My First Weekly Newsletter: What Can We Learn from Medium's Algorithm and Earnings Fiasco?

Writers on Medium were gutted by payment reductions. It created distrust and insecurity on the platform. What are the key takeaways?

Jan 20, 2025

black typewriter on brown wooden table — Photo by Johnny Briggs on Unsplash

You can read the original story on Medium - “Make Medium Great Again”

Around 8th Jan 2025, Medium writers received a shock when they viewed their stats and earnings. They experienced a disaster occurring with the algorithm and earnings. Although I had noticed my stats looking strange (showing no earnings for some reads), I thought it was just a sporadic glitch. Then over the last few months, I started to notice it happening more and more. When I saw it happening again in January, I knew I wasn’t overreacting. Around the same time, everyone else’s stats and earnings were being seriously affected. It clearly wasn’t just another glitch. Writers were reporting zero earnings or 0.01 or 0.02 cents for hundreds of reads. Mayhem erupted on Medium and all hell broke loose.

First Time in Medium History

For the first time in the history of Medium, all writers were equal, despite great disparities in income. On the one hand, this created a feeling of solidarity with other writers. Getting mere cents or nothing at all is no fun and was, and is, unacceptable and appalling for writers who work hard at their craft. We were all in one boat and that made it a unique situation.

boat on a river with two men, with mountains in background — We're all in the same boat - AI-generated image

Lack of Communication and Transparency From Medium

The issues that most writers felt strongly about were the complete lack of transparency and communication. Not to mention the outrageous ‘earnings’. In my story, I detailed the stories of other writers and gave credence to their voices. It was important to get an eclectic overview of the situation from different perspectives. Writers were clearly suffering, not just from loss of earnings, but baffled at the lack of communication and not knowing what lay ahead. Many couldn’t decide whether to stay on Medium or leave. Some writers did make that decision immediately, while others hesitated, hoping to hear something from the Medium gods above.

Feelings of Injustice Prevailed

Many perceived the issues as extremely unjust and unethical. Medium declined to communicate and appears to have side-stepped the entire issue of earnings, focusing on giving plausible excuses such as AI and spam. Broader societal values and attitudes, over the years, have shifted. A lack of ethics and morals, such as this, is considered the ‘norm’. If such values permeate business and broader society without opposition, it would indeed open more than a can of worms, it would be highly destructive to humanity overall.

Downgrading from Friends of Medium Membership

As time passed, the lack of communication led to many writers venting their frustrations, feeling left in the dark and uncertain. This translated into a feeling of doom, resulting in lots of writers (including me), downgrading their FOM. They felt it was a poor return on their $15 monthly investment. Writers realized their money was being wasted, and their belief about FOM membership benefitting other writers four times as much was shattered when they saw this was simply not true.

Writers Are Quitting Medium (Not Quietly, Either)

Emotions and speculation about earnings spread across the platform, resulting in many writers becoming extremely disillusioned. While some advocated patience, even those were getting upset when there wasn’t any communication from Medium. Renowned writers, including

Dr Mehmet Yildiz

Britni Pepper

and others stopped writing on Medium.

Dr Mike Broadly

wrote about Medium classifying his high-quality articles as ‘spam’, earning 0.01 and 0.02 cents for hundreds of reads, similar to

Dr Mehmet Yildiz

. It was clear that authentic writers were being penalized unfairly.

Can Trust Be Rebuilt on Medium?

Many writers have lost enthusiasm and trust in Medium. Even if earnings improve, the way Medium management operates is downright worrying. Writers are moving to other platforms, such as Substack, looking to monetize their writing. From what I can gather, Medium’s attitude is similar to ‘take it or leave it!’. There is a feeling they don’t care much. They haven’t bothered communicating about the issues affecting writers who pay to write on the platform, as they know there will be others to replace them.

What’s the Update on the Current Situation?

As of today, 20th January, the earnings situation has altered somewhat. Although it’s improved, it doesn’t seem to me that it’s ‘back to normal’, whatever that is on Medium! I do see a small improvement and I am at least getting paid pennies for reads, despite many being from FOM (which makes no sense). I’ve also read stories on Medium from other writers about an ‘informal’ official announcement by Medium via someone’s YouTube video, that things are improving but Medium has a lot of suspensions to deal with. Yet there is still no direct communication to medium members.

What Are the Key Takeaways?

So, what lessons can we learn from this fiasco? From what I can gather, these are my takeaways and I certainly welcome your comments and thoughts also:-

It is a mistake to rely solely on Medium for income:
At the start, when I first enrolled in MPP in January 2024, I had this faulty mentality. I thought Medium could possibly be a reliable income source. However, from writing on Medium over the last year, seeing my earnings, and other issues with Medium (bots, AI, glitches, etc), I no longer have that mindset. I wouldn’t want to rely on Medium for a reliable income. Hundreds of writers have been revoked, accused of things they don’t understand and didn’t do. Who's next?
Diversifying to other platforms isn’t optional, it’s necessary:
Take off the sunshades - you’re not going to be living it up on a beach in Barbados, sipping cocktails, and earning lots of dosh on Medium. Believing Medium is the best thing since sliced bread and making it your ‘go-to’ for extra dosh and maybe more, is a mistake! Diversifying to other platforms may be hard work and involve an initial investment of time, but for the long haul, it’s worth it. Do you want to be in control of your writing and finances? Free from algorithm nightmares, glitches, vanity metrics, bots, revokes, etc. I know I do!
Is Medium just a broken business model?
From Medium’s inability to stop scammers, bots, AI, etc, it seems that authentic writers have suffered the most. How many authentic writers who didn’t use AI, weren’t scammers or spammers have had their account revoked? Do you want to put your work and finances at that kind of risk? Medium’s lack of communication and transparency indicates much deeper issues that are not being spoken about openly.
Misuse of time and money
Do you want to ‘invest’ your time and money on a platform that doesn’t prioritize your online safety (by eliminating bots and scammers), leaving you open to fraud? Or a site that revokes your account for no reason, or fails to implement proper identity checks? Or a site that labels your quality writing as ‘spam’, and throws you a cent here and there for lots of reads? Or a site that fails to communicate or be accountable to paid members? Hmm….think again.
Is there really a ‘great community’ on Medium?
While there is a lot of support on Medium, the sense of ‘community’ many talk about, escapes me. There is a difference between a community and an ‘authentic’ community. Much of what looks like ‘community’ are cliquish groups and favoritism. The ‘vanity metrics’ on Medium play a role also. When writing is subjected to superficial metrics, it’s easy to earn from writing anything.
📰 I would love to engage with those interested in this newsletter, and any of my other newsletters. 📰