Median

The median is the middle value in a set of numbers once they are sorted from smallest to largest — half the values sit above it, half below. For an account's own post performance, it is a more honest "typical" than an average, which one large outlier can pull far from what most posts actually did.

A set with an even number of values has two middle values; the median is their average.

A single post's view count says almost nothing on its own; set beside the median, it says whether this result was ordinary or worth asking a question about.

It also travels with an account as it grows: a median from six months ago is a weaker baseline than one from the last thirty posts, because the audience, the format mix and the account's own skill have all likely moved since then.

A common mistake is using an average instead, then treating one unusually large or small post as if it represented the account's typical result — the median resists exactly that distortion, which is why it is the more honest number to build a baseline from.

The window matters as much as the calculation: a median built from an account's last twenty posts describes it now, while one built from its entire history includes posts from a period the account may have already outgrown, which is part of why a baseline is read from recent posts rather than all of them. A median also resists a single unusually strong post pulling a baseline upward the way an average would, which matters most right after a post overperforms — exactly when a baseline is most tempting to move too early.

Where it comes from

Khan Academy's statistics material defines it the same way: the middle value of an ordered data set, or the average of the two middle values when the set has an even count.

Read the source: Khan Academy — Mean, median, and mode review.