I Hit 5,000 Followers On Medium — But Does It Even Matter?

We all want more readers.

More followers. More fans. More views.

But constantly chasing vanity metrics like follower count can send you down the wrong path.

When I hit 5,000 followers on Medium this month, I was thrilled. I felt like I had finally “made it” as a writer. My monthly views were up 40-50%. My follower count was growing steadily.

Things were looking up.

My monthly views have been increasing 40–50% each month.

But then I looked at my earnings reports and was surprised to see only a small uptick in income.

My earnings for the past 3 months. Image by author.

What gives? More followers should equal more money, right?

Wrong.

I realized I had fallen into the trap of focusing too much on superficial metrics instead of things that actually drive readership and engagement.

Here’s what I learned:

Follower count does not directly translate to income.

More followers leads to more potential eyeballs on your stories. But just because more people are seeing your headlines does not mean they’re…