I am currently updating the list of Homesteaders and Preppers on steemit.
The last list had 230 members - that was back in the first week of October.
Since then a number of new homesteaders, and the odd prepper, have arrived on steemit to help push the list towards 250.
While pondering this milestone I started checking through the list. As I had compiled the list I had followed every single person I added.
I begun to wonder where many of the people on the list had got to - I hadn't seen posts from them for a long, long time.
I clicked on a few of the names and checked their profile pages. No posts, no comments, no upvotes for 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks or more.
I didn't go through every profile. That would take too much time. But I randomly viewed about 3 dozen. Alas at least a third of them appear to be inactive.
This is not totally unexpected and I am sure it is not unique to the homesteader and prepper community. In fact it may well be that the drop-out rate is lower in our community than in steemit as a whole.
But it got me thinking. Is there anything we as a homesteaders and preppers community can do to keep more members active on steemit?
There is already a Discord channel - HomesteadersOnline run by @greenacrehome. There is also a Homesteading ChainBB forum run by @felander.
These certainly help to keep people engaged in steemit and to progress through making connections with other homesteaders and preppers.
But not everyone will find these, and not everyone will have the time to participate fully with them.
What other ways could we nuture new members, keep them active on the platform and build the community?
I don't have a ready-made box of answers. But here are a few thoughts, comments and ideas that might help start a discussion.
- Weekly voice chats on Discord - maybe with an invited guest, or around a particular topic
- More competitions - with cash prizes
- A mentoring / buddy system to help new members when they first join
- Homesteader/Prepper of the Week awards, and Newcomer of the Week
- Exchanges of seeds, plants, produce??? ( @papa-pepper has led the way on this)
- A directory of skills, knowledge, expertise that people are willing to share
- Meetups (geography permitting)
- Bartering, promotion, sales of goods and services (eg @greenacrehome sells homemade soaps)
Of course many homesteaders and preppers prefer to maintain a degree of anonymity. I understand that. So the level of participation in any of these ideas would be up to the individual.
One idea I would like to try, bearing in mind the previous point, is a series of 'Meet the Homesteader / Prepper' interview posts. If anyone would be willing to be a guinea pig on that do let me know and we can chat on Discord.
I am very interested to hear what people think of these suggestions, and any other ideas you may have to help keep people involved and active on steemit.
The more homesteaders and preppers there are active on the platform the stronger, and more prosperous, we can all be together.
The new version of the Homesteaders and Preppers on steemit list will be coming out in the next few days. If you are not on the current list and you would like to be on the new one do let me know in the comments below. Or if you know anyone that should be on the list likewise let me know below.
You might also be interested in some of my other posts :
Cabbages coming out of my ears - Heading for Brassica Independence Day
Investing in the Future of our Homestead and the Economics of Raised Beds
Every Picture Tells A Story : Beauty, Buffalo, Burial & Branston
The Steemit Guide to Homesteading : a Global Adventure in Collaborative Curation
Homesteaders & Preppers on steemit - 230 members and rising - v9 [08 Oct '17]
SteemTowns - connecting the virtual with the reality - would it be possible?
[image by @pennsif]
I think it is hard to figure Steemit out but I think some of it is the fact that you work so hard on a post and it makes so little money, they get discouraged and give up. You go through here and see one sentence posts or a gif post bring in a hundred dollars or more and they feel like it is not worth it. I am not saying that it is all about the money, it is lots of things like friendships and supporting one another, It has been talked up so much move to Steemit and make money. There are some problems here that the whales and the witnesses need to address and it will make it a better place. I try to post every week because of having lots going on. I would like to post every day but it is to hard for me to right now. I do try to curate and read posts every day.
Yes steemit has many issues about fairness of post rewards and distribution of wealth. As well as the big problems of exploitation and gaming of the system, and the invasion of the bots.
This all used to bug me a great deal, and still does sometimes, but now I tend to ignore all that and just try to do what I do. I have my own 'rules' of how I play the game, and I'll stick to those as long as I am allowed to.
I am the same way. I have my own rules to play by, I try to treat others as I would want to be treated. It just seems that these issues are the cause of some leaving Steemit and that is a shame because there are many good people on here.
Hopefully some will take a break rather than leave altogether.
