Why Your Read Ratio is Terrible!
And what Medium should do about it
I wrote an article asking why so many people were clicking away from stories after 30 seconds. These stories were definitely not clickbait. Some were excellent stories that really deliver on the headlines.
I didn’t understand why people would click on a story in the first place if they had no interest in the content.
Readers of my article made various suggestions:
- People have short attention spans
- Some people use software that creates AI summaries
- Maybe I need a busty blonde in the image to hold people’s attention!
- But it still didn’t make sense.
Then one of the responses blew me away. It was enlightening for someone like myself who doesn’t own a smartphone.
To paraphrase, Bette A. Ludwig 🔍 said…
“I read a lot on my phone and you just can’t see the whole headline until you click on it, so I am sure that’s some of it. I have the same issue with my posts. I use straightforward titles and some read rates are very low.
“I suspect a lot of others read on their phone. You can’t see the whole title unless you click on it. I hope they change that part of the policy. You really get dinged for it.
“They can keep the 30 seconds for payout but get rid of the penalty for an immediate click out. If it’s click bait they won’t get paid if someone leaves right away anyway. They don’t need the second part which only punishes the rest of us.”
So how about it Tony Stubblebine? How about removing the downgrading of payments when people click away?
Or failing that, perhaps you could make the whole headline visible on the mobile app? It might reduce the number of people clicking on stories that they don’t want to read.
The other lesson from this is for writers to make the first part of their headlines really count!
Medium’s Read Rate at 30 Seconds — Why Are So Many Clicking Away?
How it affects earnings
Medium.com
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