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Why I (Still) Clap
Claps are not dead
As expected, there are countless articles flooding Medium about the new Partner Program read time metric. And almost all that I have read have said something along the lines of, “claps are dead.”
Claps are not dead. Or worthless.
I have never clapped to help a writer earn money.
I have always considered that a nice side-benefit. In the old system, I clapped so frequently that my claps were usually worth less than a penny. I never felt I was rewarding a writer much financially with my claps. It wasn’t a big factor in my mind.
I have never clapped to bring attention to great writing.
Before the change to read time rewards, I saw several writers write that they clapped to bring attention to great writing. This sounds like a worthy cause. Some say they will continue to do this. I applaud them (pun not intended.)
However, I am not convinced clapping brings attention to writers or writing. For some, it might. But I have never read a story because it got thousands of claps. Most of the writers (with a few exceptions) whose stories get huge numbers of claps write stories I am not interested in. The number of claps a story receives has never influenced what I read.
