Showing the love on Medium

Recently I read an article taking about Medium metrics and the low levels of recommendations that most posts get. Granted we take time to read through the articles, explore their content, and even reply to the writers with our own thoughts. But yet at the end we still need to make a conscious effort to “recommend” an article. I have to wonder, if we have gone through, highlighted content, and even posted our own responses why wouldn’t we recommend the article?

I have my suspicions the problem arises from a combination of terminology (recommend implies responsibility) and usability (not enough places for the little heart button on mobile) but regardless of the cause I plan to make a conscious effort to recommend content. By refining my definition of recommending to one of positive encouragement around reviewing the content rather than approval of the content itself, I feel more comfortable recommending articles even if I don’t agree with their content.

We have entered a time where we need to be proactive in our thinking. We need to observe, understand, consider, digest, and consolidate. There is no reason to waste effort in proving one’s right by proving others are wrong. I recommend people consider all views and then derive their own. If you read something that makes you think, for good or bad, recommend it since the one thing we can all benefit from now is more thinking and less talking.