The One-Clap People Mystery Revealed
The results of the One Clap Survey tell it all
In October, I asked one-clap-only readers on Medium to take the One Clap Survey and help us understand why some people only clap once. If you too wondered what’s the reasoning behind this, here is the answer that will put you at ease — it’s not you (or your story), it’s them!
(Also read the initial post The Curious Case of People Who Only Clap Once)
Most of the one-clap people prefer a binary system
By far the largest group (46%) of the one-clap readers on Medium prefer a simple binary system to having too many options. 26 people out of 56 chose that answer, and 5 also provided additional reasons for their choice:
- I prefer to think of it as a recommendation system — I either recommend a story or I don’t — a binary system. Plus I read a lot and I simply don’t have time or interest in pressing a stupid clap button.
- I liked binary options better, but am also reminded of Dutch word klapvee (clapping herd), a denigrating term used for people who are drummed up to applaud on purpose in shows or for politicians or dictators
- It is like saying: I like it, 1 clap! or none if I do not like. Keep it simple. There is not a scale about number of claps. One to five would be perfect, I think. A clear, simple and fair scale for every writer of Medium.
- My one claps are equal to a like. If what I’m reading speaks to me I’ll hit clap on paragraphs that stand out. Hope this helps you.
- Yep. Too many options. You have to evaluate and decide how many claps an article should get. It’s easier to just give one clap per good article and no clap per bad article. UNLESS it’s an awesome article or important article that deserves to be read by more people. Then I max out on claps.
Many had no idea they could clap more than once
Surprisingly many respondents (30%) were not aware that Medium allows multiple claps. 17 out of 56 people selected that option and one of them offered additional insight:
- Firstly I didn’t know, and then I was overwhelmed, then I wasn’t used to so much to give — do I get measured bout being stingy or generous? Should I give out claps all the time? I don’t know the etiquette. Now I’m stressed and anxious, maybe one clap is at least engaging and I can give more later when I know what I’m doing. I don’t want to be rude.
The rest of the responses were mixed and most curious indeed
There was a small group of readers (5%) who haven’t upgraded their Medium app yet and thus cannot clap more than once, but some of the most interesting responses came from the remaining 19%, for instance:
- I’m new to Medium and my first story has only been getting one-clap responses so I began to revert to only using one clap because i was mindlessly following an observed trend.
- I don’t know. OMG. I thought it was just me.
- Hate what was written and as such I want passerbys to see it as only deserving one clap since zero claps would not illustrate my point. I am an asshole.
The conclusion
Rest assured that single claps your stories receive from most of the one-clap people (81%) have nothing to do with you or the quality of your story — it’s simply that these readers are either overwhelmed by the 50 claps option and prefer a simple life, had no idea they could give more than a single clap, or haven’t upgraded their app yet. There was only one person out of 56 who does this because he or she is an asshole. A few might not be too happy with your story, but they are happy enough to clap at least once.
So there, feeling better now? I sure am.
