New Tipping Feature on Medium — Love It or Hate It?

Whether readers will love it?

Published in

ILLUMINATION

8 min readAug 5, 2022

New Medium Tipping Feature — How to Enable New Medium Tipping Feature — Tip jar — Image created with Canva by the author

You might already know about the new tipping feature on Medium. I saw a lot of articles on that topic. After reading a few stories, I decided to write an article, sharing what I got from other writers’ stories and my perspective about this tipping option.

I’ll walk you through the steps to enable the tipping feature at the end of this article. If you just want to activate it, skip to the end.

If you’re curious to know more, keep reading the entire article.

When I logged into Medium on 31st July, I stumbled upon an article — Breaking News — You Can Now Gain Tips On Medium by Robert Ralph. It was one of the first articles published about this new feature.

I was curious — so I read it. That’s how I got to know about this for the first time.

Now you might have a lot of questions revolving around your head.

What do others say about this? Can you enable it even if you’re not eligible for the partner program? Can you get rich because of this option? Why would a reader tip you? How to activate the tipping feature?

Let’s find out.

New tipping feature on Medium

The tipping feature is now available in beta mode on Medium. You need to add a link to a third-party platform to activate it.

This is what they say;

Allow readers to send a tip by adding a link to your preferred payment platform, which will appear at the bottom of your stories. Popular platforms include Ko-Fi, Patreon, or PayPal — or link to an organization for readers to donate on your behalf.

They state 3 popular platforms — Ko-Fi, Patreon, and PayPal. If you have a donation page on any other platforms, you can add that.

If you already have a page, then enabling this feature is a few clicks away.

Don’t you have a page?

Don’t worry. You can create one with a few simple clicks. I created my Ko-fi page in less than 30 minutes.

When you activate this feature, you don’t need to enable it on each and every story you publish. It is automatically placed at the end of every article — even the previously published ones.

If you want to disable it, you can do that with just a click at any time.

Pretty nifty, right?

You don’t need to enroll in the partner program to activate this feature. Choose a third-party platform of your preference — check the availability according to your location.

That’s good news for writers who are not eligible to join the Medium Partner Program. It is not the same as joining the partner program; however, it will be a little motivation for them to keep going.

What do other writers say about this tipping feature?

Most of the writers are excited about this new feature. I stumbled upon a few articles where they looked at this differently.

Let’s see what they say…

Medium Needs a Tipping Feature for Writers by Joseph M. L. This article was published on 16th December 2020. I guess he is one of the first — or the first — to request this feature. I might be wrong — but this is the oldest story I have seen. You really need to read this story and the comments. It’s worth your time. He has nicely put down his thoughts.

There were 14 comments, and almost everyone loved the idea — most of them were interested in giving tips to other writers.

I couldn’t help commenting on his story since it was the oldest story, and it was a great read. So, it has 15 comments now :)

He shares his experience as follows.

I was reading an incredible story the other day. It filled me with emotion. I was in a rough place, mentally, and the article lifted my spirits. My dark thoughts left and I felt rejuvenated and inspired.
The best I could do? Clap.
Like, thanks for saving my life, dude. *clap x5*
Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but if there’s a particularly wonderful article, I should be able to easily show my appreciation beyond a clap and a response.

That’s why I love this feature. Readers can tip writers who inspire, educate, guide, or change their lives for the betterment.

Trisha Dunbar (She/Her) shares 5 Things I Love About the New Tipping Jar Feature. I don’t think it’s nice to include her 5 reasons in my article. If you want to know, please read it. You will find a bonus reason as well :) She is happy about this feature.

Introducing Medium’s New Tipping Feature (With FAQ) by Kristina God is another comprehensive article about this. She had written a story in September 2021 requesting this feature. So I guess she is also among the first writers to request a tip jar.

Abena Talks shares her thoughts in the article New Tipping Feature on Medium: What Does this mean for Writers?

She doesn’t like the feature, as anyone can add Ko-Fi or any other donation links at the end of their stories — even without this option.

This is what she says;

Obviously, it means they can receive tips from readers. Is this a step in the right direction?
Not really, high achieving writers need bonuses from Medium itself, not readers. After all, the readers pay a monthly fee as it is.

You can read her entire article.

Wellness Xplora is a bit uncertain about this tipping feature and shares her thoughts in Does The New Tipping Feature On Medium Mean Writers Are Going To Be Paid Less By Medium (MPP)?

She is concerned about whether this will negatively affect the Partner Program earnings.

Read her thoughts in the above story.

Not every writer looks at this in the same way, and that’s cool. They have their reasons to like or dislike the feature.

Above are a few stories from the ones I’ve read. If you want to read more about this, you can search and find other articles.

My perspective on the tipping feature

Here is the unique part of this story.

You can find all the other information from somewhere else, but not this part — because it’s my point of view.

Everyone has two eyes, but no one has the same view

Let’s begin.

I’ve seen some writers share their Ko-Fi or Patreon links at the end of their articles before this feature launched. So, it is true that writers can add Ko-Fi links whenever they want, even without this feature.

I was hesitant to share links — but now I’ve activated it because;

It comes as a new feature on Medium.
Easy to use (you have to activate it once).
Don’t need to ask for a tip. The reader will decide whether or not to tip the writer based on how helpful that story is to them.

Another great thing is anyone can activate this feature. It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from.

Though I’m not eligible for MPP because of where I live, I could enable this. However, I don’t say this is an alternative for MPP. We also need to join the partner program. But this is a little drive for us, who can’t join the MPP at this time.

This is definitely not a way to get rich — because readers won’t tip every writer, and they don’t have to.

But what I love about this is that the readers can show gratitude towards writers who have helped them a lot, inspired them, or changed their lives positively.

I know there are generous people who love to support writers.

That doesn't mean others are not generous — people have their own life problems, and sometimes they can’t tip even if they appreciate writers.

I want to emphasize this to our valuable readers.

You don’t have to buy a coffee for writers even if you’re grateful for their work. You have the freedom to read their stories without worrying about tipping. Remember, it’s just for the readers who can do that.

Feel free to read as usual.

There are other ways to show your gratitude.

Clap — you can clap a maximum of 50 times(for the readers who didn’t know)
Comment on their work and let them know you love it. That means a lot to a writer. Or share your feedback, so they can improve themselves.
Share their article — so a larger audience will see their work.

I love considering the tipping feature as a token of appreciation rather than an income stream.

Sometimes, the $5 a writer receives as a tip will make them happier than the $100 they earn from the partner program.

It’s all about appreciation.

Overall, I love this feature. Let’s see how it’s going.

So, I want to thank the new Medium CEO, Tony Stubblebine, for introducing this new feature.

Instances where a reader may want to tip you

A Medium member reads your story and finds it helpful, inspiring, or life-changing — so they may want to show you some extra love by sending a tip.
An external reader finds your article helpful, inspiring, or life-changing. However, they may not want to become a Medium member. Sometimes, they don’t read much or just want one-time reading to solve a particular problem. That reader may need another way to show their gratitude. That is where this feature comes in handy.

Now let’s see how you can enable this.