Why Tipping is Such an Important Feature
Medium’s newly introduced feature might’ve been a response to one of its biggest problems
In July of 2022, Medium added a new feature called their “tip jar”, basically a fancy way of saying tipping.
You can now organize a link from multiple payment methods that readers to tip you some amount of money. One of the main things about tipping is that you don’t need to be part of the MPP (Medium Partner Program) to set it up. This means that you can start earning straight from Medium even if you have less than 100 followers.
Here’s how you set it up
Step 1: Go to Settings
Step 2: Go to Audience Development
Step 3: Go to Manage Tips
Step 4: Setup your Payment
Why It’s Important
One of the major complaints that Medium gets is that not everyone can earn on Medium. To even be considered for the MPP, you have to meet these requirements.
- Have 100 followers
- Have posted at least 1 article (responses don’t count)
- Be in an eligible country
- Be at least 18 years of age and provide taxpayer information
Most people focus on the 100 follower requirement. This is why follow-for-follow articles are extremely popular. In my opinion, as long as you are using these articles the right way, there is nothing wrong with them. In fact they can usually help you grow a community with other followers aiming for the same goal and helping each other out.
For me and the reason why I’m not part of the MPP is for the last reason.
However, it is the country eligibility requirement that prevents lots of talented writers from monetizing their content. Many of the people I follow have and issue with this and after hearing their reason I can see why.
The reason why it’s unfair comes down to 2 main reasons.
- Those writers are actively helping out Medium by providing the platform with audiences and content without compensation in return.
- It’s about equality, the handful of eligible countries are mainly developed countries in Europe and North America, making it unfair for still developing countries mainly in Africa and Asia.
These are valid concerns and I see much of the hate on the issue being thrown at Medium. Medium does have a role in why the system is like this, but the main reason why is due to their main payment method Stripe.
Stripe is another payment method like PayPal. It is the fact that Stripe itself isn’t available in these countries that is limiting the MPP, not because Medium decided not to.
But the decision for Medium to use Stripe is mainly for them as a business. Stripe is very business focused and helpful towards Medium itself, but not the creator. This is why Stripe is quick on taking your money but takes a long time for you to receive money.
As you can guess, tipping is Medium trying to resolve its issues. Tipping can be setup with your preferred payment option with the likes of Ko-fi, PayPal, or Patreon, making it accessible to almost anyone.
So at least for now, good on you Medium, along with removing all of the bots in the update.
If you follow a creator that you appreciate but aren’t eligible for the MPP whether it’s because they aren’t in an eligible country or don’t have 100 followers, consider giving them a tip showing your appreciation.
