The Best Days to Have Published a Story on Medium in August 2020 — Data Analysis
I analyzed all 485 of the stories featured by Medium in August 2020 and found the best day to publish for engagement.
In this report, we will explore the best days to have published a story on Medium during August, 2020. I hope that the information shared here helps you optimize the choices you make in your writing journey.
Towards the middle of this report, you can find a bar graph of engagement for each of the seven days.
Who am I?
I’m a software engineer who knows how to obtain, process, and report data efficiently. As a writer, I’ve set my eyes on Medium’s featured stories to help myself and other writers understand what Medium’s editorial team prioritizes. I will do my best to summarize my findings in a series of articles. You can follow me and the Writers Guild publication to stay alert.
Before we get into the data, please take a second to clap for this story to let me know it’s valuable to you. I only want to continue reporting these stats if they are of great value to writers like you and me. 👏🏿👏🏾👏🏽👏🏼 👏🏻👏
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Let’s dive into the data from August!
#1. Monday
There were 103 stories published on Monday featured by Medium in August, 2020. These stories accounted for 21.24% of all stories featured during August. The stories from Monday were curated across seventy-one topics, including UX, Startups, and Books. The most frequent topic was Equality, which appeared in twenty-eight stories.
Formatting
The greatest number of words in a single story that Medium selected from Monday to feature on their homepage was 7,398. The minimum number of words was 427. The average number of words was 1,589.
Those words summed up to an average reading time of 6 minutes.
- Maximum reading time: 28 minutes
- Minimum reading time: 2 minutes
Reader engagement
There was a total of 124760 claps received on stories published on Monday. The applause came from 18,336 readers.
- Average number of claps: 1,211
- Maximum number of claps: 24,908
- Minimum number of claps: 0
There was a total of 1261 responses received on stories published on Monday.
- Average number of responses: 12
- Maximum number of responses: 193
- Minimum number of responses: 0
Ranking based on engagement
Based on the averages of this engagement data from stories published on Monday that were featured on Medium’s homepage, Monday was the best day to publish a story on Medium in August, 2020.
Sample of stories
- 3 reward structures Spotify uses to keep you listening by Anthony Conta
- The Last of the Libertarians by Wessie du Toit
- Saliva Tests Show Promise 🤞 by Alexandra Sifferlin
- How Do We Tell Our Kids the Black Panther Has Died? by Miles Marshall Lewis
- The Billionaire’s Lament: How the World Changed Around Jay-Z by David Dennis, Jr.
- The Pandemic Has Exposed How Broken Our Housing System Is by Patrick Sisson
- Making Peace With Your Body Is a Mighty Act of Revolution by Sonya Renee Taylor
- I’m an NYC Mover Packing Up People’s Personal Belongings Over Facetime by Mai Tran
#2. Tuesday
There were 90 stories published on Tuesday featured by Medium in August, 2020. These stories accounted for 18.56% of all stories featured during August. The stories from Tuesday were curated across sixty-five topics, including Remote Work, Economy, and Society. The most frequent topic was Race, which appeared in twenty-one stories.
Formatting
The greatest number of words in a single story that Medium selected from Tuesday to feature on their homepage was 6,425. The minimum number of words was 293. The average number of words was 1,608.
Those words summed up to an average reading time of 6 minutes.
- Maximum reading time: 27 minutes
- Minimum reading time: 1 minutes
Reader engagement
There was a total of 112958 claps received on stories published on Tuesday. The applause came from 14,590 readers.
- Average number of claps: 1,255
- Maximum number of claps: 14,266
- Minimum number of claps: 22
There was a total of 1425 responses received on stories published on Tuesday.
- Average number of responses: 16
- Maximum number of responses: 178
- Minimum number of responses: 0
Ranking based on engagement
Based on the averages of this engagement data from stories published on Tuesday that were featured on Medium’s homepage, Tuesday was the 2nd best day to publish a story on Medium in August, 2020.
Sample of stories
- Remote Work Is Killing the Hidden Trillion-Dollar Office Economy by Steve LeVine
- A Supercomputer Analyzed Covid-19 — and an Interesting New Theory Has Emerged by Thomas Smith
- ‘I Spent Much of my Career Listening to White Folks Complain About Africa and Africans’ by Raksha Vasudevan
- What the RNC and DNC Teach Us About Effective Brand Strategy by Scott Galloway
- Chadwick Boseman’s Death Brought Our Collective Grief to a Breaking Point by David Dennis, Jr.
