Meet John James, a successful white man in his 30s (a doctor, no less). He gets claps. Cover Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash (adapted)
Sad ways to get your stories to reach over 30,000 claps (it has nothing to do with Medium)
Okay, I’m potentially opening up a can of worms here, but I’ll try to remain objective while putting a grin on your face.
I recently shared an article featuring some of the most popular all-time articles on Medium. When you look at the top 50 from that list (those with over 30,000 claps), there’s an ugly truth staring right at you: where are the women?
Ugh… I know, it’s not a pretty sight.
The data was collected about a month ago, scouring through the top tag’s top 5–10 writers (avoiding duplicates). Top tags are those with a top writers page, like these:
Missing from the list are popular writers like Kris Gage or Brianna Wiest (just to name a couple), simply because at the time of collecting the data, they weren’t on top of those lists.
Top tags like politics and news were also omitted from the list because of outliers like umair haque.
The top 50 articles from the list were 100 percent male... Yup, 100 percent! They came from 12 male writers. Here’s the breakdown of how many articles with over 30,000 claps each of them had:
So, how do you get articles to reach over 30,000 claps?
Here are very ugly ways to make it happen:
1. Be a man
That’s the obvious one. Looking at the data, it’s the only pattern that works 100 percent of the time.
2. Be white, unless your name is Darius Foroux, Thomas Oppong or Ayodeji Awosika
Don’t forget to be white. It doesn’t matter how good looking you are or if the quality of your photo is any good. Just be white to increase your chances of success.
3. Be in your 30s
Göke will be in his 30s soon. Thompson and Davret, both in their 40s, are at the bottom of the list, so they just don’t matter as much. I don’t know how old Oppong is. So, being in your 30s is quite a safe bet. Be there and stay there.
4. Have a close-up photo of your face, but again, only if you’re a man
Okay, the close-up photo is actually a good idea. Especially if you’re a white dude in your 30s. If not, change that first.
5. Be a doctor, or just append “PhD” at the end of your name
Two men from the list are doctors, one obviously so. So, failing all the above 4 ways, simply add “PhD” at the end of your name. Surely you trust Danny Forest, PhD more than Danny Forest, right?
6. Have a short name that’s easy to pronounce for Americans
You need a very “white-sounding” name to get over 30,000 claps, again, unless your name is Darius Foroux, Thomas Oppong, or Ayodeji Awosika. Americans just don’t read stories from “non-American” names.
Now, just by switching the ö for a o and adding PhD at the end of his name, Niklas Göke could be number 1. Also, change for Nicolas, it’s less exotic, therefore much better.
7. Failing the above, make sure your name sounds “cool”
All the names on the list arguably sound “cool” by western standards. I’d tell you they’re rock stars and you’d believe me.
Okay, that wasn’t very serious, was it?
I’m making light of the situation here, but there’s a real serious issue of diversity here, both in gender and race (and arguable other things). There’s nothing funny about those issues.
I want to give massive kudos to those who dare to write about those inequalities. They’re taboo subjects, but they shouldn’t be. It takes people like them to change the world.
My goal with this piece was to open the discussion in a friendly way, through humour (which is not my forte btw). In no way did I mean any disrespect to anyone. If you know anything about me, well, you know that’s just not me.
I’ve avoided heated topics like this one in the past because I’m a very objective person who backs my facts with data. And I didn’t have data to show the inequalities before. Now I do, and this is only the beginning.
If you have anything to add about this topic, let me know.
Cheers to a better world!
— Danny