I have not posted in forever but I pop in every few days and read stuff still if steemit is working. I stopped coming here all together during all the issues steemit was down 99% of the time I tried to look so I quit looking... It seems like it might be back to normal? I am itching to post again but not if my entire post disappears without a trace like my last post I attempted... Also, because I am a full time homesteader, it is HARD to make time to post so it has to run smooth for me to invest my time.
It does seem to be working much better lately, not so frustrating.
Yes please do start posting again @wholesomeroots. It has been working well for a week or two now.
well, really nice post and thanks for the mention of the forum
I am running this alone for the moment because there is not enough chainbb only posts on there, they still show all the other ones originating from busy and steemit as well.
But soon I should be getting a couple of % of the revenue of posts made there.
these I had planned to use for 2 purposes
hopefully this will then get a bit more traction from the community so we can engage more with eachother and learn and share
I will be interested to hear how it progresses.
I have had a look at chainBB, and I may pick it up again at some point, but I must admit the user interface doesn't grab me.
There seems to be a similar curve with folks who start YouTube channels, too. But honestly, I'm also wondering if the seasonality of homesteading is part of it as well--the fall time is harvest, hunting, and lots of busyiness in the Real World. I think weetree has a really good point, too--Steemit is hard to figure out!
Hopefully the homesteaders will be heading back to steemit now winter is almost here.
So the Southern Hemisphere doesn't exist any more? lol (/jk I like to tease) :D
dusts off t-shirts, shorts & a large sunhat for gardening
Seriously though, I have only recently joined the Discord group, but what about something like choosing a different topic each week?
Hi @ravenruis. Do you mean having a different topic for a voice chat, or for general discussion in chat? Could be a good idea.
I'd thought 'general discussion' but have been considering this further and imagine other options to be better suited to the potential format? Others more experienced would have a better idea on how to work it into a programme format, but perhaps we could all nominate topics, and there could be a random draw? Or a finding of experts to pick brains of?
Topics that aren't heavily seasonally-specific, hopefully, so it won't matter which hemisphere we're in. :)
Several have left steemit because they can't figure out how it works..
That is very true. Steemit needs perseverance. I guess a mentor / buddy system might help with that.
The key is them willing to slow down to learn.
good work organizing this! i need to get a post out on my curation for sustainability soon..
Thank you. How is it going with the curation plans?
Great ideas! You can add me to your homesteader list!
Let me know if there is a way I can contribute.
Welcome, you are now on the new version of the list coming out this evening!
@wholesomeroots also has a facebook group running called Homesteaders on Steemit which I've found helpful. It's been a bit quiet of late like much of the homesteading community, but can be quite active at times. Being in a different time zone to most I find I don't miss as much on there and can catch up on conversations easier than the chat groups.
All the ideas sound good. Like the idea of the interviews too.
I haven't used Facebook for a while, but the more the merrier.
Would you be interested in being interviewed ?
Yes, if I can find a time that works. Or maybe an email interview would be good.
I agree so much with all that's been said already. Steemit is an uphill battle in many ways. People think they will earn more than they do. They come check it out and leave, at least a good amount do.
I think there's a line to walk here. Not all those that join are meant to stay for various reasons. Valuable new members are being lost for sure, but what about those that were fairly established but have gone missing posting-wise for a month or two now? Can we do anything to retain those people too?
Yes it is particularly sad when some of the established people drop out for various reasons.
Hopefully they will find their way back on to steemit soon.
I hope so too. There's a few I definitely miss having around.
I haven't been very active in the homesteading area lately on steemit because it's the time of year where I don't have anything to write about that's homestead related. Living in town, I'm more of a gardener than an actual homesteader who has winter stuff such as livestock, firewood, that kind of stuff to write about. My stuff is pretty much done until next spring.
A lot winds down for winter. Now it's time to start planning for next year. Plant a seed, grow a dream.
Ok after reading this and giving it some thought, here's my 2-cents.
A mentoring / buddy system to help new members when they first join
This could work with active members and I like it. It would have to coordinated through Discord perhaps then announced on steemit in a post. I have been finding so many new (at least new to me homesteaders/gardeners lately and have been directing them to Discord)
Homesteader/Prepper of the Week awards, and Newcomer of the Week This is a good one too. Maybe have an active person on steemit and discord (not you obviously because you are already so bogged down) who can go through posts, maybe have members "nominate" posts, etc and we could have a badge made up for the 'winners'.
