Recognizing That Following Isn’t Everything: Remembering Why I Write
My Experience With Medium’s Algorithm as a New Writer
As a new author, one of the most disheartening things happened to me recently. I watched my following drop overnight from 107–91.
16 people!
16 people decided they didn’t want to read my work.
But maybe that wasn’t the case, maybe they realized that their “follow for follow” attempt hadn’t worked, or maybe their account got deactivated.
I. Don’t. Know.
However, at this moment, I realized how seriously I was taking my statistics on Medium rather than the actual process.
As a high school student just returning from winter break, making time to write is something I haven’t been able to do as much as I’d like. Maybe I didn’t post enough, but I know that I wrote what I wrote and that my writing, regardless of its frequency, is an authentic representation of myself.
The reality is the following system on Medium is extremely volatile to change. As referenced earlier, many people follow new authors hoping for a follow-up. I hate this mindset because it means people don’t follow me because they like my work but rather because they’re interested in building their audience.
Medium’s algorithm is partly to blame for this huge surge of “follow-for-follow-ers.” With so many authors posting on Medium daily, you could be one of the best writers in the world and have only a few followers. This is part of why I try not to let myself feel impacted by follower loss. This is not to say I am an amazing writer, but rather that a large portion of writing on Medium is understanding the algorithm (something I still don’t seem to understand yet).
I would love to say, “I don’t care about my followers on Medium,” but part of me knows I always will. I don’t mean to say that my following will impact why I write, but rather that a part of me will always be looking for growth.
Sometimes I need to remember why I write, maybe you do too. I urge you — please only follow me if you appreciate me as a person and as a writer. I write to connect with people, if I don’t connect with you feel free to stop reading my work. I write because I love to write, and I hope you do too.
