MEDIUM

Medium’s New Thirty Second Rule May Be a Good Thing

I thought differently at first, but I’ve changed my mind

Photo by Ocean Ng on Unsplash

I hope that you’ve read about the new partner program rules coming August 1st. There are some major changes for how we will earn money here.

New Partner Program incentives focus on high-quality human writing

I think all the changes are good, but I was initially worried about the 30 second rule, which might sound like how long you can leave a fumbled pill on the floor and still gulp it down, but is actually how long a reader will have to stay on a story for the author to earn anything from that visit.

My concern was that I (and I’m sure many others) can read very quickly and can skim like a scrambling Navy jet. In thirty seconds of skimming, I can suck down a thousand words or more easily.

But why am I skimming?

Duh, I’m skimming to see if the story has value to me, if there is anything there that will give me pause, teach me something, make me think, make me clap, make me want to leave a comment.