Followers
Finding Evergreen Followers
A New Way To Connect
I’m bad at sales.
There were several points in my life where I tried doing sales things. A candle thing, a supplement thing, even tried flea market stuff. One thing I learned from those years:
I’m just bad at sales. It’s not my forté.
That being said, I’m here to share an idea. A vision, if you would. Something that I believe could really improve the Medium experience for any and all users — The Evergreen Directory.
If you’re not interested, I get it. Not metering this article anyway, so I get nothing from your read if you’d rather not bite.
We’re all busy here anyway, right? No sense in wasting your time.
But for those that have noticed at the bottom of my Follower To Follower articles the brief mention about this directory deal, you might want to know more. And at the same time, you may not want to ask.
I suffer from anxiety, so I definitely wouldn’t want to ask, either!
So this is your chance to learn about it without commenting, emailing, or otherwise personally requesting any information.
It’s just between you and the algorithm now…
Followers And Time
Most people really enjoy the Follower To Follower series. And, really, that’s why I started it in the first place — it helps connect people. For writers just starting out, this kind of resource can make a huge difference in motivation.
Not getting to 100 faster than the initial excitement lasts can effectively kill one’s Medium adventure.
And it’s not the money. Oh, no, it really isn’t. Because for most of us, the money is chump change. It may pay for itself, that $5 membership, but it’s no full time income. Side change, at best.
For months. For some, it can/will take years to grow enough to make a modest living from it. Well, Medium alone, anyway. (Have you read about the 4 Best Ways To Use Medium yet?)
Even Follower To Follower can’t withstand the test of time.
Months from now, F2F #1 will be ancient. Archaic. Barely anyone on there is guaranteed to still be active. There’s a high turnover here (for many reasons). Which means that series isn’t capable of helping the listed people beyond the first 30 days or so.
It’s the law of diminishing returns; the older the lists become, the more likely the people on it have moved on or given up.
Hopefully the series helps combat that a bit, but I doubt it will eradicate it. No article can add your country to MPP, or rearrange the circumstances in your life so you have more time to write. Things happen beyond my control.
Evergreen Listings
That’s when I realized I could actually do something after all! There had to be a way to verify a person was still active every 30 days (ish), so that newcomers didn’t have to worry about dead or abandoned accounts.
Sure, I could re-add people to future F2F posts (technically I do now with the new “Survivors” section, but they don’t get tagged), but that runs the risk of the same people wanting to be re-added over time.
Eventually, new people would get locked out and the point of the series would break down in a fiery, corruptible puff of smoke.
Ah… why reinvent the wheel when it’s as round as it’s gonna get as is?
So that’s why I created The Evergreen Directory — a website for Medium users to list their profiles regularly.
Like any other directory, the basic community pages are free to request a 30 day listing; and are organized in alphabetical order (not counting “the”). That way, every member on the directory has been verified as active within the last 30 days — regardless of the date!
Renewable Listings
After 30 days (ish — I mean, I’m just one person, so there may be a bit of wiggle room here and there), the listing is removed from the directory unless it has been renewed.
How to renew the listing, you ask?
(Sorry, I’ll try not to do that again. Seems condescending.)
Well, for now there’s one of two ways:
- Submit a new request on the website completely free (the 30 days begins again at the new date).
- Sign up as a Patron for a more permanent listing (for a small fee).
I know. I’m (gasp!) charging for the automatic renewals. Here’s why:
- I could go on about how website hosting costs money, but you know that.
- We could talk about how I’m one person creating a potentially massive database of thousands of Medium members, but that’s too obvious.
- It’s the recurring charge affirming that “if you pay, you’re still active” that’s the real star of this show.
There’s no better way to verify someone is still active on Medium than to assume they wouldn’t pay for something they weren’t using!
(Though there’s still no guarantee — some people just forget…)
I know I’m terrible at sales, but come on — this just makes sense, right?
Well, I think that’s about it. If you check out Patreon, there’s actually 3options — $2.99, $5.99, and $9.99. Each one has slightly different perks, but all of them allow at least one recurring listing for every month you remain a member.
Those prices may change over time, and as more names are added, its format will slowly evolve to be more user-friendly. For now, it’s still gestating.
Also, from now until August 22, 2022, anyone that signs up for either option will also get featured in my upcoming book under ‘Honorary Patrons’ in my upcoming e-book, “Medium Fits All” as recommended people to check out for others getting started on Medium!
(As with the directory, if you cancel your Patreon membership, you will be removed from the book to keep that list “evergreen” as well. There will be other options for getting in the book after the promo ends.)
Right now, the directory is still getting started. There will be changes along the way, no doubt. But no matter what, I want to keep the free option open.
If you still think it’s a terrible idea, feel free to comment — I’d love to learn about ways to improve the concept!
Check out the list on theevergreendirectory.com!
Until next time, follow each other, follow the dopamine, and follow yourself, always!
The Evergreen Directory has a page on Facebook!
Hey, look: a newsletter. And also Twitter. And Facebook.
Support writers, read without limits, and be part of the community — all for $5.
