Friend of Medium — Is It Worth It?

My way-too-early review of the Friend of Medium Program

Photo by Chris Spiegl on Unsplash

Medium recently created a new membership to reward writers with its “Friend of Medium” tier. Members can now help writers earn four times more earnings, and it’s possible to share “Friend Links” of others to any paywalled story to enable non-members to read and contribute to the writer’s earnings.

I signed up as soon as it became available to my account, and I noticed an immediate uptake in views the next day. Usually, I average around 70–80 views per day, but in the last couple of days, I’ve received 153 and 146 views.

How My Earnings Are Impacted So Far

My earnings on Medium tanked in October, and they never recovered much throughout the entire month of November. I keep track of my daily earnings, and I average around $1.65 for the first 28 days of the month. However, my earnings since making the upgrade to “Friend of Medium” reached $4.56 on the first day and $10.10 on the second day.

These earnings are a huge difference compared to normal, and it will be amazing if they last or keep growing. Of course, a two-day period is way too short of a sample size. I’ll have a much better idea if these earnings are the new normal by the end of next month or if it’s just a flash…