Is Medium a Platform for Narcissists?
I started on Medium about 3 years ago. As most people tend to do, I pay attention to what sort of writing gets noticed, what sorts of people have a large amount of followers, and what sorts of claims are being made about being a ‘good’ and ‘successful’ writer. And it is a disaster.
First of all, people can say whatever they want about the merits of “writing for a living”, especially in such a competitive and oversaturated time as ours. There are very few pioneers — you don’t see any Mark Twains, Kurt Vonneguts, Jack Londons cropping up from this platform. Those who are successful on Medium are not good writers, but they sure are good marketers. They advertise their self-serving thoughts shamelessly.
Here’s my issue, and you’re free to disagree with it: if the purpose of writing online and having a blog is to get as much attention as possible, then quality and helping people is not the goal. The goal is to have as many eyes, and clicks, on one’s content. And one’s content could be something as trite as ’10 ways you can stop being sad’ or ‘How I made $6000 in a month on Medium’. Most of these articles are either superficial or outright false. Furthermore, only members can click on them, since these articles are monetized. Medium subscribers find themselves bombarded by successful articles that look like they could be mass-produced by ChatGPT.
Medium even treats itself as a social network, a blogging platform. It does not make money off people like me, who want to contribute something of substance. Medium, in itself, is probably a failing business that realizes the inherent flaw of their model — everyone is trying to get rich and famous. I am not saying that there isn’t some excellent stuff written by the top Medium writers, but I do believe they all follow a rote formula. Generally, the creative people I follow, who write quite decent stuff, are in the 100–3,000 follower range. But when you see someone with 25k followers, you really do expect them to write “what people want to hear”.
Think about it this way: given that we all die at some point, and this writing is something to be remembered by, would we really want to be remembered for clickbait and trite self-help stuff? Is this our legacy?
Now, it can be argued that anything goes, and no one can tell a person how to write and what to write about. Also, most people have such attention spans that, funnily enough, superficiality can appear sincere. Perhaps it is the sad consequence of a bad economic time, and the fact that literally everyone can be a writer. Also, no one is writing original ideas. So, don’t think I’m lamenting the entire process of writing on Medium. I’m just suggesting that there is a huge structural flaw with the platform.
The narcissistic component of this platform is that the more likes someone has, and the more acknowledgment, the more vindicated they feel in writing ideological and pedantic puff pieces. One can easily praise them for being aware of trends, all without realizing that their articles are leaving us with little to reflect on. It is not because they’re wrong: no, they mean well when they write. It is just that they are measuring every word, trying to get that perfect recipe for an article. For me, the only true ingredient is spontaneity!
But the point is that we look at Medium as a platform for self-success, rather than one of mutual connection. To HELL with the partner program! Pay people a living wage to write already! Or at least give people a chance to succeed in the algorithm without depending on “like-for-like”. It is an alienating space for most.
As writers, let us be mindful of what we are representing in our self-expression. I don’t think everyone knows the answer to everything, and I’m not naive enough to think that successful writers care about any of this. I’m just saying that it’s important.
Thank you.
