Medium Experiments
Cracking the Medium Code
An experiment to find out how the Medium algorithm works
My scientific mind does not want to wait and read other people writing about their best guesses on how the Medium algorithm works. So I thought I would experiment.
Given that I am fairly new to medium and not very consistent with my engagements or writing, I think I am fairly positioned in a good place to run this.
The hypothesis I am having is that by just being consistent with your engagement and publishing, you can get your view count increased.
Starting State
So as you can see I’m averaging between 10–20 views a day. The black dots represent the dates I published stories. At the moment I have 367 followers.
Timeline
I would be running the experiment for 7 days starting from the 13th and finishing on the 19th of October including the 13th and 19th.
Methodology — Writing & Publishing
I would be writing one story and self-publishing that story every day. The story would be on the progress of this experiment. Since I am writing about Medium, there is very little chance of getting curated and I also do not think the progress on the experiment is viral material. This plan is not 100% bulletproof. There is still a slim chance of my other stories getting curated or going viral.
Methodology — Engagement
I will be following a total of 10 people a day. Here is how I select the 10 accounts.
- I would start with the people who follow me. I would go to their account, read a story that catches my eye and engage. If I like the author’s writing and content, follow them.
- By the end of this exercise, if I have not followed 10 authors, I would go to the “Recommended” tab on the home page and find articles to read from the people I have not followed already and repeat the steps at once until I reach my daily dose of 10 authors.
I would also read and engage with 10 stories from the “Following” tab which catches my eye. If I do not like the content I would skip the article without any engagement until I reach my daily count of 10.
To remove external factors, I will not be promoting my stories on Facebook or Slack groups.
Measuring Success
At the end of 7 days, I will be recording my daily view count average. To conclude the experiment as a success, I would need my daily view count to be between 40–50 from the current 10–20.
Final Thoughts
If you read so far and are intrigued to find out what happened, head over to my profile, where you can find the progress and results. When the days pass by, I will update this article with the links to the related progress reports and the experiment result review.
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