How to Make Most of Medium (Yes, This Medium) and Change Your Life
*Disclosure: I am not getting paid by Medium to write this article. I wish I did.
Months ago, I didn’t think that signing up for a platform like Medium would do anything to change who I was: A sad grown-up who lived in my own self-loathed universe.
That said, I signed up anyway (even without a special promotion or discount to entice me) because I was fed up with constantly getting junks fed to me by Facebook. So, I quit Facebook for good — and joined Medium.
Over the past few months, I have been experiencing some really inspiring pieces of writing — some of them of the highest craftsmanship — and, to be fair, some truly rubbish stories that I cannot help but to hope that someone would flag it. Anyway, there’re more “good stuff” than the rubbish, which keeps me on this platform.
After a while, I have realized that Medium is more than just an odd, personal and honest, news platform written by people who have meaningful ideas to share who are not necessary in the mainstream media.
Medium is a community.
It was then that I’ve begun to engage with writers and other readers. So much I have learned ever since and I have somewhat changed into a person with a much broader and empathetic perspective.
So, here are some of the tips I’d like to share for how to make most of this platform.
- Try Responding to Every Post You Thoroughly Read
Even just to say “thank you” to the author.
The idea of having an obligation to digest what I read makes me a much more careful thinker, and therefore writer. It makes me read slower and think much more thoroughly. It makes me pay more attention to details.
That said, I still insist that we don’t need to have an opinion on everything, but we can be (and should be) a careful reader on at least what we care enough to actually spend a few minutes reading it. Responding to other writers is also a form of community participation, empowering you as a member of this community where people are empathetic and rigorous enough to politely call each other out when the writing is too far from the standard that we all set.
Even if you don’t have anything to say, say “thank you” to the author who hs crafted the story for you.
2. Choose Your Desire Domains of Interest Wisely
Unlike Facebook, you have a choice to choose what you see on Medium.
As for me, I only want to read what doesn’t make me feel weak.
I neither want to read unverified gossip nor, pretty much, any premature hypes. Reading is a luxury and I only want to read good ideas expressed through good writing.
The algorithm used by Medium is pretty awesome: Once I’ve told the system my preferences (directly by following particular authors, or indirectly by dismissing some), it never forgets.
So, reading Medium is always a joy for me — it makes me think; it makes me work harder on myself; and it doesn’t make me weak (like Facebook always did to me).
3. Save Articles You Like
Don’t always rely on the belief that whatever you’ve read will forever stay on this platform.
Sometimes, you forget the keywords and could no longer go back and find it. Sometimes, the post is removed. Whichever articles you like, save them to your local or cloud storage.
I usually print out (I know, I know, printing is bad for the environment) the first page of the article that resonates with me, make some extra notes with my own handwriting, and put it on my wall for a week or until the next article I like enough to save it on my computer comes along. Trust me, this practice makes the idea in those articles stick.
Now, I am expecting you to respond to this post. Thank you.
