I Joined Medium Partner Program With Only 1 Follower

I don’t know how it happened

I started writing on Medium in December 2020 and I immediately applied for the program.

As you can see from the screenshot, I am medium member since December 2020.

Now, let me show you, my followers, in December 2020:

I had only one follower at the end of November 2020. So I joined the medium partner program with only one follower. I gained one follower after I became a member and that’s why it’s showing 2 followers at the end of December 2020.

But, I was able to join the medium partner program with only one follower.

Nowadays, I am getting stories like this:

I got confused and thought that:

How was I able to join the medium partner program with only 1 follower?

So, I did some research and found this:

Medium has changed its guidelines since August 2021. So before that, you could have joined the program with 0 followers.

Now, you have to have 100 followers to join the medium partner program.

I think I was lucky that I joined the medium partner program in December 2020 because it took me a couple of months to gain 100 followers. So I would not have been to join the program for a couple of months.

For me, the guidelines don’t make much sense. New writers should be allowed to join the program immediately. They can gain 100 followers during the process.

Share your thoughts in the comment section.

Thanks for reading.