Medium 101
A Guide to Making the Most of Your Medium Profile
You are your story’s best asset
The more complete and accurate your Medium profile is, the easier it is for readers to find your work. Think of your profile like a bio on the back jacket of a book.
Building a robust profile will help deepen your relationship with your readers by showing them you’re authentic, trustworthy, and real. When readers come across one of your stories on Medium, or through Facebook and Twitter, they’ll be curious about who you are and what you have to say. The more complete your profile is, the more likely it is that those readers will go on to browse your other stories or decide to follow you on Medium.
Here are a few best practices for creating your Medium profile:
1. Include your full name.
We recommend using your real name. Readers are less likely to trust a pseudonym or moniker — and more likely to trust the real you. (This is especially important if you’re writing about an area of real-world expertise, like technology or health.) Here’s how you can change your display name.
On the web:
- Sign in
- Click your profile picture — or just go to medium.com/me
- Select “settings.”
- In the “profile” section, you’ll be able to change your display name.
In the Medium app:
- Tap your profile picture on the bottom bar.
- Tap the three-dot button in the top-right corner.
- Tap “Edit you profile” and edit your display name.
2. Include a short bio.
Readers are attracted to clear, succinct, compelling bios that quickly establish an author’s credibility. To that end, we recommend mentioning your title (professor, researcher, author) if you have one, and if it’s relevant to what you’re writing on Medium. Include a list of publications or organizations you work for and link your personal website. Note your Twitter handle (and ensure your Twitter account is connected). Also think about what readers might be searching for: Maybe they want to follow novelists or experts in astronomy or music journalists or epidemiologists. Be specific about what makes your perspective unique and compelling.
There’s a 160-character limit for this bio. As mentioned earlier, think of this as your bio on a book jacket, rather than a social media bio. It’s more informative for readers, and it sits better with your stories.
On your “edit profile” page mentioned above, click “Enter a short bio” to create or edit yours.
You can also customize your “About” page. Go ahead and add images, text styling, links to your best work, and let your readers get to know your voice and writing style. More details — and some inspiration — can be found here:
3. Add a profile picture.
Your readers want to get to know you — and a high-resolution picture of yourself can go a long way in helping to deepen your relationship with your followers. You can upload a photo on the “edit profile” page mentioned above.
4. Link to additional information about yourself.
Another way to mark your work as coming from an authentic and trustworthy source is by including additional information about yourself. Let readers know how they can get in touch. Consider including this your Twitter username, LinkedIn profile, personal website, or email.
You can also link your Twitter username on the Settings page in the app or on the web. Here’s more info on how to connect your Twitter account. Once it’s connected, the link to your Twitter account will automatically appear on your profile’s About page.
