Here's Why I Downgraded My X Premium+ Today With Disappointment

Elon Musk did not keep his promise, so I am deeply disappointed, but I gave his platform one more chance by subscribing to X Premium instead of Premium+.

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Monthly Content Strategy Update: Non-members of Medium can read this strategic article for free.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

As an experienced content strategist, I observe the digital market closely, provide insights to my clients, make necessary changes for my digital investments, and inform my readers so they can make better choices.

As it is the first day of the month, I want to give you a few updates on my strategic and tactical changes. As I wrote this story on Medium, I want to give the most important decision I made yesterday, which is effective as of today.

Yesterday, 31 July 2024, I decided to resign from the Boost program and pull my publications from it as it started wasting my precious time with no returns for me, my volunteer 157 editors, and 31K writers. I wrote a story about it, reflecting my initial thoughts and plans for my special publication, ILLUMINATION-Curated, which I established in 2020.

I Withdraw from the Pilot Boost Program Intentionally to Create Better Outcomes for the Community

In July 2024, I focused on four major platforms as advised by my mentors: Substack, NewsBreak, Quora, and X Premium+.

The key point is that Elon Musk did not keep his promise, so I am deeply disappointed, but I gave his platform one more chance by subscribing to X Premium instead of Premium+. However, Chris Best (half my age), as the best CEO of the best writing platform, keeps his promise.

Here are the key highlights of my experience:

1 — Substack vs. X Premium+: The stark contrast between my investments and returns was eye-opening. Despite investing $26 in X Premium+ and gaining zero income with only 37 followers, my $0 investment in Substack yielded 20,000+ subscribers and a remarkable $5,000+ income in just one month. I only got 3K followers between 2019 and June 2024, as I spent 95% of my time on Medium since then. But after that, it skyrocketed. I now help other creators grow their Substack.

Source

Here is my latest post, which has already 8K views on Substack:

2 — NewsBreak Success: My income on NewsBreak surged by 62.5%, thanks to a viral story that reached a broad U.S. audience. This valuable story, which was close to my heart and could potentially save millions of lives, was not only overlooked but also censored by Medium, earning only $5. NewsBreak’s support in sharing this crucial content was immensely gratifying, highlighting the platform’s value in promoting impactful stories.

3 — Quora Insights: While my income from Quora was negligible, one monetized story gained significant visibility, increasing my followers by 10% and my Quora spaces’ exposure by 20%. I invested only 1% of my time in Quora in July 2024, but it now outperforms Medium, where my follower count has stagnated despite having 101K followers a few months ago. Medium’s support team has been unresponsive for two months in illuminating this stagnation.

They even failed to assist with replicating my publication on my website via WordPress. This indifference has led me to lose faith in Medium.

You Can Earn Income from Your Content on Quora with the Same or Less Effort You Invest in Medium.
4 — X Premium+ Disappointment: The primary reason for this update is to share my disappointment with X Premium+. Last month, I upgraded to X Premium+ for 26 AUD to explore its new article-writing feature. Unfortunately, the experience fell short of my expectations, and I will explain why.

Last month, I decided to upgrade to X Premium+ based on advice from mentors who collectively have 3 million followers on the platform. While I wrote a story about this upgrade on Medium, fewer than 1% of my followers saw it. In contrast, 95% of my Substack subscribers read and shared it widely, reaching thousands of others.

Why I Upgraded to X Premium as a Writer, Curator, and Strategist
A Content Strategist’s Perspective on Elon Musk’s Twitter Transformation and explaining the opportunity for writers to…medium.com

After One Month Trial of X Premium+

Just like a picture can tell a thousand words, I want to share my high-level stats with a screenshot to illustrate the progress. Here’s what happened to my stats after upgrading to X Premium+, the highest tier, in July 2024.

For those unfamiliar with X plans, here are screenshots to give you high-level coverage.

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Comparison of Plans

I downgraded from Premimum+ to Premium, which is half-price.

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How did articles go on X Premium+?

It was a huge letdown.

Despite having 7,334 followers, the article I pinned on my account only received 554 impressions over the course of a month. Isn’t this disheartening for a writer paying for a platform that promises a significant boost?

Here’s the screen capture of my first article linking the friends links of my boosted stories on Medium for full transparency.

My mentor

Tim Denning

an X expert mentioned that articles often underperform on X for reasons that aren’t clear yet. He advised me to focus on threads instead. Unfortunately, the threads didn’t fare any better, receiving even fewer impressions — 18 and 24, as shown below:

The positive and inspiring news is that Tim received over 164 million impressions, which he shared publicly on X. Clearly, he knows what he is doing, so I will be tapping into his expertise even more.

Tim’s advice on Substack was spot on. After he suggested monetizing my content, my subscribers increased by 567% in one month. I re-interviewed Tim to provide guidance to writers about Substack.

Why Did I Interview My Aussie Friend Tim Denning Again on Medium & Substack?

Unfortunately, Medium’s algorithm censored this story, but it fortunately got thousands of views on Substack. For this, I am grateful.

