Content Platforms Started Rewarding Creators

Talent is vital for any ventures. I highlighted its importance in my leadership books and articles such as this one: Empowering Talent And High Performing Teams for Digital Ventures.

Out of three great content platforms for freelance writers, Vocal Media demonstrated the leadership awarding their creators with several bonuses recognizing their efforts. For example, in addition to several bonuses in competions, Vocal pays $50 for the first 50 stories and $100 for the first 100 stories. Like many writers I enjoyed such bonus that encouraged me to write more for Vocal Media.

In additions, tips are a compelling reason for some creators to enjoy writing for Vocal Media. I received my first tip in my life from this platform. It was a dollar, but regardless of the amount, it created a fascinating warmth for me. I shared my experience in this story: The Real Meaning of $1 Tip.

Then News Break started giving bonuses to freelance writers. They award their creators who refer qualified creators to them. News Break also offers bonuses based on a referral of their app. For example, if a reader installs the News Break app from a writer’s affiliate link, the writer is awarded a certain amount of bonus.

Now Medium has joined the bandwagon. It is a timely decision for Medium because we witnessed substantial negative sentiments on Medium recently from writers whose views, reading times, and income declined considerably, to a rate around 80% or more since last November.

We heard that several top writers left the platform as they did not see value in publishing on Medium. Some of those comments resonated with me, but since my purpose is not generating income on Medium, I continue writing and engaging meaningfully despite the challenges of the platform. Instead, I focus on the intangible benefits as pointed in my annual progress story titled What I Learned After Publishing 1,010 And Reading 100,000 Stories on Medium.

I love sharing good news as depicted in this story Something Good Started Happening On Medium: ILLUMINATION Reading Times Doubled and Curated Stories Quadrupled.

The good news today is that the hostile atmosphere has changed on Medium. It was like a ray of sudden sunshine after many cloudy days.

I read several articles on my publications ILLUMINATION, ILLUMINATION-Curated and SYNERGY about a $500 gift medium sent to selected 1000 writers with a high engagement rate in the platform.

There are different views and sentiments in these articles and comments. However, most of them are positive and uplifting. It was finally a sunny day on Medium today.

This is an important milestone on Medium so it is worth reading thoughts and feelings of contributing writers.

Here are three samples go give you an idea about thoughts and sentitments of writers. The original version of the story includes more examples from various writers some who got the reward and some who did not.

Roz Warren said:

"Perhaps the $500 was Medium's way of saying, "News Break isn't the only platform with a big pile of money to throw at writers. We've got a pile of money too - and here's some to persuade you to stick around!"

Steve B Howard commented:

"Money isn't everything, of course, but it isn't a bad way for a platform to give writers some recognition and show some appreciation for our efforts. I hope though that Medium is a lot more transparent in the near future about exactly what the criteria is to earn the $500 bonus (assuming they continue it). It would be nice to know what writers need to do to get it. In that Vocal and even News Break with their wonky policy changes are far more open and clear than Medium has ever been."

Kristina Segarra pointed out:

"I'm writing this article not to brag, but to encourage and hopefully inspire other writers to keep going and pursuing their writer's dream. The success may not come right away, but if you're persistent and keep producing quality content, Medium will reward you for your work. I believe anyone can do it with consistent effort. You just have to keep writing and keep publishing and your work will pay off! I know it's a cliche, but honestly, if I didn't commit myself to write every day, I don't think I would've been one of 1000 writers to receive this bonus. I put in the work and it payed off. It's that simple."

Conclusion

Recognition and rewards are essential for the growth of creators. They give them a meaningful purpose. Therefore, not just money but also a simple thank you message showing gratitude to the readers can be very useful.

I gave three examples in this post reflecting the care for creators. First, I am pleased Vocal Media, News Break, and Medium are leading the way to motivate their contributors. Secondly, Medium showed its leadership creating a noticeable impression because it was a surprise for the reward receivers.

Surprising people nicely can be a good motivation factor to keep talent. This is indeed a thoughtful strategy to keep talent. I hope many more writers are rewarded and motivated to improve collaboration in this platform.

Thank you for reading my perspectives.

The original version of this article was published here.