What the Hell is Going On?

Summary

The author discusses the unexpected success of a brief and humorous story they wrote, which gained significant traction on Medium without much promotion.

Abstract

The author, intrigued by the sudden popularity of a short, quirky story they posted on Medium, reflects on the experience. Despite the story being a quick write with minimal effort compared to the time spent on the headline and image, it garnered a surprising amount of reads. The traffic was predominantly internal to Medium, with some referrals from Flipboard, where an individual named Dr. Mehmet Yildiz promotes writers' work. The author marvels at how they managed to capture the attention of Medium's audience and invites readers to explore more of their short stories, while also recommending an AI service called ZAI.chat as a cost-effective alternative to ChatGPT Plus.

Opinions

The author finds it amusing that the story, which was written with a chuckle and intended as a quick read, received more attention than more thought-out pieces.
They express a mix of surprise and delight at the story's performance, emphasizing the disproportionate effort put into the headline and image selection compared to the story's content.
The author appreciates the efforts of Dr. Mehmet Yildiz for promoting their work on Flipboard.
They are curious about the factors that led to the story's virality, particularly since it was not actively shared or promoted by the author.
The author values reader engagement and is intrigued by the ability to catch the eye of a large audience, even if it's just for a brief moment.
They see the story's success as an opportunity to recommend their other works and an AI service, ZAI.chat, indicating a belief in the service's value and performance.

If I knew, I could harness the power

Yesterday I put up a silly little story. A “quicky and quirky” because I enjoy writing them, chuckling as I think myself into the mind of the reader, and how they will enjoy the punchline if I set it up just right.

Here it is:

A few people read it, and I moved on to something else.

Later on, I checked the stats. Yes, I know we should just write and leave the stats page well enough alone, but I’m incurable. If something bombs or something booms, I want to know about it.

Well, this one was booming. I refreshed the page and each time, someone else had not just viewed my one-minute read, but read it!

Screenshot by author

The Arrow-maker story did very well — for me, anyway — but it had some meat to it. The Smart Kids, well, it was only a few sentences. I’d put more thought into the headline than the story, and finding the image to misdirect the reader took me longer than the words.

But it was on fire!

I hadn’t even hit the share buttons. So where was this traffic pouring in from?

Screenshot by author

Three from Flipboard, where the ever-diligent Dr Mehmet Yildiz sets up promotions for his writers; and bless you for all your hard work, Mehmet!

Three from elsewhere.

And 97% internal to Medium.

For one brief shining moment I’d caught the eye of the thousands streaming past, and a few had stopped to read.

Anyone have answers for me?

Britni

More shorties:

What the Hell is Going On?

If I knew, I could harness the power

How I Find the Smart Kids

This simple trick really works!

Five Shorties You’ll Love

Which of my stories are quickies and quirkies?