avatarDr Mehmet Yildiz

Summary

Dr. Mehmet Yildiz, a top writer on Medium with a substantial following, expresses confusion and disappointment over the recent poor performance of his articles on the platform, despite their success elsewhere, and questions whether changes in Medium's algorithms are to blame.

Abstract

Dr. Mehmet Yildiz, a recognized Medium author with 5.4K followers and a history of gaining 500 regular readers in the past year, is perplexed by the stark underperformance of his latest story on Medium, which received only 29 views and 16 reads despite going viral on another platform. He attributes this decline to potential shifts in Medium's algorithms, which have also been noted by other top writers. Despite his expertise and passion for cognitive science, his recent stories have seen an 80% drop in viewers and readers. Yildiz has sought feedback from his audience, only to find that they haven't seen his content. He suspects AI and algorithmic changes are negatively impacting content visibility and engagement, affecting not only himself but other top writers as well. In response, he has created ILLUMINATION-Curated to support other writers, though he remains concerned about maintaining his regular readership on Medium.

Opinions

  • The author believes that Medium's algorithm changes are negatively impacting the visibility and success of his articles.
  • He questions the effectiveness of follower count as a performance indicator, given his story's poor performance despite his significant following.
  • The author feels that his content should perform better due to its relevance and his expertise in the subject matter.
  • He is skeptical about the role of AI in content curation and its potential to stifle creativity and contributions.
  • Yildiz is determined to understand the root causes of the issue and is seeking answers from Medium's Helpdesk and through community discussions.
  • He has observed a broader trend among top writers experiencing similar declines in engagement, suggesting a systemic problem rather than an individual one.
  • Despite his personal challenges with curation, he remains committed to helping other writers improve their content and increase visibility through ILLUMINATION-Curated.
  • The author is open to criticism and values feedback as a means to achieve excellence in his writing.

Reality

This Doesn’t Make Sense

I am more confused now. How changes in Medium’s algorithms have effected my readers.

Photo by Comete El Coco on Unsplash

A story that went viral on another platform received only 29 views and 16 reads on Medium.

Here is the reality.

image screen capture by Dr Mehmet Yildiz

Why am I confused?

Because, look at how miserably my story failed on Medium.

The only good thing about this story is the 3 minute average reading time that is consistent with my other stories.

image screen capture by Dr Mehmet Yildiz

I am disappointed with the performance of this story for two reasons. Firstly, I am a top writer on Medium with 5.4K followers. Well followers are not real indicators for performance. I agree. My second reason is I gained at least 500, regular readers of my content, within the last 12 months. Some call these regular readers fans.

More interestingly, this particular story was published on a publication followed by 68,000 followers on Medium. And the platform has millions of readers. Hundreds of stories have gone viral from this publication. Not many stories go viral anymore, after the recent changes possibly affecting Medium’s algorithms.

But only 29 people had a chance to view this specific story.

One may say the story sucks.

It is possible. I have no arrogance that my stories are top-notch and appeal to everyone. My reasonable expectation is my regular readers.

If the story sucks, one may ask why another version of the same story received so many impressions in another platform. Interestingly, it is a new platform where I have fewer than 10% of followers than I have here.

Is the topic wrong?

I don’t think so. It is practical and relevant to a large audience. I wrote it in plain language. It is not technical mambo jumbo and does not sell anything to anyone.

Maybe you are not an authority on the topic.

I asked this question to myself, but the answer is not satisfactory. The story is about a topic reflecting insights from my four decades of experience in a field where I had the highest education level.

Content I write about the brain, and cognitive science usually gets excellent views. It is my area of expertise. And I am passionate about this topic.

This story is only one example of what happened to my stats on Medium recently. I lost more than 80% of my viewers and readers in the last two months.

This confuses me a lot.

I keep asking questions of myself:

Is my writing getting worse?

Are my topics irrelevant to my audience?

Do I offend my readers?

Is my title clickbait?

Do I sell stuff that other people don’t want to buy?

And I ask many more self-assessment questions. Yet, I don’t come across any rational and satisfactory answers.

With no fear of criticism — positive or negative — I always ask feedback from my readers. To their surprise, they did not even see my content recently.

I don’t know the exact root causes of this situation, but have some ideas especially after reading stories of top writers like Lincoln W Daniel who wrote Medium is Actively Acting Against the Best Interests and Desires of Writers.

AI is the first culprit coming to mind. Algorithms do their job based on what they are asked to do. Do we have to suffer from robotic and automated decisions?

No, we don’t. When suffering starts, creation and contributions die.

Obviously, I am not alone on this challenging journey. Many top writers like Helen Cassidy Page, Julia E Hubbel and Kiran Yasmin touched on these disappointments in my publications. Kiran is even corresponding with real and pseudo EW to get the bottom of this real concern.

My purpose is not to complain about the platform but show the reality. Some friends think that my stories receive thousands of views. Yes, they used to but not anymore. I have no fear of reflecting reality.

Being in curation jail for so long now, I have given up curation benefits on Medium. I don’t care about curation for myself anymore. It is not my loss. My stories are curated in other platforms and reach out to thousands of readers. This is what my stories received in one month on another platform.

screen capture by author

But I still want our contributing writers to be curated and am keen to help them improve their content and increase visibility. Therefore, I created ILLUMINATION-Curated.

However, I don’t want to give up my regular readers who took me 12 months of investment to build. If AI is affecting my regular readers, this needs to be addressed. I asked the Helpdesk a few weeks ago and did not receive a response. I plan to follow-up this issue closely.

Here is the sample story which performed badly on Medium. Please feel free to criticize it. Your feedback is important to me. I strive for excellence with feedback from my audience.

If you feel the same frustration and have similar concerns, please comment.

Now time to create synergy via SYNERGY.

Thank you for reading my perspectives on reality.

My personal development, health, mental health, lifestyle, leadership, and self-improvement stories are hosted on Transhumanism.

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