After reading @eveuncovered's most recent post, 'One Year on Steemit - from Rags to Riches', and then spotting a comment from a new user asking:
I would like to hear from someone is how you would expect a newbie to stay on Steemit when joining now?
It seems clear that the goalposts have moved a bit since last year, and some might say they've also gotten a bit lot smaller - de Gea has replaced Karius, and his gloves don't have holes in them.
Is there any hope for the new accounts? I think so, but first, last year....
This is not @eveuncovered, and it's not quite this easy to score some STEEM
Eve joined almost exactly a year ago, just a month before the rewards model was changed (which produced some crazy sized votes), and a week before the price of STEEM doubled. Lots of new content creators arrived, but with a niche, a new camera, and an original intro post, a good start was achieved.
Without investing in Steem Power, Eve continued to work (as a chef, which apparently is pretty harsh on your hands!) and produce content in her spare time. Followers and support was found, and then following Steemfest 2, (paid with STEEM), this support grew enough for her to leave her job, and live solely from income via the Steem blockchain.
Good on you :)
This is just one of the success stories, there are more than a few of us who started around this time last year, and are (still a bit precariously if i'm honest) full time in Steemland. Lots of Luck, little judgement (on my part), some fairly reasonable content (again that's me), and plenty of support from peers was the formula.
Roll forward to today, and do you think the same path is still possible? I would say no, but there are other routes.
What's changed?
A few months later on last year, people started to realise the power of the account delegation feature. @randowhale appeared, and the Bidbots rose to fame. It was estimated that a couple of months ago, a quarter of the active (voting) Steem Power, was Bidbot driven.
Lots of new accounts have arrived which means more mouths to feed, irrelevant of this accounts being alts. community accounts, or bots.
And then we have the seemingly large increase in 'self-service' voting. One account set the precedent, the flags weren't enough (too many high level police delegated out to bots?) to control the outbreak, and many gave up and followed suit.
Roll all the above together and yeah, it's very much harder to find a place in the community and support of your content, than it was a year ago.
All is not lost
The first thing that can be done is to invest. (yeah thanks for that one) Seriously though, it does work! I bought about $2000 worth of STEEM at prices of between 60c and $1 last year.
The first buy was 12 times the price of the 3 month low
Today's price a year on, is less than 2 times the price of the 3 month low, so that makes me 6 times crazier than an investor today would be :P :P
I know that buying STEEM isn't an option for everyone, but to those of us who've been here a while, it's a good indication of intent to stick around, and may mean support is more forthcoming.
The second suggestion, and probably the more appeasing, is to aim your content at an account which is there to support you, irrelevant of your stake. @curie is the only one of the following accounts that was around last year and so in this regard, there is much more scope here than 12 months ago.
@dtube, @dlive, @utopian-io, @curie, @comedyopenmic, @steemhunt, @deepdives, @slothicorn, @familyprotection, @steemstem, #donaldmarshall (please if you know of more, comment below) are a good place to start (These are the new orca's and whales).
There is something there for everyone, and even if videos, science, comedy, product reviews, research, etc, are not your favourite things in the world, I would say that these community 'hubs' offer one of the best paths' to start your journey.
Hopefully while involving yourself in one of the above, you'll also start to find support from like-minded accounts, your community will appear, and things will start to develop from here.
I do think it's tougher these days and looking back, 'we' had it pretty good last year. I'd suggest that the two year old account holders would say even more so.
Stick around though, and in a year you might be glad you did.
Hey, I wrote 2 positive posts in a row :)
Cheers
Asher / Witness: @steemcommunity
Is there hope for new users? Yes. Everyone thinks that things have changed so so much that it is impossible for new users to gain traction on steemit.
August 1, 2017, I joined. 572.13 STEEM, Rep 56.9, and I have not invested a single out of pocket dime to steemit.
August 1, 2017 @greenrun joined, 2,254.571 STEEM, Rep 64.6, I do not think he has invested a dime out of pocket either.
He was and still is a very good writer, and he has found success on steemit. Different roads were traveled, yet in reality not, his content quality is at least ten times better than mine. He is a provider of content, where as I am a user of content.
@davemccoy, Joined Dec 18th 2017, 348.111 STEEM, Rep 59.6, not a bad first 6 months. he is not like myself nor like greenrun, he is the Idea Man. He has found success on steemit. Once again a different road traveled than myself or @greenrun, yet still on the road.
@elsiekjay Joined Jan 23rd, 2018, 75.982 STEEM Rep 53.8. She is on a different path than myself, she is a steemit vlogger, she has just recently found her path, I do not think she is going anywhere away from steemit either.