Exchanges of seeds, plants, produce??? ( @papa-pepper has led the way on this) I have added a seed exchange a few times into some of my posts at the end but have never had a response from anyone. I like this idea alot because I have an overabundance of certain seeds but none of others. Some are hard to find as they are out of stock.
A directory of skills, knowledge, expertise that people are willing to share THIS WOULD BE AWESOME! I wish steemit had a way we could categorize our resteems, posts and tags. Would be SOOOO helpful.
Hopefully between us all, we can start to put some of these ideas into action in the coming weeks.
I just wanted to point you out there is a tool for kind of getting the inactive followers. Link
Yes that is a very useful tool for finding inactive people that follow you. But I need it the other way round - people I follow. Thanks for the link.
Ohh gotcha, that's true, I guess the other way around should be possible just need to develop it.
Hey, thanks for the resources. I’m new to Steemit and I’m trying to connect with the homesteading, permaculture, gardening community. I hope to start posting some homesteading content soon, especially as the next growing season starts up. But you can add me to your next list.
Hi welcome to steemit Jonathan.
You are now on the list - new edition coming out later tonight.
I've noticed the same thing. I think there a several factors at play.
First, it IS hard to learn the ropes around here. Lots of moving parts.
Second, have y'all looked at the 'new' page lately? Lots and lots of drek.
Third, spammy-scammy comments show up seconds after a post goes live. Lots and lots and lots of bots to boot.
What to do to counter-act the outflow?
@pennsif has made some great suggestions here. Many, if not all, are doable, but it's going to take a committed, concerted effort to make it happen, imo. That's partly my motivation in suggesting launching a General Store as a kickoff for the Co-Op concept. General Stores are a gathering place for the whole community to do exactly the things you're highlighting. I'm tempted to knock something together, but it would be better to have someone who knows what they're doing.
My .02 sbd's worth...
I'm keen to learn more about the General Store idea. Hopefully we can catch up in Discord chat soon to discuss further.
Sounds great! I've popped in on Discord a few times over the last week, when their servers would allow. Will try again shortly...
I agree @aunt-deb commitment of active users
Mmm, the General Store? Interesting. I think I understand what you are referring to int he sense of online, computers and groups.
Basically, the idea is to have a central place to congregate where we can shape the purpose to fit the community. It's hard to build anything without some sort of a gameplan. Once we have that, the actual functions (library, seed exchange, etc.) could have their own niche within the whole project.
Agreed. I spoke briefly with @pennsif this morning on Discord chat about it. I wish that steemit would add more options on steemit to go along with what you described. Steemit and communities have such a positive advancement, but some days it feels like we are struggling and steemit needs to step up some and make it more community-user-friendly
That's the major drawback of Steemit - no way to interact person-to-person directly. That's been a long asked for feature. I don't know why they're not adding it, but it's a major stumbling block to the platform's functionality. Agree w you 100% on this!
@pennisf,
The homesteading lifestyle is what my partner and I are working towards. Currently, we are living in Darwin, Australia we have made a firm decision to move to an area around 4 hours North of Brisbane, Australia.
I would not say I am an active person on Steemit, enjoy finding out new things from all around the world. I would like to join the homesteading group.
8 ) infinity happiness.
Welcome to steemit!!! I see you are fairly new. Always great to have new additions to the homesteading group
Thank you @golderndawne. I have been on Steemit since August, though I am not a regular poster, more of a commenter.
8 ) infinity happiness
Welcome aboard - you are now on the list. New edition coming out later tonight.
I think its a great idea in general.
Particularity the seed saving and sharing.
Is there a bot of sort that can send an update to alert a user that something new has been posted? Sorry not very good on the terminology.
A handy guide on how to set that up.
Because I know I have missed posts through more own lazyness. I should just search I know, but hopefully you get my gist.
Interesting idea for a 'reminder bot' - not seen one in action anywhere yet though.
Hopefully we can discuss more ideas when we have the first Wales steemit meet-up soon...
Hi @pennsif. The homesteading community was instrumental in my decision to stick with steemit. The support was always there when doubt existed. I don't always post about homesteading, but as you know we garden, do projects, have acreage, and raise chickens. We consider ourselves homesteaders.
