The Unintended Consequences of Medium Changes and What You Can Do About It, Tony
The gamification of writing on Medium
A message to the guy in the driving seat
Concerned about the number of venomous cobras in Delhi, the government offered a reward to anyone who brought in a dead cobra. It was highly successful. The populous killed thousands of snakes.
And they kept coming back. Week after week, more people turned up with increasing numbers of dead cobras. The government realised unscrupulous entrepreneurs were gaming the system by breeding the snakes, so they cancelled the program.
As a result, it left cobra breeders with thousands of worthless snakes, which they released into the wild, increasing the population of wild cobras.
It’s the law of unintended consequences, a frequently observed phenomenon in which any action has results that are not intended.
It’s why there are so many snakes in the grass.
Ev Williams left the helm after 10 years in charge at Medium. According to Comparably.com, he earned $790,000 annually. Is our new CEO Tony Stubblebine earning as much?
I suspect he will be happier with the rewards in his new role than as a writer here. Although, he will have a few headaches.
It seems the platform is riddled with grudges and groans as reader engagement drops — and thus earnings, too. Discontent articles and noisy quitting abound.
In an interview on YouTube, Tony suggests if writers feel they are not getting paid what they are worth, it’s because Medium doesn’t have an audience for them.
There are Medium writers who have shown continued high engagement, but a reduced return. Ironically, these articles are getting higher engagement than their other stories.
This is why I am writing this article. I’m gaming the system. If the high engagement comes from writing about Medium — that’s what writers will write about, because that’s what earns the money.
I’m just another snake in the grass.
The Medium Partner Programme
To earn money on Medium, writers have to apply to the Medium Partner Programme. To join the Partner Program, you need to:
- Have at least 100 followers on Medium
- Have published at least one story on Medium in the past
Having to gain followers before you get paid has created a follow-for-follow culture. Facebook has several groups dedicated to gaining followers and readers: “You read mine, I’ll read yours.”
Some people follow writers for no other reason than to receive a follow back. “Why are you following me?” Is the most ironic question you can ask on this platform — because it’s rhetorical.
Follower counts didn’t mean an awful lot before — the unintended consequence of introducing a minimum following has made it an entirely useless metric.
Publishing an article is easy. Anyone, even non-paying members, can write an article and self-publish it on Medium. Publishing an article people will read is much more difficult.
Publications
Getting an article into a top publication on Medium used to guarantee a fairly good readership. Not so much now.
Some publications vet the articles they publish and limit the number they post. It is difficult to get an article to meet their criteria. They can also take days, if not weeks, to get around to notifying writers if their submission has made it.
Medium allows anyone to create their own publications. Some have less stringent criteria and pride themselves on a quick turnaround.
There are five unintended consequences.
- Writers who have been rejected by other publications gravitate towards publications with less stringent criteria.
- Some writers create their own publications to be more visible. They pin their own articles to the top of their publication to gather more traffic — gamification of the system.
- Most publications fail to capture an audience and their owners give up. There are hundreds of publications lying dormant.
- Top publications receive less interest. Someone with 1k followers can post an article in a top publication with 250k followers and receive as few as five readers.
- Publications with a high turnover and a fast turnaround can gobble up fascinating articles. They get lost in the crowd.
I would add: There are many altruistic editors (unpaid volunteers) who do it for the love of writing or the love of their niche subject — you know who you are and thank you.
Distribution
We used to get notifications when our articles were ‘distributed.’ That is no longer a feature. The length and depth of distribution remain a mystery. This is a bone of contention.
Most writers are human. Humans are subject to the conscious and unconscious phenomena of human behaviour. They like to be liked.
Distribution notifications provided a pat on the back. It was a positive sign you appreciated their writing. The precursor to a hit of dopamine and the resultant feeling of pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation.
It’s like playing a one-armed bandit. The addiction comes from the occasional win. Nobody in their right mind would squander a cent on a gaming machine if it never paid out.
The unintended consequences of removing distribution notifications have also removed a trigger for writers to feel appreciated.
Referred member program
Medium does not make any money from advertising, thankfully. We all detest reading anything with annoying pop-ups.
However, this can mean an article, like this one, can garner over 8k views but only earn $40, because most of the reads are from external sources.
But Medium needs to make money — there are wages to pay.
Thus, we were introduced to the referred member program. If anyone signs up through a writer’s link, they receive half of the membership fee for as long as the sign-up remains a member.
The unintended consequences are that it halves the money available to pay writers for reads. This is one reason people are complaining about reduced revenue. And it means writers are advertising Medium — something we kinda detest.
Articles are littered with requests to follow, sign up for notifications, and become paying members under the writer’s link. (Yes, I do this too.)
Tipping
Writers are now allowed to add a customizable tipping button to their stories and receive direct support from their readers. Whether it be Patreon, Ko-Fi, or some other format, these are becoming ubiquitous.
Some do it tongue-in-cheek — one writer wants to fund his Grandma’s new dentures; he’s funny.
The unintended consequences are that these requests reduce the gravity of the articles and thus the platform.
Low barriers to entry
As a reader, $5 per month represents excellent value.
As a writer, you can write and get paid without being a paying member. The unintended consequences are that paying members feel cheated.
Medium is a ridiculously cheap way for writers to hone their craft, publish, and get paid. If Medium was where you bought your clothes, it would be in between shopping at a thrift store and shoplifting.
The relational model
We are encouraged to read, clap, and comment.
You can be the best writer in the world, but nobody is going to read every word of every article you publish. Not unless you are Michelle Scorziello — she’s exceptionally brilliant.
There will be articles that readers are not interested in or don’t have the time to read. Reading can be time-consuming.
The unintended consequences of a relational model are that people clap and comment on more articles, thus their membership fee is split between more people. They skim more, too, so they get less out of an article than they would have otherwise.
What you can do about it, Tony
Yes, I know. It’s not my place. I’m not in charge. I merely mention these things for your consideration.
What happens on Medium is up to the people at the top.
I have one idea, though —
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