As an example, Medium missed a golden opportunity with Google missing the top 10 on this important inquiry, as the smart search engine indexed Substack, Quora, X, and Reddit despite Medium’s high domain authority, as shown in the screen capture.

Tim and I are some of the most researched writers on Google. So, recently, Substack gets the stake. This is one of Medium’s mistakes in not curating interview stories. Based on my decades of experience, I detailed the importance of interviews in a story.

I think Medium’s head of curation, distribution, and even the CEO should read this story to understand the importance of interviews and create a topic for them. Censoring interview stories harms the platform’s growth. As established writers leave, the platform risks being overrun with inexperienced writers and AI-generated content, leading to pollution and spam.

More importantly, Medium needs a content strategist to boost its reach in search engines, as high domain authority alone isn’t enough for broader outreach anymore. This is one reason Substack is growing rapidly while Medium’s growth has stalled from my observations and the insights of data scientists informing my strategy on multiple platforms.

Back to X premium!

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Now, Another Disappointment After Downgrading to Premium from Premium+: I lost my blue badge!

Last month, when I upgraded to Premium+, I received a blue badge verifying my identity, as I provided my personally identifiable information, including my driver’s license, trusting Elon Musk’s commitment to security.

However, after downgrading to Premium today, I lost my blue badge. This means my followers can no longer see my verification, and new blue-badge followers may not trust my profile and choose not to follow me.

Now, I feel that my new $13 investment in X for August 2024 is a waste, essentially money down the drain. I hope they can fix my hardearned blue badge sacrificing my personal info which is risky on digital platforms.

Interestingly, my editor friend Aiden (Owner of Illumination Gaming) got inspired to upgrade to X Premium a few days ago, and he changed his mind and wrote a story about it. I link it here as a reference.

I Was About to Upgrade to X Premium Today But Changed My Mind Due to the Harassment of Its AI
Another editor friend, Mike Broadly, DHSc, is also interested in upgrading but is hesitant due to concerns about X’s immature algorithm. Despite wanting his excellent content to reach a wider audience, he’s wary of making the upgrade.

X Marks the Insult: A Hilarious Encounter with AI Stupidity

ILLUMINATION-Curators were left reeling earlier today when they discovered their X accounts had been locked while sharing stories from ILLUMINATION-Curated. They are in utter disbelief, declaring it pure nonsense, as their sole activity is providing free, curated content through friend links via their Friends of Medium accounts — accounts I personally fund. They asked me to stay away from Twitter as they did from Medium.

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Unusual Message from Medium Algorithm Today

Aside from censoring valuable content, Medium’s algorithm also does some odd things. Today, it excited me by offering a 20% discount on membership. Shouldn’t it be known by the system that I have been a Friend of Medium, upgrading my four accounts since December 2023?

Despite Medium putting me in distribution jail, I have encouraged 500+ members to upgrade as well.

Maybe I should downgrade it as I did X Premium+ and subscribe to an extra 12 Substack writers for the amount I am paying.

Conclusions and Takeaways

In my first month with X Premium, I encountered significant disappointments that made me reconsider my investment in the platform. Despite initial hopes for enhanced visibility and engagement, the reality fell short, with issues in verification, content reach, and overall platform experience.

My experience highlights the importance of aligning user expectations with actual benefits and the need for platforms to prioritize user satisfaction and value for money.

These experiences highlight the importance of choosing the right platforms for content creation and distribution for all stakeholders.

While Substack and NewsBreak have proven to be valuable allies in July 2024, my ventures with X Premium+ and Medium have highlighted the challenges and frustrations of dealing with these platforms which require to refine their content curation and distribution strategies.

As I refine my content strategy, I remain committed to sharing my findings and insights with my readers. Stay tuned, and feel free to ask questions in the comments section. You can also contact me via my website inquiry form or Substack Notes.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

I wrote several stories like this for writers and readers and linked them to a list titled Writing, Content Development & Marketing Strategies. I also distill them on my Substack newsletter Content Strategy, Development, & Marketing Insights.

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If you are a new reader, you may check out some of my topics, including the brain, mental health, cognitive function, significant health conditions, longevity, nutrition/food, valuable nutrients, ketogenic lifestyle, self-healing, weight management, writing/reading, including 100+ Insightful Life Lessons from My Circles for the Last 50+ Years.

I publish my health and wellness stories on EUPHORIA and share distilled versions on SUBSTACK. My posts do not include professional or health advice. I only document my reviews, observations, experiences, and perspectives to provide information and create awareness.

If you are a writer, you are welcome to join my publications by sending a request via this link. I support 31K writers who contribute to my publications on this platform. You can contact me via my website. I also have another profile to write and curate tech stories. Friend Links to My Sample Boosted Stories for Non-Members of Medium. You can read this story on Substack for free.

Get an email whenever Dr Mehmet Yildiz publishes. He is a top writer and editor on Medium. dr-mehmet-yildiz.medium.com

Importance and Value of Medium Friendship for Writers and Readers

You are welcome to join the ILLUMINATION Community on Medium and Substack. We will help you succeed in both platforms using our vast network.

I also write about health and technology on Substack. If you are interested in these topics you are welcome to subscribe.