- The Privileged Have Entered Their Escape Pods by Douglas Rushkoff
- If You Hate What Covid Did to Your Summer, Just Wait for the Holidays by Sarah Begley
- The First Scientific Utopia Still Matters 400 Years Later by Brian Merchant
#3. Saturday
There were 18 stories published on Saturday featured by Medium in August, 2020. These stories accounted for 3.71% of all stories featured during August. The stories from Saturday were curated across twenty-five topics, including Race, Education, and Equality. The most frequent topic was Equality, which appeared in five stories.
Formatting
The greatest number of words in a single story that Medium selected from Saturday to feature on their homepage was 5,396. The minimum number of words was 880. The average number of words was 2,028.
Those words summed up to an average reading time of 8 minutes.
- Maximum reading time: 21 minutes
- Minimum reading time: 4 minutes
Reader engagement
There was a total of 17006 claps received on stories published on Saturday. The applause came from 2,469 readers.
- Average number of claps: 945
- Maximum number of claps: 3,436
- Minimum number of claps: 20
There was a total of 241 responses received on stories published on Saturday.
- Average number of responses: 13
- Maximum number of responses: 97
- Minimum number of responses: 0
Ranking based on engagement
Based on the averages of this engagement data from stories published on Saturday that were featured on Medium’s homepage, Saturday was the 3rd best day to publish a story on Medium in August, 2020.
Sample of stories
- Why I Hate Being Called Asian by Harleen Kaur
- A Closer Look at Tesla’s Path to Fully Self-Driving Vehicles by Venkatesh Rao
- Confessions of a Former Black Nun by Deborah L. Plummer
- How “breaking up” Apple and Amazon might actually work by Will Oremus
- Life Gets Better After 47, Says New Happiness Research by Eric Spitznagel
- The Oldest Debts in History by Andrei Tapalaga ✒️
- I’m Black and Support Gun Rights by Mansa Brice
- OpEd: Our Black Children Are Not Experiments! by Jakeia Person
#4. Wednesday
There were 86 stories published on Wednesday featured by Medium in August, 2020. These stories accounted for 17.73% of all stories featured during August. The stories from Wednesday were curated across fifty-eight topics, including Politics, Election 2020, and Spirituality. The most frequent topic was Culture, which appeared in twenty-two stories.
Formatting
The greatest number of words in a single story that Medium selected from Wednesday to feature on their homepage was 28,367. The minimum number of words was 448. The average number of words was 2,222.
Those words summed up to an average reading time of 9 minutes.
- Maximum reading time: 109 minutes
- Minimum reading time: 2 minutes
Reader engagement
There was a total of 91194 claps received on stories published on Wednesday. The applause came from 11,378 readers.
- Average number of claps: 1,060
- Maximum number of claps: 7,551
- Minimum number of claps: 71
There was a total of 1103 responses received on stories published on Wednesday.
- Average number of responses: 13
- Maximum number of responses: 83
- Minimum number of responses: 0
Ranking based on engagement
Based on the averages of this engagement data from stories published on Wednesday that were featured on Medium’s homepage, Wednesday was the 4th best day to publish a story on Medium in August, 2020.
Sample of stories
- 3 Things That Won’t Persuade a Trump Voter by Karin Tamerius
- The Spiritual World Must Face Its Shadow by Patrick Paul Garlinger
- Dining in 1918 by Jessie Cacciola
- The Chaotic Mess of Back-to-School Season, According to High Schoolers by Izzie Ramirez
- The Meat Shortage Myth by Lisa Held
- Losing Friends Over George Floyd — and Now, Jacob Blake by Brianna Holt
- Republican Women Were Ready for War on Night Two of the RNC by Andrea González-Ramírez
- A Life Spent Searching For Love From My Father by Set Heru
#5. Thursday
There were 92 stories published on Thursday featured by Medium in August, 2020. These stories accounted for 18.97% of all stories featured during August. The stories from Thursday were curated across sixty-nine topics, including Politics, Artificial Intelligence, and Software Engineering. The most frequent topic was Society, which appeared in twenty-four stories.
Formatting
The greatest number of words in a single story that Medium selected from Thursday to feature on their homepage was 20,512. The minimum number of words was 305. The average number of words was 1,785.
Those words summed up to an average reading time of 7 minutes.
- Maximum reading time: 78 minutes
- Minimum reading time: 1 minutes
Reader engagement
There was a total of 88029 claps received on stories published on Thursday. The applause came from 11,517 readers.
- Average number of claps: 957
- Maximum number of claps: 9,081
- Minimum number of claps: 89
There was a total of 1146 responses received on stories published on Thursday.
