What Medium Readers Are Hungry For
Want to know what people want to read about more?
When talking with people on Medium, I field two questions with regularity: “How do I find different stuff to read?” and “How do I figure out topics people want me to write about?”
We have the data. We can help you find the way.
First things first: Write something worth reading
I’ve said this before, but it always bears repeating: No matter what you are writing about, make it good. Make it count. In all the data we’ve collected, all the surveys we’ve run, and the people I’ve spoken to, readers want quality writing above all else. We’re all experts in something, and we all have amazing life experiences and insights to share with the world. Embrace that.
Readers seek authors: A study in lonely topics
Using data around tags, we were able to determine topic areas that had the highest ratio of followers to posts or authors. In short: A lot of people are actively seeking more posts about the subjects listed below, and compared to the number of people raising their proverbial hands saying “give me more”, not much is being published.
We weren’t expecting the disparity we found. For the most popular topics, there are 10 times the number of posts on those topics as followers. For the least, there are 180 followers for every post.
This topic list is not ordered or ranked but does include the topics of which people want to read more:
Poetry
Psychology
Art
Sharing economy
Government
Edtech
Equality
Feminism
News
Marketing
Female founders
Photography
Sports
Fiction
Black Lives Matter
2016 election
Women in tech
Humor
A study on saturation: A list of well-developed topics
If we have the data that tells us what topics people want more, it stands to reason that we also have data telling us what topics are published about frequently. This doesn’t mean “these are bad topics, stop writing about them,” but it does mean that these are already thriving topics for interested readers.
Again, this list is not ranked in any way:
Technology
Web development
Javascript
Science
User experience
Programming
Important things often bear repeating: Where we go from here
This is not a prescriptive post. It’s informational and hopefully educational and inspiring to both readers and writers, but the first point I made is, and always will be, the most important.
Write something that matters. Readers want quality stories and authentic experiences above all else.
If you have something amazing to say about web development, people still want to hear it. Likewise, if you know nothing about art, that’s okay. There’s a world of people vying to hear about what you know: Underlying every study we’ve done, this is the key to success.
