If Medium Writer’s became Influencers
By: Cathy Assoba
Tags: Generational Insights, Influencers

Or this already the case?

photo by Mateus Campos Felipe, unsplash

This thought came to mind as I started to ponder what it would really be like if the Medium platform became a social media outlet. I am new to this platform and this is my 4th written article (please don’t judge me) they say our writing skills are like wine it gets finer with time so I don’t feel like a writer yet and more just a regular reader.

Disclaimer: I don’t use social media. Other than youtube I see very little interaction from influencer’s so my perspective will be more as an observer who is also a newbie to medium with zero active social accounts. At this point, you are probably questioning my interest to write this and my authenticity with a dash of undogmatic perception but I don’t think I would be able to write about this if my lack of experience was not the case so I can provide my non-biased perspective to compare the both.

Sponsored Post

Quite literally. Brands approaching writers to create an article in the most influential and creative way yet remaining authentic. Persuasive writing at it’s finest. Will their followers even care to open the affiliate link? or be persuaded enough to view their favourite followed freelancer’s views as correct? I’d like to think Medium subscribers are less impressionable than on social media for various reasons as the lack of organic content will shift the way we view and write.

If Small Writers Paid Top Writers For A Shoutout.

One of the great things about the medium is that the following is based on your writing skills and not your aesthetic of what you portray. Which obviously is influential. Pretty privilege can be a fast track for social media success and not on here. Hopefully not.

We have most likely subscribed to Medium to be fulfilled in our style de vie and not to lust on other people’s lives. Yes, we have writers that we are inspired by, but we can respectfully aspire to be in a similar position but yet still be confident in what we can deliver to the platform.

If small writers paid top writers it will once again be a platform whereby your financial situation can allow you to move up and ahead of broke writers. e.g cheating in many ways — ghostwriting or having a team behind you backing your success. If that is the route it would then be similar to the current existing position of social media platforms where people can provide a portrayal of the lifestyle they can afford. I like the fact that hard work and creativity are to way success on here. Fickleness is not the Fastrack.

Plus Is possible for a medium writer’s to deliver this discretely without being dismantled?

The Influence Of Medium’s Audience

As we have experienced in a short yet intense timeframe of the shift in different social media outlets, is that there is a temporary leader until something new enters the market. Pushing the younger target market to the new platform and leaving the older generation to remain. Despite the variety of topics here, it safe to say there is still a common grounded theme. Also, Is it possible to outgrow your favourite writer?

The influences of gentrification can create a shift in what is on the trending topics. As someone who is in their mid 20s I like knowing that the content I am consuming is mature led and I use this platform to learn from people who have experience in what I am a student in.

As we are all familiar by now there are pros and cons to gentrification depending on which side you are on.

Money Orientation and Recognition

This is where my thought was initially instigated. Top writers give the advice that we should write on medium because we love to not because we want to make money. Of course, that is true, ( I only discovered my love for content writing this year whilst looking for my career opportunity and how I can grow, evolve and be my own boss after many failed attempts) We also need to be a realist. Either you 1. love writing and want to make money from it or 2. you love reading unique content under one platform and if you are like me and the majority of the subscribers on here, your part of the group who is a little in between the two.

Recognition from people and positive comments from followers provide us with the adrenaline to produce more content. what would we do without the views?

The approach in which creativity is mass-produced, lack of originality, and money first orientated articles will be difficult to assimilate on Medium.

The Discrimination Of Paid Content.

It is very clear that Black influencers with a high engagement, are still be paid less than their blonde-haired, blue-eyed counterparts with fewer followers as they are deemed to have a less credible audience. This is evident just a viewer seeing the comparison in brand deals from comparing influencers. Non-white influencers have on many occasions spoken up about the disparity and “harder work” they have to do to be considered worthy of top brand deals and the long process it takes to be respected. This also stems down to colourism against dark-skinned black influencers not getting approached as brands are using the one lighter-skinned “exotic” looking influencer as tokenism to not be portrayed as a discriminatory brand.

Possibly things have gotten better especially in the climate we are in and more brands are diversifying their marketing funds and fair pay policy but looking at the pattern of highly successful people within social media platforms caucasian people are winning at a considerably higher pace than any other race group. How will this approach differ from Medium’s writers?

The medium Writer Aesthetic

Possibly one of the powerful things on this platform is the range of people from a different social, political and geographical environment with a passion for writing and providing the capacious catalogue of content for a wide array of consumers searching for knowledge in a life-enhancing manner.

To be an influencer you need to have an aesthetic that is pleasing for viewership and escapism.

If Medium writers became influencers, would they resemble what the top influencers look like today?