Summary

The author argues that Medium's Partner Program should have stricter requirements to improve content quality and reduce spam.

Abstract

The article titled "Medium’s Partner Program Requirements Are NOT Strict Enough" presents the author's viewpoint that the current criteria for Medium's Partner Program (MPP) are insufficient to deter spam accounts and ensure high-quality content for paying readers. The author suggests that only paying members should be eligible for the MPP and that eligibility should be based on monthly views rather than follower count. Additionally, the author proposes that content directly about Medium should not be monetizable, aligning with Medium's distribution guidelines. These stricter requirements aim to enhance the overall reading experience on Medium by incentivizing quality writing and reducing the prevalence of low-effort, spammy content.

Opinions

The author believes that the current MPP requirements do not adequately filter out spam accounts and fake followers.
It is suggested that making the MPP exclusive to paying members would drastically change the platform for the better.
The author argues that using views instead of followers as a metric for MPP eligibility would be a more accurate indicator of a writer's impact and engagement.
The article posits that removing the ability to earn from stories about Medium would reduce the abundance of such content, potentially improving the platform's variety and quality.
The author acknowledges that these proposed changes could significantly reduce the number of eligible writers, but believes the trade-off would be worth it for the overall improvement of Medium's content ecosystem.
The author reflects on the potential for these changes to inspire writers to focus on producing high-quality content rather than trying to game the system.
The author is open to feedback on the proposed changes and invites readers to consider how they might alter the current Medium landscape.

Unpopular Opinion

Medium’s Partner Program Requirements Are NOT Strict Enough

Spam accounts are still on the rise

It sounds harsh but I’m betting on quality improvements here. Furthermore, I’m shooting myself in the foot with this idea. Let’s get into it anyway.

Current partner program criteria

Since Medium updated its entry requirements, you need 100 followers, at least one published story, and a new story every 6 months to be eligible for the partner program. There’s also a new $10 minimum withdrawal amount.

From the day of the announcement, these new requirements have been either harshly criticized or widely praised by fellow writers. In this argument, I’m leaning toward the latter.

New ideas

In fact, I do think the partner program should be even more stringent. For a couple of major reasons:

To further deter spam account holders and fake followers
To increase the quality for paying readers
To reduce the number of stories about Medium (you’ll see)

Stricter criteria

I see two ways Medium can improve the partner program. And I’ll give you a bonus one at the end. The main two:

Making the MPP available to paying members only
Basing eligibility on views instead of followers

Let’s deep dive into these.

1. Only paying members

Number 1 is pretty straightforward. I think only paying members should be eligible for the partner program. This would undoubtedly change the scenery drastically as there are countless writers who earn but don't pay.

I’ve said this multiple times in the past. And judging from the comments I got on these posts, many of you agree with me on this. I also think it would benefit Medium greatly as this will increase the number of paying members, I believe.

2. Views as a requirement

Currently, the MPP is based on follower numbers. While this is not bad per se, I think there’s a better way.

The problem with the 100 follower threshold is twofold:

It encourages the follow-for-a-follow mentality which in turn increases the “fake” followers. People who follow but never really read your stories or engage with your content. This has been an increasingly prominent issue in the last few months.
Followers aren’t a qualitative measure. I just wrote a story titled “81,000 Followers And Still No Views” which illustrates this point perfectly. On the other hand, a metric like views (or even reads) is a great quantifier. You can’t really fake views. Unless you created hundreds of Medium accounts yourself and viewed your stories between those. Or you bought external views. There’s a whole YouTube market around this actually.

The solution

Let’s just assume you had to be a paying member to apply for the partner program. Step 1.

And now, let’s also imagine for a second we had a requirement of 1000 monthly views to be eligible for the partner program. Step 2.

Step 2 could either be a one-time thing, meaning once you reach 1000 views for the first time you’re in for good. Or it could be dynamic, meaning you need to meet this criterion every month to stay eligible.

I’d probably prefer the former, but I’m still thinking about it.

YouTube’s partner program works similarly by the way. You need 1000 followers but you also need 4000 hours of watch time within 12 months to be eligible for YouTube earnings.

The outcome would be quite interesting in my eyes. Meeting the partner program criteria would be much harder, no doubt. I can’t help but think that this would also improve the quality, reduce spam, and actually inspire writers to hustle instead of gaming the system.

The third requirement

Oh, and did I mention the third thing? This will be unpopular. And it would basically cut my earnings in half.

I do believe that Medium should base entry requirements on their current distribution guidelines. In other words, stories about Medium — like this one here — would not be eligible for earnings anymore.

Wait what?

I’ve heard many great writers complain about the never-ending stream of stories on “how to make money on Medium”, “how to get curated”, “how to get more views”, etc.

Since these are not eligible for curation, it means Medium doesn’t want these types of stories. But they’re all over this platform, of course. I write a lot of stories about Medium.

Think about what would happen if they weren’t making a dime anymore? No more Medium meta stories. And if so, only for free. Would this improve Medium as a platform for readers? It might.

To wrap up

So let’s recap the new Medium partner program requirements:

You need to be a paying member to apply for the program
You need 1000 monthly views
You can’t write about Medium.

How would that change the current Medium landscape? What do you say? Would it be a good change? How many writers would leave the platform? How many would have to change their niche? From writing about Medium to anything but that? It would definitely change a lot. Don’t you think?

P.S.: First of all, you should get my posts in your inbox. Do that here! Secondly, if you like to experience Medium yourself, consider supporting me and thousands of other writers by signing up for a membership. It only costs $5 per month, it supports us, writers, greatly, and you have the chance to make money with your writing as well. When I started, I made $3000 in 6 months. By signing up with this link, you’ll support me directly with a portion of your fee, it won’t cost you more. If you do so, thank you a million times!