- Average number of responses: 12
- Maximum number of responses: 230
- Minimum number of responses: 0
Ranking based on engagement
Based on the averages of this engagement data from stories published on Thursday that were featured on Medium’s homepage, Thursday was the 5th best day to publish a story on Medium in August, 2020.
Sample of stories
- The Dystopia Where Nothing Gets “Cancelled” by Joshua Adams
- Automated Coding and the Future of Programming by O’Reilly Media
- 6 Ingenious Ways Hackers Break Into the World’s Most Secure Computers by Thomas Smith
- The Pandemic May Have Killed Waiting Rooms by Bashar Salame
- Why Tech Companies Need Science Fiction Writers On Staff by Alex Kantrowitz
- Facebook’s Technocratic Reports Hide Its Failures on Abuse by Chris Gilliard
- ‘It Just Felt Wrong.’ Ex-Amazon VP Tim Bray on Why He Left by Alex Kantrowitz
- California Is on Fire and Choking Out Its Most Vulnerable by Drew Costley
#6. Sunday
There were 19 stories published on Sunday featured by Medium in August, 2020. These stories accounted for 3.92% of all stories featured during August. The stories from Sunday were curated across thirty topics, including Coronavirus, Immigration, and Justice. The most frequent topic was Race, which appeared in five stories.
Formatting
The greatest number of words in a single story that Medium selected from Sunday to feature on their homepage was 2,444. The minimum number of words was 767. The average number of words was 1,535.
Those words summed up to an average reading time of 6 minutes.
- Maximum reading time: 9 minutes
- Minimum reading time: 3 minutes
Reader engagement
There was a total of 15500 claps received on stories published on Sunday. The applause came from 1,904 readers.
- Average number of claps: 816
- Maximum number of claps: 3,364
- Minimum number of claps: 57
There was a total of 171 responses received on stories published on Sunday.
- Average number of responses: 9
- Maximum number of responses: 43
- Minimum number of responses: 0
Ranking based on engagement
Based on the averages of this engagement data from stories published on Sunday that were featured on Medium’s homepage, Sunday was the 6th best day to publish a story on Medium in August, 2020.
Sample of stories
- Inside the Adelanto ICE Detention Center, Where the COVID-19 Pandemic Means Toxic Mist by Malaika Kanaaneh Tapper
- I’m Living in the Middle of a Wildfire Crisis. It’s as Terrifying as It Sounds. by Andrew Martin
- What It’s Like Being a High Schooler in Silicon Valley by Ojas Mor
- what I learned in 5 years of sobriety by Erin Lee Carr
- Embracing Wilderness, Resisting Whiteness by Sarah Olson Michel
- Why Facebook can’t quash QAnon by Will Oremus
- How ‘Twilight’ Ruined Google Image Search Forever by Mike Wehner
- White Supremacy in Me by Leigh Green
#7. Friday
There were 77 stories published on Friday featured by Medium in August, 2020. These stories accounted for 15.88% of all stories featured during August. The stories from Friday were curated across fifty-five topics, including Politics, Society, and Equality. The most frequent topic was Race, which appeared in twenty-one stories.
Formatting
The greatest number of words in a single story that Medium selected from Friday to feature on their homepage was 7,987. The minimum number of words was 298. The average number of words was 1,761.
Those words summed up to an average reading time of 7 minutes.
- Maximum reading time: 32 minutes
- Minimum reading time: 1 minutes
Reader engagement
There was a total of 60398 claps received on stories published on Friday. The applause came from 7,099 readers.
- Average number of claps: 784
- Maximum number of claps: 4,245
- Minimum number of claps: 57
There was a total of 606 responses received on stories published on Friday.
- Average number of responses: 8
- Maximum number of responses: 43
- Minimum number of responses: 0
Ranking based on engagement
Based on the averages of this engagement data from stories published on Friday that were featured on Medium’s homepage, Friday was the 7th best day to publish a story on Medium in August, 2020.
Sample of stories
- Does America Have a Psychological Disease? by Shannon Ashley
- American Capitalism: The Implications of Class, and Race, in Horror by Jared Charles
- What Would It Feel Like To Be Optimistic Right Now? by Sarah Stankorb
- How Ant Group Became the Biggest Fintech Company in the World by Marc Rubinstein
- Covid-19 Research Scandals Illustrate What’s Wrong With Science by Dana G Smith
- How to Fight Fair With Your Partner by Aliya S. King
- NBA Athletes Are Too Rich to Be Revolutionaries by Tirhakah Love
- The Terrible Power of Being a Political Woman on TV by Eve Fairbanks
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