Different roads, different paths, yet all of us not here quite a year, all different levels of success. Steemit has changed, in many ways it is easier than those first 5 months of steemit. In some respects it is harder. Steemit is a lot like life, it is changing and will be constantly in motion. That is part of what makes steemit so fun.
We all measure success differently, we all have our own roads to travel for that success. Harder or easier, it does not matter in the long run, this is a country two lane road with some pot holes patched, and some of them not. Full of deer caught in the headlights, and squirrels just daring the drivers to not hit them.
I will be sticking around, I am sure the three I mentioned will be sticking around, we have all had a little bit of success, and we will continue to grow as we close in on our one year anniversaries.
@bashadow it has been an amazing journey. I remember the beginning just like yesterday. Thanks for all the support.
Thank you so much for the mention dearie, you're such a great person and I'm very honored to consider you a friend. For all your invaluable advice and input, I am thankful. Totally looking forward to seeing how far we'll all have gone in an year.xoxo
I think in a year we will all be in a much better position, we have learned to stop fighting the current so to speak, and sought out our own little directional flow of the stream, we may get caught in an eddy every now and then, but we still continue on our path, not a path directed by others.
Thanks for the comments @bashadow, good to see further comparisions and hear about people gradually getting there.
Agree with this :) Always changing, pretty much from day to day!
Hopefully at the year marker, you'll be happy with the progress - see you there :D
I wanted to give some thoughts on your observations. To be fair, I still think @eveuncovered would fare better than most would starting fresh today. She is an attractive woman who is not shy about showing her sexy body in various stages of undress. I imagine if I did the same you all would run my ass off of the platform, cursing the eyes cannot unsee what they have seen.
I am glad you wrote this post up, as it saves me from writing on my next point. I already downloaded the pic I was going to use last night in preparation. I see a lot of low effort comments and posts trying to take advantage of @familyprotection and their generosity in trying to raise awareness while helping support (financially) families who are in need of financial assistance. It burns me up seeing some greedy f**ks who think they are a cash cow to be milked. Their generosity is probably one of the greatest I have seen on this platform and people try to take advantage of that. Most unwilling to spare even an upvote on their comment. Oh, but yeah, they support the cause *eye roll. They are not here to be a cash cow, so people, please stop treating it as such.
There is definitely hope here, even if you are unable to buy your way in. The trick is in adjusting your expectations and approach. Based on numbers of the value of accounts here in a recent post by @tarazkp, most are not raking in the dough as the scam witness videos on Youtube claim is quick and easy to achieve. You will need to prove yourself to others, and be an actual value to them. And then be patient as your .002 drippings accumulate.
Some are abusing the Donald Marshall tag too. I saw many people trying to take advantage of the generosity of FTG, often tagging their posts that have absolutely nothing to do with Donald Marshall. What, do they think he is rewarding without reading? I can assure you, he is not only reading, he responds to the comment section at times. While I lean towards skepticism myself, I can say that in responding to me he offered me a rabbit hole to go down that has led to something I will be posting on down the road, it just won't be what he is interested in.
I wonder if some have become less generous and willing to forge new bonds here because of all the greedy asshats that try to take advantage of generosity. For what it is worth, I see you as one of the good guys and you actually pried one of the 4/5 votes I actually cast for witness. I appreciate you (and the others) who focus on those of us coming behind you.
haha, you never know until you try!
But I take your point though, however there are others who have grafted away most days and don't look like Eve.
It's sad to hear of accounts trying to take advantage of communities like @familyprotection. I hope they have enough resources to combat this.
Totally agree here with regards to expectations and these ridiculous video's going out on YouTube this past year. @tarazkp is honest and upfront, and is writing (for me) some good content around Steem/Steemit at present.
FTG has been the king of generosity for a while now, and there is certainly no way he'll be giving votes out for abusers of that tag. Every part of his VP is put to use, up and down votes.
It's hard to watch and continue acting altruistically. @kevinwong has written about this recently, raised many discussions which seem to come back to a broken rewards model. I don't see myself 'giving up' and taking this route though, I just don't think I could stomach it.
Thank you very much for the witness vote and the kind words to finish, I have a little hope that in time we can make a difference.
I actually just checked her blog out. She does have nice buns, but her blog unfortunately gets into my 'not particularly interesting category' - consisting of mainly 'look what I'm doing' lifestyle posts.
Not that many people can succeed doing that. Judging by her payouts she's also in the situation of having to churn out one post a day, possibly two if she has expectations of a 'good income' (which she clearly does).
Personally I categorise hers as something of a hellish life - young, locked into a precarious income blogging about herself - that could all go sour very quickly.
Blogging about those other 'interest' categories' has got much more substance.
I think that was only responding to your first paragraph.
