Follow-to-Follow Scheme Made My Medium Account Miserable, Here’s Why

It is undeniable that most of us — especially beginners – are craving to gain much exposure and followers when we start to join the community. It is what is always happening in the Medium community since gaining 100 followers is one of the requirements to participate in the Medium Partnership Program.

I did the same. I made a post asking for followers, and it made my account miserable.

However, I decided to delete my post when I realized that it can affect my profile. It will make my page credible and avoid forming a misconception that I am a spammer – at some point, maybe yes.

This method is a quick way to gain followers. There are people from Medium who gained 100 followers in 24 hours. That is how people are eager to get exposure. Little did they know that they were ruining their image in the community.

It was April 2022 when I posted my story about getting 100 followers in 72 hours. I have gained followers – but not in 72 hours. I am gaining 1-5 followers each day until I reach 100 followers.

(unfortunately, I haven’t captured a screenshot)

The post gained 100+ views. And most of the people who viewed it followed me. 

But the twist is, the average reading time of the readers is not great. I barely get 1-minute of reading time for every story that I publish. And that’s why my account is miserable.

I don’t know if deleting posted stories can affect my view counts, but I just looked for a long-term perspective. Imagine if a person visited my page and then saw my post about a follow-to-follow scheme – that’s a turn-off. They might turn you down, and that’s ruining your profile.

At some point, I am happy that I gained followers in a short time. But that is a temporary feeling. These followers may be like bots – they are not organic. 

They only care about the followers but they don’t have the plan to read your stories.

Nevertheless, even when I reached 100 followers, I learned that I am not eligible for the Medium Partnership Program. But I am still going to continue writing in the community.

It is a huge community that can make your online presence stronger. I also recommend using Medium if you want to start your journey as a writer.

If you really want to grow your audience, never do the follow-to-follow method. No matter how eager you are to gain followers.

It is better to start growing by making exposure through interaction. Following the correct people from the community with the same interest as yours is better, then start interacting with them by leaving a comment on their published stories.

It can grow your audience. Building a circle inside the community is the best way to get exposure – or publish your stories in the correct publications.

Also, start writing consistently. Success will not come overnight. There is no quick way to become successful. Continue to write and you will not notice that you are growing in the community.

And here’s the fact: When you get your first 100 followers, it is easy to build your next hundred followers. Look, I am now almost 300 followers. The only secret is I publish stories consistently and try to interact with other writers.

Remember, Medium is the place to show your writing skills. Some people are getting clients from LinkedIn because of their Medium profile.

The follow-to-follow method is not the ideal way to get 100 followers quickly. There are more best ways to achieve it. 

It is better to have 10 avid readers and followers than to have a thousand inactive followers.

After all, the best feeling as a writer is when someone appreciates your story.

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Images are designed and made by me using Canva.