What’s Up With Views, Earnings, and Recommendations Lately?
If you were on Medium in 2019 or earlier, you know that there have been some pretty huge changes recently. Quite a few writers on the platform have mentioned a critical drop in their earnings over the past two years, but that’s not all.. Lately, it seems like the recommendation algorithm has changed as well, and not for the better. I’d even go as far as to say it’s been going on since the challenge that they hosted a few months back.
Nothing is aligning with my interests.
I follow topics, writers, and publications like…
- Crow’s Feet I like to hear people talk about their experiences, problems they’ve encountered, and how their views have changed over the years.
- Andrei Tapalaga ✒️, because I’ve always hated history. Yet, somehow he writes about it in a way that’s interesting and strikes my curiosity.
- Discovery News: Space, because the world beyond the planet we live on has always been both humbling and alluring. The possibility of other planets supporting life is astounding.
- Rachel Bridgers…because WOMEN.
All I get in my feed now are hot button issues, celebrity drama, writing advice, random stuff from Top Writers (that I don’t follow), stories that repetitively pop up in my recommendations even after dismissing it multiple times.
Right now, my recommended topics are as follows:
- Passive income
- Venture Capital
- Product Management
…and plenty of stories that fall under those categories. Why?
I don’t know.
Are they interesting? Helpful? Sure, they probably are. However, they’re not what I come to Medium for! Even after muting an author, I’ll still see them in my feed over, and over again.
While I typically am not one to complain about earnings,there is a persistence in forced, unwanted content that makes me a bit curious. Is this why such a large portion of the Medium community is experiencing such a sharp drop in their audiences and read time? I mean, views must matter…
