6 Things You Need to Know About Medium’s Latest Changes
From Medium's clear stance against AI and scrubbing fake accounts to "farm" groups on Facebook and sharing links. Insights from top writer Walter Rhein.
The publishing platform Medium just reached 1M paid members!
On the buzzy publishing platform, substance is more important than attention.
It's a platform for human writing with 110 human Boost nominators.
Our “Online Writing School” tribe member
He has...
20+ years of experience as an editor, journalist, blogger and novelist
10+ years experience as a certified English and Physics teacher
44K followers on Medium
his own column on Medium called “The Reckless Writer”
is a small press writer with Perseid Press and Burning Bulb Publishing
He’s taking part in our 30-Day Writing Challenge and shared this WOW-worthy moment with us:
Last week, one of his stories was trending on Medium and featured on the homepage.
Wanna talk with a REAL BOOST expert with high standards + subject matter understanding?
Then Walter is your man.
In today’s post,
will walk you through Medium’s latest changes and tell you what you need to know in order to maximize your success.Pssst! At the end of this story you’ll get a special BONUS.
Let’s hear what Medium insider Walter has to share with us:
1. Pub crawl
On Tuesday, March 19 th, Medium hosted its inaugural Pub crawl. This was a virtual event designed to show off Medium’s publications.
Publications are a cornerstone to Medium’s ongoing strategy.
Publication editors essentially run communities housed within Medium that serve as discussion hubs on a wide variety of subjects.
There were a few technical issues with the Pub Crawl, but overall I thought it was a very valuable event.
Medium’s CEO Tony Stubblebine stopped by my expo booth for a few minutes and it was enlightening to hear more details about his vision for the platform. The way he put it, Medium isn’t “changing,” it’s more that it’s going through a course correction to bring the user experience closer to what he envisioned when he took over.
Essentially, many of the tactics that could be used to develop a following in years past are no longer effective.
However, if writers adapt to the new expectations, they have a good chance of achieving a more sustainable form of success.
2. No more AI generated writing
Medium has officially announced a ban on AI-generated stories. Writers who violate this ban will have their Partner Program enrollment revoked.
You can still use tools to check your spelling and grammar, but don’t use applications that generate text.
Keep in mind that every platform has a set of conduct guidelines. Across all platforms, things like hate speech and harassment are banned.
However, there is some variation over the degree to which these guidelines are enforced.
From my experience, Medium offers a very kind and supportive community. It’s a breath of fresh air compared to the toxic environments you find elsewhere on the internet. The reason the Medium community is so nice is because the moderators are diligent about removing fraudulent content.
Publications like The Writing Cooperative have even gone so far as to ban AI-images.
Simply put, Medium is a platform for human created content, and I applaud that point of emphasis.
*Within the next days, Kristina will share a deep dive video about the new AI policy that will go into effect on May 1st.
3. Scrubbing the fake accounts
Periodically, Medium does some housekeeping to clear out the fake accounts. When that happens, you might see a drop in your followers and subscribers.
This is nothing to panic about.
Despite the vigilance of the moderators, fake accounts sometimes get through.
Occasionally I see a cloned account that features my name and profile picture, but usually Medium catches and removes those accounts within a few hours.
Last month, one of my author friends wrote me in a panic because her account had been flagged, but that, too, was quickly corrected and the flag was removed.
Dealing with fake accounts and the efforts to remove them are just something we have to deal with.
It’s important to have patience and be mindful that Medium is doing its best to provide us with a safe community where quality writing is allowed to flourish.
4. Don’t involved with groups that generate artificial traffic
Medium also places an emphasis on legitimate traffic, so don’t get involved in any kind of system designed to send artificial traffic to your posts.
There are a lot of “farm” groups on Facebook where users can leave a link for a “view exchange.”
That is not a good practice.
It is, however, important to participate in legitimate communities and engage in thoughtful interactions on articles.
To put it simply, engage with Medium as if it’s a magazine. Read and respond to the articles that interest you.
If something doesn’t interest you, move on.
Use the platform honestly and you shouldn’t have any problems.
5. Boost has helped to make Medium profitable
In his opening presentation, Tony Stubblebine indicated that the number of subscribers has increased to the point where the platform is now profitable.
Boost and the Friends of Medium membership tier are two of the factors that made this possible.
This is good news for writers who are interested in producing quality content.
It shows that the Boost program is working as envisioned.
Writers are producing the kind of quality content that can’t be found elsewhere on the internet, and word is spreading.
Medium appears to have found its sustainable growth model and that’s good news for the platform, the readers, and the writers.
6. You can still share your links on other platforms
It’s important to emphasize that Medium does encourage sharing links to Medium stories on other platforms.
If you are a Friend of Medium, you can share a friend link of any story (not just your own).
This is a way to spread the word about what Medium has to offer.
Medium is similar to a lot of other publishing platforms, but things like the Boost program and the wide variety of publications make it unique.
It seems like every few months Medium rolls out something new, and those changes keep you on your toes.
As a writer, you do have to adapt, but I feel the changes are always conceived to help give people a place where their voices can be heard.
Of all the platforms available, I feel that Medium is doing the best job at elevating human content.
Ultimately, the best way to succeed on Medium is to take advantage of the community, listen to the advice of editors, and continue to improve your writing skills.
Let’s connect with
How to Make Money Writing (Substack)
The Reckless Writer column in The Writing Cooperative on Medium
Thanks, Walter!
Any questions? Hit reply or jump in the comments!
BONUS!
Our next LIVE session with Walter is not just for Medium writers, but also for (Substack) writers who are thinking about…
building an audience on Medium
getting seen and read
getting BOOSTED
and growing their email list.
“In my opinion, Medium and Substack are like peanut butter & jelly. They go together perfectly.” Kristina God
Our interview will be published in the first week of May 2024.
Our LIVE session will take place on May 7.
Here’s an excerpt from Walter’s BOOSTED stories from March!
Insane views and number of BOOSTED posts:
“(In March) I had 12 of 18 stories Boosted for a rate of 66%.” Walter Rhein
Wanna register for the even, connect with Walter and get ALL your questions answered?
The magic is in the live!
But don’t take my word for it.
Here’s what my tribe members shared about the last event with 6-figure Fiverr writer and solopreneur
:
Wait, please, could you do me a favor? 😘Re-stack and/or share this post, so more people can engage!😘 Thanks!
I can’t wait to meet you inside our membership and the LIVE session,
Kristina
P.S. Many thanks Walter for this value-packed guest post from an insider.
 | A guest post by
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Very clear discussion of what Medium is up to. If I weren't so busy with Substack and other projects, the article made me want to jump on Medium immediately.
It's especially nice to see Medium taking a stand against AI writing. It's too bad every website doesn't do that.
Imo, Medium didn't reach 1M members because of its Boost Program. It's not as if after August 2023 Medium writers had an epiphany and started producing top-quality content that made readers flock to the platform — if anything, many great writers left (or started using Medium to promote other things), and AI content flourished.
In truth, Medium reached 1M members because in July 2023 (one month before), its paywalled stories became...truly paywalled. In July 2023, Medium made a silent change to the metering system — before this change, readers could read any story with a few tricks (clearing cookies, incognito windows, etc.). After July 2023, the party was over — the only way to read a paywalled story is to become a paying member. So naturally, people had no choice but to pay.
So far, so good, and in my opinion, this was a brilliant move by Medium. The real question is, what would have happened if the MPP formula didn't change — which slashed the earnings of most writers? For example, every great tech writer I know moved to another platform.
P.S.: The fact that entering MPP was also hinged on becoming a paying member also played a smaller role, albeit not so significant.