Writing Tips

Medium Next Generation Stats — 4 Reasons You Should Use This Extension

A Google Chrome Extension that makes stats easy to view and more actionable

I have been checking out extensions that can enhance Medium statistics. That is when I found Medium Next Generation Stats by Guilherme "Virgs" Moraes.

And I found it to be pretty useful.

First things first: How to Install it

• Go to Google Chrome store using this link or searching on google.
• Search Medium Next Generation Stats and add to Chrome
• Enable it in the extensions tab and you are good to go

What is Better in this Extension?

1. 6 Category of Data in one place

You can see in the screenshot that there are six categories of data available. All of these are readily available data in regular Medium stats. But you have to go to different tabs for some of them.

I am looking at my views and can see that on 27th July I had the highest view. I can track my promotional activities and attribute that hike in view to that activity.

2. Chart view

You can look at the data using the chart view. Let me share a screenshot here

I found this quite useful. As you can see, I have a ranking of my articles by the number of views, reads, claps, fans, followers, and earnings. This gives me an idea of which article is doing better.

For example, you can see my top 2 articles in terms of view are How I got into INSEAD and 7 Tips to Create Resumes. I posted both of these on my LinkedIn and a Facebook group for business students.

I did nothing to promote the third article. So this chart also pushes me to check where the views are coming from.

So, I can assume those activities are working in bringing more viewers to my articles.

3. View to Reading Correlation

However, views are just a top-of-the-funnel activity. From Views, I need reads and eventually earnings. So let us have a look at Reading numbers.

If I look at reads, those two articles are still performing at the same level. I can look deeper into the View to Read ratio to check their performance. From here, I can assume that the people I am bringing in from Linkedin & Facebook are reading the articles as well.

Interesting Findings:

My third and fourth most-read articles were slightly behind on View numbers. We met on the Train was published on Illumination. What would you do if you had all the money in the world was published on Writer’s Blokke.

I also published them on a Facebook group.

So I can assume that at least one of those distribution strategies is working.

I also understand that I need to increase the views of these articles as their View to Read ratio is higher than others.

4. Read to Earning Correlation

Surprise, surprise!

“How to Be in Control of Your Life” tops my earning list. It was at 7th in view and 5th in a number of reads. Yet it has earned the most for me.

Here I can go back to the article to see if I have done something differently. I didn’t. I promoted it, in the same way, I’d promote other articles. Also, I published it on Illumination.

I think it comes down to the fact that the content of this article was more engaging.

So, what should I do with this data?

I should promote this article more to get more views and reads. I should maybe pin it to the top of my profile.

This tool shows the data in a visually efficient manner. That has helped me save some time and look deeper into articles. I’d recommend using this tool to get a good top-level view of performance.

Read my short review of Medium Enhanced Stats here: