Thanks for sharing this. I’ve experienced it as well, not only on Medium but as editor in chief at Wired.com for almost eight years, and as a section editor at CNET News.com before that. Internet attention is a roulette wheel, literally no one can tell you in advance what posts will be popular, and no one can guarantee you an audience.

Medium is a tool and a network. We provide the tool and a structure that allows you to build a network. We do not give you the network. This is something you have build yourself. Just like on Twitter and Facebook, you need to get people to follow and connect with you. The bigger your network, the wider your reach and the greater chance your stories will ripple out.

How do you get people to follow and connect with you on Medium? Make yourself known to others — follow them, respond to their posts, highlight and recommend their articles, and write great stuff.

We’re starting to see these behaviors, but it will take time for the Medium network to grow to the scale of Twitter or Pinterest or Instagram, Snapchat or Facebook. Right now, if you have a few thousand followers on Medium that is a good number. Eventually we’ll see people with hundreds of thousands or a million or more followers.

Just this week, more than 100 new people followed me on Medium after I wrote a post that resonated, so this is starting to happen. So my advice would be have patience and keep investing in your network.