There are several factors at play, people have left for various reasons and some higher ups don't seem to see our value here (maybe they think we're hicks, but it seems to me that is easily proven wrong).
The rewards are not as freely given due to skepticism about the platform and people seem to hold back.
I tried Slack (@farmstead and @greenacrehome were exceptions) and Discord several times nobody responded, so that was that.
Hope nobody's offended by my bluntness. 🐓
Hi @mother2chicks do give the Discord channel another go. There are more people on it now, so there is usually someone about.
Good effort...👍👍👍👍👍👍
Thank you.
What excatly homesteading means actually...so sorry...im a little bit slower understanding english..
I wouldn't mind being a guinea pig for your chat session. I already have a radio talk show for 4yrs and a tv show and other things. so doing a show with you would be a breeze :) just let me know who, what, when, where and how.
Guinea pig!!! That's a good one... careful, @pennsif may take you up on that offer!
lol...
Hi @fixedbydoc, thanks for the offer. I will catch up with you soon in Discord.
:)
I am simply here to promote my brand and get my stuff out there. I don't much care about what it earns here on steemit. I do leave for sometimes days, weeks, or months at a time for my extreme backpacking trips around the country though. Hoping that doesn't cause me to get booted from steemit being gone for a time.
Exactly. I can speak for myself, as well as many others in the homesteading community, when we say we started here for the exposure, blogging platform, etc with the earnings being down the ladder some. I have met more homesteaders here than any other social media site. I was in some FB groups but it got all political, people were rude, etc. I just don't have time for that nonsense. The group and community here has been SO supportive, helpful and are people I consider my friends.
Booted? lol- no you are a GREAT addition to the community.
You should have your wife open her own steemit account. Isn't she a nurse or have medical training too? She could be like our homesteading nurse. That would be awesome!! PLUS.. you could have two accounts earning and double the exposure!
Thanks. My wife is named Addie and she is a zoologist :) If you need to know anything at all about plants and animals then she is the one to ask. She doesn't really care for social media and she spend a lot of her free time running in races or taking care of our website fixedbydoc.com or caring for our homestead. She works currently at Sams Club. I am retired so have lots of free time left over after caring for the homestead.
Oh yeah... you have the medical background, right? Got you two mixed up there.
Plants? Oh MY! I may have to pick her brain one day!
:)
Nothing wrong with a bit of brand promotion 😊
Also, add me to your list. :)
You are now on the list - new version 10 coming out in the next couple of hours.
yay!!
thank you!
Just to share my own point of view of why we tend to fade away, as I'm noticing on myself - okay, I'm still here, though not nearly as often as during the initial months full of novelty and excitement.
Do we tend to get busy with many other things all of a sudden? Maybe. Though for me I'd say I used to spend way more time on Steemit at first than would have been sustainable in the long run. Now I'm catching up on other things I'd postponed in favor of reading / writing posts, and as a result I'm not on as much as I'd like to be. Ideally, I want to find a good balance because I don't want to stop steeming. I can imagine many other steemians to feel similar.
Yes steemit does compete for time with everything else in life. For me steemit at the moment is an enjoyable and informative hobby. I don't use any other social media, nor do I have a TV or Netflix etc, so steemit fills that time slot. But I can quite see how it might need to be pushed aside from time to time to let life take priority.
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STOPHi! I am a robot. I just upvoted you! Readers might be interested in similar content by the same author:
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@pennsif/preppers-and-homesteaders-on-steemit-the-updated-list-v2
Cheetah you need to get out more. That is so not the latest version. That was version 2 - the current version is version 9 :
And version 10 is coming out in a few days.
yeah bots cant distinguish this stuff, thats why people are necessary...
And they can't quite outrun us (yet)...
Dropping this in here pennsif for those coming in from YT.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@weetreebonsai/day-1-steemit-the-foreign-country-for-those-getting-here-from-yt
Thanks, will take a look.
Have you heard of zoom?
You can record video with it, and it's 10x better than skype.
Not heard of Zoom - have you got a web link for it?
https://www.zoom.us/?zcid=1173&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIirPygKXR1wIViop-Ch3lUQfVEAAYASAAEgLYYfD_BwE
Wow I really like the support you have created here. Awesome!
Thank you.
@pennsif Yes, please add us to the list. @tahorfarm