Now I Know What Happens When We Engage with Members
What I did to build “authentic” Medium followers in 2 months
When I first started on Medium, I had 2 followers, both my relatives. Then I begged cousin Eddie to create an account and hit follow. I submitted to publications, and the editors followed me back. I made 8 followers that first week. I was satisfied.
As I continued to explore the platform, I realized 8 connections were not enough. The Creator Fellowship Program required a minimum of 200 followers. To be eligible for the revised Partner Program, new writers must have at least 100 followers.
How could a newbie like me gain 100 followers? Let alone 200? The number seemed impossible to reach. I was nowhere close. Since it wasn’t my intention to be famous or earn a lot, I dismissed the idea and refocused on my writing.
I also read more often. I took the time to highlight and leave comments. I gave 50 claps for the stories I loved. There were instances when I wanted to give five times 50 claps because the writing was so good. I was learning a lot and discovering new favorites. Medium became my most visited app.
Then one morning I woke up to a notification that 2 people started following me. The next day, 5 more people followed. I was greeted by followers even before going to bed. What’s going on? Not all of them read my piece. How did these people find me?
I received emails that (sort of) explained it. People clicked “Follow” from my profile page, not from my articles. Something in my profile made them decide to connect.
I did improve my page around that time after reading “How to Optimize Your Medium Bio (and Why It’s Important)”. But in addition to an updated bio, I suspected that my frequent interaction with members activated Medium’s algorithm to “distribute” or suggest my profile to others. Ev Williams’ “Toward a more relational Medium” backs this speculation. To date, I have written 307 responses with no plans of stopping.
I continued my investigation and discovered something else. On August 14, my uncurated story, “Can We Reverse the Hate?” went baby viral. It received 1.7k views on the day it was published. But because 98% of the views were external (most likely all non-Medium members), it earned only $0.58 that day. If you have read my article, “Now I Know What Happens When a Story Gets Curated,” you know that skimpy earnings don’t hurt my feelings at all. I mean it, I’m not hurt. I promise I’m ok!
Because something positive always follows when I get soaring reads regardless of whether they were coming from Medium members or not. I believe the baby viral is the reason why my bio, from Aug 14 up to the time of writing this article, appears as a Top Writer in Tag:Pets and Tag:Dogs. Being on this list certainly gives me more visibility. Most of all, it is a great honor.
Hold on. Does this mean I am officially a Medium top writer? I did some digging. This snapped me out of my hallucinations: “Introducing: Top Writers in Tags.” I rechecked my full profile and refreshed my browser. I was hoping the golden title Top Writer would appear under my name, but it didn’t. There was no email from Medium to confirm the award. I waited, nothing came.
Two weeks passed, still nothing.
But something more awesome arrived: my authentic followers, now at 235. And they keep growing every day. We reciprocate reads and we clap with sincerity. They leave feedback, I respond. We inspire one another with our insights and stories. I no longer see the number as a program requirement. I don’t just write. I build relationships.
I wouldn't be surprised if, in the future, followers are renamed “friends”. They should be. Because I think that’s exactly where we're heading.
So from the bottom of my heart, I thank you, my dear followers, my soon-to-be friends. I hope that this story helps you. I have strong confidence that if you decide to stay, our partnership will only grow deeper as we navigate the intriguing maze of Medium and continue our journey towards becoming better creators.