We don't know whether that's how the algorithm works, though. For all we know, the algorithm could be configured to compensate by sending more views to self-published stories to make up for any they miss out on by not being in a publication. But this is just speculation, though.
And as I said in my article, a large publication with no niche is a problem. Any views you get simply based on someone following Illumination are not targetted views. Whereas if someone is following you or a tag you have tagged your story with, the views are more targetted.
And look at the front page of Medium. Over on the right we see:
What We're Reading Today
Recommended topics
Who to follow
There is no "Publications to follow" section. Medium is not guiding people towards following publications, signing up for publications as writers, or starting their own publications. So it seems that Medium is tolerating publications but not encouraging them. I won't be surprised if they get rid of them at some point. This may seem like a dramatic step, but so was removing funding for the big publications last year.
When I joined last year, Medium had a different layout and didn't have audio. Who knows what will happen next...
