avatarGiorgos Pantsios

Summary

Medium's new Blogroll feature allows users to see the recent articles of people they follow, potentially increasing visibility and reach for authors.

Abstract

The article discusses the discovery of a new feature on Medium called Blogroll, which enables users to view the most recent articles written by the people a user is following. This feature is seen as a significant enhancement for social interaction on the platform, as it facilitates the discovery of new content and supports the distribution of articles beyond the writer's immediate follower base. The author provides a mathematical example illustrating the potential exponential increase in visibility for an article, emphasizing the strategic advantage of using the Blogroll feature. The article also touches on the importance of understanding the timing of posts and the geographical distribution of followers to maximize the feature's effectiveness. The author encourages Medium users to adopt this feature and speculates on Medium's possible move towards a more independent platform, suggesting that users should leverage these changes to their advantage.

Opinions

  • The author is enthusiastic about the Blogroll feature, considering it a game-changer for content exposure on Medium.
  • There is an optimistic view on the potential reach of articles through the Blogroll, with calculations suggesting a significant increase in profile visits.
  • The author believes that timing posts according to when followers are most active is crucial for maximizing the feature's benefits.
  • There is a suggestion that Medium might be shifting towards a more independent, user-centric platform, which is seen as a positive development.
  • The author is keen on the idea of users engaging with the new feature and is open to hearing other users' insights on the topic.

The Big Unnoticed Feature You Have to Enable on Medium

I accidentally stumbled upon Blogroll today.

Screenshot by the Author

We often try to socialize on Medium, following people back or trying to find recent stories to support. It was harder, but now things are changing.

Medium is helping us, more than we think of.

Why?

Let me explain.

Medium added a valuable option of seeing what people the person you clicked on is following.

Precisely, Medium is giving us the opportunity to see the 5 writers that published most recently. If you can see on my screenshot above, two publications posted right now, ILLUMINATION is one of them.

I’m so excited because of the math you’ll see behind this.

This might turn out to be better than publishing in publications after all. Let me explain.

The Example.

Let’s take me, for instance.

I sit at around 900 followers, not a bad number. Let’s assume that 400 of them will enable this beautiful Blogroll option provided by Medium.

I decide to post an article and I become the top name in that list of recently published articles.

Let’s assume that these 400 people have an average of 50 active followers as well. They click on my follower’s profile to see their recent story, and they see my name under their profile.

If half of those followers click on my profile, I will have 400x25 new people taking a look at my profile!

Does this mean that you just reached 10000 people on Medium??? This is insane.

Want a more realistic number? Let’s say 10%. That’s still 2000 people!

The numbers are random and can get higher if timed correctly.

We need to take care of some variables, from now on.

New Variables to Take Care of.

Obviously, the key variable is the number of followers you have. As it increases, the number of active followers increases as well, which is a tremendous aspect of using Blogroll

We need to understand what’s the best time to post a story. When are our most followers online, on Medium?

What’s their country as well. Time zones differ, so you need to focus on getting the most out of it.

How do we do this? By creating polls. By knowing our fanbase better.

I will create a poll soon enough, explaining the reason behind this — which you now know.

Final Thoughts

I encourage everyone to update their profile by adding this valuable option that Medium provides.

There were talks on Medium about creating it more independent than Publisher related. Is this another of their steps towards it? Maybe. Do we need to take advantage of it? Definitely yes.

I hope my insights will be helpful for you. And I hope to see your insights on this topic as well!

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