How do claps == engagement?<p>I read quite a lot of articles that are well written, but that I don't agree with. So, I'm engaged, but I likely won't "clap".<p>Wouldn't this drive writers to just pander to the majority opinion?
While the idea of showing extent of engagement is great, I can't help but notice that articles which would only have 10-12 recommends have 200-300 claps mostly bc those claps come from friends of the author trying to promote the story. It makes it incredibly difficult as a reader to objectively ascertain what is actually more recommended by people. Additionally, as a reader, I have no idea what amount of claps is appropriate (eg is 10 claps excessive for a good article or is it not enough?). The recommend model was excellent, don't fix it if it aint broke.
Attention Medium writers: If you want claps, then you must insist that Medium drop the dickbars (see: <a href="https://daringfireball.net/2017/06/medium_dickbars" rel="nofollow">https://daringfireball.net/2017/06/medium_dickbars</a>).<p>Medium with dickbars? = No claps.
BTW: <i>A branding statement from Medium shared with Poynter says the new wordmark and branding system "reflects the unique and dynamic nature of the ideas you can find on Medium without compromising the voices and stories shared."</i><p>It always amazes me that people can come up with this stuff with a straight face.
Tracking reading would probably be a better measure than something that a reader has to do consciously.<p>With the extra action required, you reward agreeable content, not necessarily interesting content.
Its about time for facebook to buy medium and roll it into some sort of longer form content portion of their offering.<p>LinkedIn/Microsoft acquiring them would also be interesting since writing on LI is absolutely horrible.<p>Seems medium is lost product wise. It is getting progressively worse and the new "clap" feature is hilariously bad.
"Medium pays authors by dividing up every individual subscriber’s fee between the different articles they’ve read that month."<p>So if you read one article during a month , your entire fee would go to one source even if you are subscribed to many sources ? Not sure how to feel about this.
Perhaps a bit off topic but Medium seems to be experimenting and "pushing" writers to write more. I don't write regularly and my articles don't attract much traffic/visitors. However, the followers are increasing exponentially for no apparent reason. I see no correlation with anything and I don't know where to look.
Medium has a core challenge ahead, and IMHO the opportunity is more akin to Patreon donations and less akin to Facebook likes.<p>I read many long blog posts especially about tech. I donate money to many authors and creators. I've learned the hard way that paywalls interfere with my ability to share links with more people, and undermine open source discussions. And voting systems tend to be gamed.<p>Medium's price point is a risk. Flat monthly fees of $5 is too low for what I spend on quality writing, but also too high for many people in less-wealthy areas.<p>I advocate a tip jar. It's the worst form of payment, except for all the others. I also advocate a sponsorship button to encourage future writing and projects.<p>I believe success looks a lot like what creators such as Amanda Palmer are doing with fundraising. If you're interested, watch her TED talk or her Patreon page. I don't know if her way would work for part-time writers, or ad-hoc bloggers. I do believe it's a worthwhile experiment.
> Essentially, we look at the engagement of each individual member (claps being the primary signal) and allocate their monthly subscription fee based on that engagement.<p>Reminds me of the sad Jeb Bush quote from last year, "<i>Please clap.</i>".<p>> To make its new pay-by-engagement initiative work, Medium needs to get enough people to shell out the $5/per month membership fee.<p>I don't see this model ever working. I just don't see content worth paying for. Most of the articles I read, be it on Medium or elsewhere, are by people who are passionate about a subject who want their content to be as widespread as possible. The content creators I see using this are not those people.<p>> The paywall will now be metered, mirroring similar paywalls at The New York Times and The Washington Post, allowing non-members a limited amount of locked stories each month.<p>Surely I'm not the only one that regularly clears their browser cookies. I've never ran into this being an issue for any of those sites.
There's no reason to have the "claps" -- they could easily measure engagement without the readers having to actively do anything (visits to page/time on site, etc.). This reeks of a gimmick/someone trying to do something for their MBA thesis, vs. actually trying to get authors fairly paid.
Expanding the Medium Partner Program<p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15074123" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15074123</a><p>FYI
The most interesting bit is the footer with links to discussions of the organizations leaving Medium... apparently this time donations will be the answer!
There are not many social media platforms where users pay more undivided attention. Medium is one such platform where Long form articles get attention and they've got an active user base too. Paywall - Medium Member seems to be a decent monetization plan yet without Writers being shared the same income, Quality articles might not flow in. This seems to be a wise decision for a company to get some numbers on their balance sheet and gain some giant's attention for potential acquisition!
Medium is definitely making some major moves and I love it. Especially the claps. They are so many quality posts there and I love giving people standing ovation they deserve.
I love this idea! It's like what a lot of cryptocurrency powered content sites work like <a href="https://steemit.com/" rel="nofollow">https://steemit.com/</a> where you upvote with crypto.<p>But this brings it to the fiat world. And members get access to paid content. It's awesome! I just wish Medium worked on their white-labelling a bit more, and added a few advanced editorial features and I'd switch our company blog over immediately.