Make Medium Yours

It’s now easier to own your experience

Hola readers and creators, I’m back to share more updates!

I mentioned in my last 3MR that we value listening to you, and we make changes based on your feedback. One thing we’ve heard is that you aren’t always satisfied with the recommendations you see on your homepage. That’s something we strive to improve, because it’s important that you’re able to truly make Medium your own. Below I have two updates that are meant to help tackle that.

Want to see less of something? That just got easier

A user clicks “Show Less Like This” on a mobile device.

Last year we made a Show Less Like This button, so you could tell us when your recommendations weren’t quite right for you. However, we didn’t make that button easily accessible, which led to fewer people using it.

Now, we’ve moved the Show Less Like This button front and center on our homepage, and I’m happy to say it’s working. We’re seeing that after readers use it to control what they see on Medium, they click on more stories on their homepage and spend more time reading those stories. This tells us that after readers let us know what they’re less interested in, they see more of the stories they do want to read on their homepage.

If you haven’t already, we hope you begin using the button the next time you’re on Medium.

Controlling your recommendations on Medium.com

A new user selects topics during onboarding on a mobile device.

The homepage isn’t the only place we’re updating to ensure we can offer a personalized experience.

We’ll also be updating the account sign up process on Medium.com to mimic the experience on mobile, so that it’s easier for new users to control their experience from the get-go. Moving forward, when a new user signs up for a Medium account on our website, they’ll be asked to select at least three topics they’re interested in before continuing on to the site for the first time.

Since having this information upfront will help us better decide what stories to show readers on their homepage, we hoped this change would make Medium a more enjoyable place. And I’m happy to say that this change has allowed us to more accurately show new users the stories that they want to read. When we showed this experience to a smaller group of new users, their reading time increased by 35%, in comparison to those who weren’t shown this experience. This tells us readers were seeing an increase in stories they found interesting, and that they enjoyed reading them.

Refining recommendations for current users

Already have a Medium account but want to freshen up your interests? Don’t worry! You can adjust your recommendations whenever you’d like. Head on over to the Refine Recs page when you’re logged into your Medium account and select any number of topics that interest you most.

Our goal is to create products that help you make Medium the experience you want it to be. With that in mind, let us know — how do you feel about these changes? What other product changes or additions would you like to see in order to make it easier to personalize your Medium experience?