Get the most out of your Medium stream
This is not a spectator’s sport
Of all the questions and requests I’ve fielded over the past several weeks, “How do I get a wider variety of cool stuff in my Medium home stream?” is right at the top.
There’s a lot of speculation about our algorithms and the magic behind how we, at Medium, populate your Medium homepage.
Here’s the secret:
It’s pretty much all up to you.
How the Medium stream works: A super-generalized overview
Everyone’s Medium stream is unique, based on a number of factors that are determined by you. Below is a high-level view of what creates your stream and why you see some stuff first. It’s important to note that we’re always working on the stream so that it suits individuals better. So don’t hold this as gospel, but instead, think of it as a general outline of things you can do in order to read more stuff that interests you.
Posts are prioritized in your stream when:
- You follow someone
- Someone you follow publishes something
- A publication you follow publishes something
- A post is published in a tag you follow
- Someone you follow recommends a post
You can get a sense for why something is in your stream by looking at the information at the very top of the post.
If you see a name of a person or publication you follow, that’s why we’ve surfaced it to you.
If you see a little grey icon with a topic next to it, that means the post is there because it’s a tag you follow.
There are some things that we do that change how and when things show up in your stream: If a post is relevant to you for several reasons (it’s a publication and a tag you follow, and a bunch of people you follow also recommended it), we’re going to make you see that post higher in your stream than others. Likewise, you are more likely to see newer content in your stream first, based on the general principle that more current posts are more relevant to you, right now, but that’s not the only way stuff gets to the top of your stream (and we’re always working to make this better using information you give us, through what you do and like on Medium, in order to find you the most relevant stuff).
Use this knowledge to make your Medium stream more diverse
Medium truly is a participatory platform for everyone, not just writers. To get the most of of your Medium home stream, here’s what I recommend.
- Be ruthless with who you follow: Their posts populate a lot of your stream.
- Recommend stuff when you like it: You don’t have to be in love with a post to click that ❤. Give your recommendations early and often and reap their benefits: Recommendations will help us figuring out what posts you like and give you more of them.
- Follow tags: They are a great discovery tool for topics and interests you generally have and one of the most delightfully unexpected ways I uncover new posts I’d never think to see out on my own.
- Follow publications: Medium publications span a huge spectrum. Some are very informal, run by single users as a hobby. Some are helmed by businesses or high-profile people. If you like a post that is in a publication, take a minute to check that publication out and see if it might be a great source of new and interesting stuff for you to read.
- Participate: Recommendations are great, but so is reading, highlighting, responding, and dismissing posts you don’t like: These are all very important signals that give us valuable insight into how to make your Medium experience the best one tailor-made specifically for you.
Go forth and spread this knowledge
Tell your friends. Tell your neighbors. Tell the people you know and love on Medium how to make their stream experience the best one possible. Tell me how you’ve found the most awesome content. Tell everyone following Talkback about the coolest people, tags, and publications you currently read.
Medium. It’s not a spectator’s sport. And we all need each other to make your stream the best it can possibly be.
