Kicked out of the Medium Partner Program
A Loss for Early Adopter Hobbyists
On March 2nd 2022, I will no longer be a part of the Medium Partner Program.
The Letter
I received an email which states “Medium has created new eligibility requirements for writers to maintain their enrollment in the Partner Program. If you have fewer than 100 followers you may be removed from the Partner Program.”
Upon first reading I thought “Well how many followers do I have?” After checking my stats, and realizing I only had 50 followers I thought, “How could I get to 100 followers before March 2nd?”
My Initial Reaction
In the split second after that I realized, I don’t actually care about maintaining my partnership program status.
I am actively trying to get away from using Medium as a primary source of content. So who cares if I don’t make my $0.50 per year?
I have also started a personal deconstruction of social media. Playing algorithmic games for followers and likes on social platforms is no longer a system in which I wish to participate.
My Choices
All of the above happened within 5 minutes. Once I came to the conclusion that I don’t actually care, I was relieved.
I began to think of other ways I could monetize my writing if I chose to do so. One of which would be the addition of a “tip jar” like PayPal.
I already started mentioning this at the bottom of a few posts.
Another option would be to move to subscription style services like Twitter Revue, Substack, or even Pateron or Buy Me a Coffee.
The third choice is to continue writing and posting like nothing has happened.
My Response
In reality, nothing has happened. No one knows that I was a part of the Medium Partnership Program. There is no special badge of honor that goes with that.
The only distinction is that my posts were allowed to be metered (placed behind a paywall) to make some extra money.
Most of the content I placed on Medium is recycled for free from my personal blog or website anyway. This means that I was only making money when Medium Members were reading my posts on the platform.
We could discuss the logistics of that decision but the bottom line is, I wasn’t making money from Medium and now I probably won’t.
Medium has removed the choice for me to make money with my writing on its platform by adding the pressure of maintaining a follower count. Similar to the YouTube Partner Program, they are removing a luxury from early adopters who did not try to actively make money with the platform.
Final Thoughts
They are well within their rights to do as they see fit.
They are a company that must continue to make money. However, for a small writer who writes sometimes, like myself, I’ll continue my own strategy to success.
If you’d like to follow that journey, sign up for my email list and read my posts before they hit Medium (For Free).
Thanks for taking the time to read this article. It truly means the world to me.
I’m no longer going to ask for your follows on social media. Instead, I’ll ask for you to simply leave a comment or share this message with a colleague or friend.
If you’d like to show further support, you can buy me a coffee, or book me for a photoshoot.
