Is Medium Just One Big Circle Jerk?
Why is there such a disproportionate number of articles about how to achieve success on the platform?
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There is a TON of value on Medium. I subscribe to numerous publications and individual writers who consistently put out high quality work that is inspiring, entertaining and informative. But more often than not, when I’m looking for something new to read, or am getting suggestions on the app, the article is about how to succeed as a writer on Medium.
This can make it feel like being trapped in an endless loop, in which we’re all just writing articles to help each other do better on the platform. This begs the question:
Is Medium little more than a giant circle jerk of tips, tricks and hacks for getting more people to read our stuff, gain more followers and make more money?
Some of these articles are no doubt helpful. But after reading 5 or 10 or more, the advice tends to get pretty repetitive.
Furthermore, there seems to be A LOT of Medium writers who only put out articles on this topic. And if you search through their histories, you’ll see that many of them contain the same information, just repurposed and repackaged week after week.
This isn’t providing value to anyone but themselves. It’s just a way to game the system in order to get more views, fans and money. And if it continues (and others follow), it can potentially hurt all the writers who are putting out great content on subjects like art and politics, poetry and short stories, self-help and sustainability, etc. In short, anything outside of the incestuous Medium bubble.
Not trying to hate on anyone here, but doesn’t it just make sense to try and grow Medium’s membership by increasing the amount of articles that non-writers want to read? Wouldn’t it be more beneficial for everyone to attract a larger general audience, instead of circling the wagons and diddling ourselves to infinity?
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