Who Should You Follow on Medium?

It boils down to what your motivation is

Oh, decisions, decisions. Who should you follow on Medium? There are so many writers across so many subjects. Where do you even begin?

The issue becomes even more complicated depending on your motives. Are you a writer looking to grow an audience — or a writer looking to learn from others?

You might not even be a writer; maybe your only purpose of being on Medium is to consume some of the great articles published here every day. If you’re this person, great. My only advice is to follow writers who reach you through their writing. I’m sure you’ll know what I mean.

This issue of motivation is an important one because who you follow and why matters a lot. In this article, I’m going to attempt to get under the skin of whatever your motivation might be and offer some guidance on how to proceed.

Hey, I might even sneak in a recommendation or two. But that’s for later. To begin with I’m going to clear up what it means to follow someone on Medium.

Following a Writer on Medium

Medium is deemed to be a social network. Hence the ability to follow others is found on all social media platforms. Unlike other social networks though, what it means to follow someone on Medium is quite different.

Take Facebook for example. The nature of your relationships with others will dictate who your friends are. On Instagram, the nature of following someone goes beyond relationships.

I consider it more a flavour of curiosity.

On Twitter, it’s more about interests and what’s happening now. Of course, we can’t forget LinkedIn. The network is about the professional opportunities which might flow from such a connection.

Medium isn’t like this at all. There is no chat, or posting on a friend’s wall, or even retweeting a post you liked, although you can do some of those with the content you read if you wish.

On Medium, following someone gives you access.

Allow me to explain…

The first thing to note is if you follow someone, then you’re going to see the articles they publish. If you’re using the app, then the “Your Daily Read” section is going to feature some of the writers you follow.

It will also contain new articles from writers you might have previously read. As you scroll down the app you come to the “New for you” section which contains new posts from publications and writers you follow.

So, following someone means you’re going to see their carefully crafted articles. Beyond this, the only other thing to be aware of is when you follow someone, they will get a notification. Nothing else.

You might get a follow back, or you might not. It all depends on the motivation of the person you’ve followed.

What’s Your Motivation for Becoming a Follower?

I touched on this earlier and it is important to cover this for a few reasons.

We all have our reasons for using Medium. For some of us, being able to write and potentially earn money is very enticing. For others, it’s the sense of achievement that comes from knowing other people are reading your work.

Some writers just want to write and are not motivated either way.

What all this creates is a minefield of different approaches as to whom you should follow.

If you’re a reader, then I would recommend you select who you follow with care.

The simple reason is each of your reading sections within the app is going to become cluttered beyond belief. This isn’t quite so good if you’re selective about what you read.

Some people on Medium work on the “follow for follow” game. As a new writer on Medium, it’s easy to get sucked into this approach. It seems to be a way of life on social media platforms. The belief is if you follow lots of people, some of those will follow you back and this gives you a larger audience.

I can’t see the point.

If someone follows me, I want it to be for one reason. They liked an article I wrote and want to see more of what I publish.

It’s simple, logical and it allows me to see how I am performing as a writer. If I don’t play the follow for follow game (which I don’t) then I can gauge how my writing is being received. If I’m getting little or no new followers, then my writing must suck.

If you’re following to gain followers, then your ability to judge this is impaired. Some will argue the payment programme is the ultimate proof of this. It is, but for me, I’m not looking for one reader to read one article. I want them to come back to my articles again and again.

Who Do I Follow on Medium?

My motivation in following another writer is to learn.

I’m not a fluid writer. My use of the written word has been limited by a lack of ability to pay attention at school swiftly followed by years of practising bad habits. As my daughter will testify, I don’t have a clue how to use a comma. And as for prepositions, well, I’m still working on getting my head around them.

So, I read to learn.

For this reason, I only follow a hundred or so writers on the platform. I limit the range of writers to those who have produced something I’ve enjoyed reading. I appreciate the quality of what they’ve produced in the past and I want to digest more it.

It is, for this reason, I don’t follow those of you who choose to follow me. I might take a battering for my opinion, but this is how I see followers on Medium.

Who are the masters I try and learn from then? Here are some of my favourites.

These writers are at the top of their game when it comes to crafting articles. It isn’t just about their fame within the platform. And it’s not about the inspiration each of them offers through the stories they tell.

No, it’s way deeper than that. The structure, the flow and the fine use of words are examples that inspire me. They serve a purpose to challenge me, to force me to become a better writer by showing me the way.

By limiting this list, I get to see their work regularly without drowning in the sea of articles from others.

Final Thoughts

I started by offering a question. Who should you follow on Medium?

Pause for a minute and consider your motivation. Are you looking to build an “audience” by following others to get some followers back?

Is it a true audience? Does it work?

What will you miss by following thousands? Yes, you can follow and unfollow, but then all you’re doing is playing a game. For me, I don’t see the logic behind it. It is a false narrative that isn’t how you improve as a writer.

This is my motivation. It is the reason I follow who I follow on Medium. I want to learn from others. To revel in the artistry of great articles put together by writers who are at the top of their game.

Please humour me for a second: who do you follow on Medium, and why?