1 Clappers Are Selling Themselves Short

Give freely, or you get nothing

Photo by Samuel Regan-Asante on Unsplash

When you received 1 clap for your stories, how would you feel? Will you reciprocate and give back the reader 1 clap for his story? Or give him 20, 30, or 50 claps? No way!

What the reader was doing was not building relationships with the writer; he was burning bridges.

Previously, I felt disturbed when readers gave me 1 clap while I gave them 20–50 claps. I tried to match their claps, but my giving felt restricted.

WordsInWilderness, one of the writers I valued, felt the same as me, and her story I like everyone’s post because I am not a hater, and comments convinced me to give freely. When we give freely, engagement tends to come back from different sources.

Success as a writer on Medium is 1/3 quality writing with your authentic voice and 2/3 engagement. If you publish quality writing with little to no engagement, the algorithm will take it as a signal that you are not providing value to the marketplace.

Focus more on engagement after you have published your story.

Some writers strive to have more followers and less following. A more strategic approach is to follow writers who support you consistently so that it’s easier to reciprocate when they have new stories.

You can have 1 million followers and 0 following, but if you have 500 claps and fewer responses, you will be penalised by the algorithm by showing your body of work to the network only.

Writers I valued, and I myself observed a behaviour on Medium; some readers didn’t read or engage with other writers' stories. They seemed to be afraid of empowering other writers with their engagements; they didn’t want them to outshine them by too much.

There was nothing to be envious of them; you could also have what they have, as long as you were willing to make sacrifices.

If you want 1000 claps consistently, commit 2–4 hours daily engaging genuinely with other writers until you stop writing on Medium.

If you want 2000 claps consistently, commit 4–8 hours daily engaging genuinely with other writers until you turn 80 years old and can no longer have the strength to click claps and hold for 50 claps.

Medium is getting stricter in 2026. Those who were lucky enough to get into the Medium Partner Program(MPP) previously could still have their MPP status revoked when they provided low-quality writing or AI slop.

Some writers in MPP got revoked when they stopped paying for a Medium $5 membership monthly. If you were already in MPP, try your best to maintain your MPP status.

It is easier to maintain your existing MPP status, but harder to reapply and get approved. Don’t take things for granted.

Nowadays, new writers are still waiting for months to get into the program. Cherish your blessings.

I observed that one by one writers got revoked of their MPP status. If they were revoked due to AI-generated or assisted stories, even if they revert back to human writing and reapply for MPP again, it will not be accepted.

They will have to start all over on a brand new account with a different email address and full human writing.

(May your mood feel lighter after reading my story.)

Will you do all it takes to maintain your MPP status?

If you found value in this article, you can support my writing in two ways:

☕ Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi (off-site link) — Tips help cover my membership and creator tools, allowing me to stay a Friend of Medium and boost other writers’ earnings.

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Either way, thank you for being here.