How to Earn my Follow, my Read, my Clap

And my comment, my highlight, my link, and my Medium shekel

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

After four years on Medium, I have developed some habits as to how I promote other contributors. I will just detail these habits for you. They might be useful to you. Maybe this article might inspire you to write a similar article to tell others of your own Medium habits. We can learn from each other.

Grades of Writers

I have divided Medium contributors into three groups: (1) competent, (2) good, and (3) great.

Nearly all Medium contributors are, at least, competent. They can explain complicated things reasonably well.

Very few Medium contributors fall below this level. So I don’t really need to create an “incompetent” category.

Many contributors are “good.” They have developed advanced skills and writing approaches to move readers more into their work. I have seen a few writers move from competent to good over the years. Practice — with or without coaching — seems to help.

“Great” writers are those who I see having an edge with wordsmithing to someday be paid well for their writing. Only one writer on Medium has earned my “great” designation. Maybe there are a couple of more who might move from “good” to “great” soon.

Earning my Follow

Competent and higher Medium contributors can earn my follow in one of three ways:

1. I can see, in their articles, they are teaching me something new and valuable. Or they have interesting, sensible, innovative perspectives that I have not heard before.

2. I can see, in our dialogue, that the Medium contributor can see/think beyond platitudes and ideologies. But engagement with me is necessary to earn a follow in this way.

3. I will also follow those contributors who have shown some interest and sympathy toward my alternative democracy, which is my main reason for being on Medium. A professional marketer would call this “a prospect that needs some repeated exposure.”

Currently I am following 340 contributors. I estimate that 250 are no longer active on Medium. But it seems that about 25 of my remaining…