or the app, guiding them through the process for the new membership level.

Yet, in case you haven’t used a credit card or subscribed via the Medium app, you probably will see the same thing I did even after I canceled my membership, and you’ll not be able to upgrade.

If the above is what you’re seeing, shoot a ticket to Medium Help Center, and they’ll assist you in canceling your current membership if it’s the best move for you.

No need to fret about losing your original membership date; the support team can also help you revert that, as you can see on my About page. Just ask politely.

Why I’ve joined the ‘Friends of Medium’ fellowship

Now, you might be wondering if it’s worth the upgrade.

I’ve already detailed here why I consider this feature to be a significant leap forward for everyone on the platform: readers, authors, and editors alike.

So now let’s get into the nitty-gritty technical aspects that make this a great feature.

To kick things off, it empowers ‘Friend’ readers with the power of a Medium curator, boosting their favorite writer’s earnings fourfold per read.

Friends of Medium will directly support the writers they read most — and with more impact than a regular Medium membership. When Friends of Medium spend time reading member-only stories, they’ll generate four times more earnings for those writers compared to regular members. — Alex Benzer

Since the launch of “Friend of Medium,” I’ve published two meta stories (non-boostable), and I can attest to a significant boost in earnings.

Case Study #1

I can’t be certain about the number of “Friends” that have read this story. I can only account for those who supported it by clapping.

Even if there’s no way to be sure if they had already upgraded at the time, I’m guessing some of them had already subscribed.

Michael Rhodes, Kristy C, Marcus Musick, Jay Squires, Bruno T., Simply Sophia, Bill Abbate, Joel R. Dennstedt, Diana Meresc, John Pearce, Britt H., Michael Burg, MD (Satire Sommelier), Shanti C K.

Dear friends, if you have any recollection of your membership status when you read it, I’d love to hear from you.

Additionally, I could use your help to further substantiate my data, as I haven’t been able to account for any traffic coming from “Friend” links so far.

The links to the stories mentioned above provide free access to non-members, and if you share them, it would be great to see how they perform. Thank you in advance!

In less than 24 hours, I’m seeing a significant uptick in earnings. This pattern is similar to what I get from boosted stories and can only be explained by factoring in the “Friend” multiplier.

A.N.: I would appreciate it if you could share this “Friend” link with friends and on your social channels so that I can present more data in a future analysis.

Case Study #2

This story is the first one I published under the new feature. In this case, it’s harder to check the potential number of “Friends” as this was published only a few hours after the feature debut.

Nonetheless, looking at my stats after a couple of days, this story has already amassed about 50% of what I typically earn for a boosted piece, which is around $50 on average.

Once again, the significant increase in earnings can only be explained by the introduction of the “Friend” multiplier.

A.N.: I would appreciate it if you could share this “Friend” link with friends and on your social channels so that I can present more data in a future analysis.

After struggling to upgrade for the last three days, today at 7 a.m I managed to upgrade my subscription. I learned my lesson and did it on Medium.com selecting credit card as the payment option.

I notice payment via the app would be substantially higher as you can see by the screenshot:

Subscribing to “Friend of Medium” on Medium.com costs $15/month or $150/year.

As you can see below, at today’s rate, €169,99 = $180. I don’t know if this is a bug, but maybe it’s something Medium has to look into, hence I’m tagging Tony Stubblebine to keep him in the loop.

Closing thoughts

Finally, I’ve bagged my Friend subscription, and I’ll keep doing what I do best, reading your amazing stories and cross-pollinating your writing across my media channels.

But now you’ll also be able to earn from these non-member views via my friend links. Keep in touch and check my social media channels, where I’ll be using the hashtag #WritersLift to share your stories and help boost your earnings.

This is my way of giving back all the love I get from those who read my stories on this amazing haven for writers and readers.