Friend Links

A guaranteed read for friends, family, and fans

When you publish stories through the Partner Program to earn money and increase your distribution, they become part of our metered paywall. Anyone on the internet can read your story, but once a reader has read three paywalled stories that month, they’ll need to upgrade for $5/month to read more.

We understand there are moments where you want to make sure friends, family, and fans can read your work no matter what, so we created a handy Friend Link that gives anyone free access to your story — even if they’re not a subscribing Medium member and have already read their complimentary stories for the month.

You can share a Friend Link directly to, well, friends or through any social media platform.

How do I find and share a Friend Link?

1. Go to the published post page on any of your stories that you’ve made eligible to earn money.
2. Click or tap Share with friends at the top left of the page.
3. Copy your custom Friend Link and share away! Anyone who uses this link will have free access. It’s really that simple.

Who can I share a Friend Link with?

You can share a Friend Link with anyone. As long as they have that link, they’ll have free access. And people can share it with other people too — it doesn’t just have to come from you.

Will sharing a Friend Link impact my earnings?

Not at all. If you set your story to earn money through the Partner Program, you’ll continue to earn when subscribing members engage with your work.

Can I get a Friend Link if I publish in a publication?

Unfortunately, Friend Links aren’t available for stories published in publications at this time. We are planning to add this capability in the near future.

What do I do if a reader says the link didn’t work?

If a reader clicks on your Friend Link on their phone and hasn’t updated their Medium app in the past few weeks, the link may not work correctly for them. If someone tells you the link didn’t work, ask them to update their app in the app store.

Please email us at partnerprogram@medium.com with any questions.