Poetry | Top Writers | Writing on Medium
Poemorama Secrets
Medium’s algorithm keeps on humming
The secret is out the ranking is in for Poemorama’s top writers
Ol’ Algo’s been busy crunching the stats for whom it dubs as the winners
It’s all about views and maybe reads too since Algo speaks only in numbers
If we keep the tag going it will keep Algo humming and maybe even serve us some favours
Congrats to the top 10 yeah, one of them’s me! Hear! hear! to our viewers and readers!
© Carolyn Hastings 2022
We’ve just wrapped up Poemorama at Paper Poetry. It’s been a fabulous panoramic month of poetry for us all to revel in.
It occurred to me this morning that I should check the Poemorama tag and see what Algo (Medium’s algorithm) has done with it. I’m glad I did because, wackadoo!, Algo has been up to its secret top writer tricks again! 😆
Secret what?
Secret Top Writer
Most writers who have been around Medium for a while will be familiar with the Top Writer badges that are bestowed on writers whose writings have performed well. There are around 70 tags that carry top writer status — one of them is Poetry.
What some writers may not know is there is a second level of top writer tags. They’ve come to be known as secret top writer awards because they often go unnoticed.
Unlike the main top writer categories, secret top writers do not receive an official email from Medium notifying them of their achievement, nor does it appear on the writer’s bio. The only way to discover if you’ve made it into the top five or 10 of a secret top writer category is to search the tag.
That’s what I did this morning.
And this is what I found.
Woo-hoo! Algo has taken such a liking to the Poemorama tag that it has ranked what it currently thinks are the top 10 writers in the category! ✨
I say ‘currently’ because this ranking can change. It depends on the popularity of the stories that bear the Poemorama tag. For now, the tag is performing well because the stories are still active thanks to all the support Poemorama writers have received via various distribution pathways.
Inevitably, when stories with a specific tag, like Poemorama, are no longer being activated by readers and writers, Algo will lose interest and the tag will be assigned to the digital scrap heap i.e. we can’t count on Algo keeping this list of Poemorama top writers forever. That’s why I wanted to capture it in a screenshot and share it with everyone.
Why Am I Telling You This?
I’m sharing this information with you because I think it’s a good lesson in how we writers can influence Medium’s algorithm.
I created the Poemorama tag on April 1 when I launched Paper Poetry’s global celebration of National Poetry Month. Every story submitted to the Poemorama prompts had to carry the Poemorama tag. The more stories a writer submitted to Poemorama, and the more views and reads those stories had, the more likely it was that Algo would notice and start doing what Algo does best — rank.
To keep the Poemorama tag (or any tag for that matter) alive, it needs to be activated. That can be done by reading stories that carry the tag, giving those stories a shoutout, sharing on social media, or writing new stories using the tag.
Poemorama Top Writers
For now, I’d like to give a shoutout to each of the Poemorama Top Writers and one of their Poemorama stories. If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to read these stories. 🙏 ✨
✨ William J Spirdione — Maybe Just Human
✨ Kimberly Hampton Nilsson — Dogs in Red Collars
✨ Jim Dutton — Breath that from My Master Reeks
✨ Margie Willis — Resurrection Limericks
✨ Monoreena Acharjee Majum — That Place Needs Formaldehyde
✨ Divya Goswami — The Feather Chooses To Fly
✨ Aza Y. Alam — Whatever the Question, Dude…
You can find the complete Poemorama poetry collection here —
Thank you all for reading. 🙏 💕
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