Member-only story
Medium | Opinion
Two Tiers and a few Tears
Everyone will be vying for the attention of what will in essence be super readers.
After reading Nevena Pascaleva’s article on the new Medium Friend tier, I have to conclude she’s absolutely right. Everyone will be vying for the attention of what will in essence be super readers.
Their reads can give up to 4X the earnings of the ordinary member.
I fully intend to join because of this, If I can give back more to my reading circle, it’s a done deal. Doesn’t matter to me whether they are Medium friends or not, I’m part of a community, that’s how I roll. Most of the people I read will do this.
As a side note, if you’re a PayPal member, you’ll likely have to cancel your membership and set up an alternate form of payment in order to do this. (Currently my situation)
What else can Medium Friends expect?
Unwanted attention
The Scammers will target them above everyone else. Claps without reads, 30 second scans, Ai comments or emoji-only comments. WhatsApp exploits. Multiple notifications of being added to lists or included in articles. It’s already happening without having a second tier.
Expect this to be X100 when low income countries come onboard. The immediate consequence of this will be to circle the wagons.
I can see people getting slammed in the notifications already.
Cliques
Medium friends will likely close ranks amongst themselves and known readers to weed out bad actors. At the same time, careful scrutiny will be meted out to folks who simply read articles and move on.
I already know several ordinary members who ignore claps entirely, and will only interact with genuine commenters. I know one who blocks random clappers.