Iβd like to add one tip, new users should join the chat and try and make real connections with people, no vote begging but actual conversations. If you get into a good conversation with someone new, the chances are that you check out what that user posts on Steemit and maybe even give some upvotes :)
Hey! Thanks for letting me use you at my 2017 example.
Which chat do you recommend? I think lots of people head to Discord these days, but there are a lot of servers to choose from. There's also steem.chat, which I've been using a bit more recently.
No prob! :) I think the easiest route is to go to steem.chat first, and maybe find out from there what would be a good place to join in discord.
I've been wondering what things might look like if I were able to go full bore for a year. I've also wondered what things would be like without bid bots and delegation. At any rate, nearly five months in and I'm still here. I've also invested in STEEM, which I think has helped my attitude, but I'm not sure that seven months time is enough to get me to 'living off of steem' status from where I am.
I'm wiling to find out, though, if my better half let's it happen. :)
Glad to here you are still here too!
As you know, time is a factor, and the better half comes first :)
Well, yeah, she does come first, but sometimes it's against my better judgment because the things I'm doing are exactly what she wants, but it she doesn't recognize them as such. That can get really frustrating, especially when it happens frequently. I really don't want her mad at me, but the times where I've followed my instincts and stuck to whatever it was I was doing, it's turned out really well. So, I always need to factor in what the results of what I'm doing may be against how unhappy she might get and weigh what the ultimate worth of it all may be.
I can relate to this :)
The final product is appreciated, but this take time and effort, and potentially the vision of what the output is, isn't fully understood until it arrives.
And with Steemit, we still don't know for certain if all this time and effort will be 'worth' it. I have hope though :)
I suppose we won't know if all the time and effort on STEEM is worth it until we see if the hordes actually come and stay and the price of STEEM takes off, but nearly everything we do on the platform can have some kind of positive impact, either for the STEEM ecosystem, on someone here, or ourselves. Sounding kind of Pollyanna-ish, but our experiences will translate somewhere else if needs be. And maybe our investments too if the price doesn't tank. :)
And then, I read this post from @tarazkp this morning.
I can't tell if it's cool or scary that I'm less than 15SP away from being in the top 2% of accounts.
I do want to see where I am at next year in March. It will be interesting to find out. At least, I think I have a defined goal of what I want to be since I started almost 3 months ago.
Just to add, @ifc, run by @apolymask, is another great place for Steemians to be if they like producing goods, etc.
Yeah I read that one too, the harsh reality.
Surely the top 2% of accounts are supposed to be supporting the other 98% - do you thing you/we have the resources to make a dent? Not at all.
@ifc is another one that is growing, as in the reply to @fullcoverbetting, I've tried to list the ones that could provide a whale vote. But it is certainly worth looking into the smaller communities of interest to you.
Cheers :)
Yup. We can't even tickle. Makes it even less funny.
Yeah, people definitely aren't making the riches some of the scummy witness videos on YouTube pretend is normal.
Hi Asher,
You forgot to mention the best community on the Steem Blockchain.
You know which one π
I am only around since Jan this year and even I see things changing.
Sometimes it is hard to keep faith while other times it feels like I am within a trip π
Lots of things are still possible but we will have to work hard for it.
I will never become a whale, probably minnow status is the highest I can reach here!
But I never thought that I would some much deep connections here!
With the @sbcbot community, with you @cicbar, @crypto-econom1st and lots of people I am forgetting now (probably alcohol related)!
Hope that I can become a real minnow before the end of the year!
And to be honest without tour engament league I would never have achieved this!
The Sbc community has some fundations based in your league!
Hey I am even now a #steemitblogger, who ever would thought that!
It is sad when I take a look at my wallet and be confronted with my real power.
I act like a whale but I am still a red fish!
So thanks for the league, it keep me here!
For once take the credits you deserve!
Cheers,
Peter
Nothin' wrong with a little alcohol blur buddy :)
Indeed there isn't. As long as it isn't too much and too long.
Where have you been all my life buddy? haha
In the pub or the bookies :D
Bwa, my Cheers is a Snooker joint in my city. But we are always playing pool and discussing life and sports.
Never envisioned that I would have a bar, which I could call my second home :)
Isn't it interesting how the word "home" takes on such different meanings throughout our lives? :)
I do like a game of pool, I think we've spoken about this before :)
At least the misses knows where you are if you aren't at home!
I do like a game of pool, I think we've spoken about this before :)
At least the misses knows where you are if you aren't at home!
hahaha bingo!! I've spent a lot of time in the same kind of places...kindred spirits I guess :)
Hidden in plain sight :)
Enjoy the weekend! But don't get too tipsy. :)
We are going on a football trip with the team of the oldest son this weekend! So there will be a little alcohol and banter! It is in Zwolle. So you now know where I will be this weekend :)
hahaha @fullcoverbetting, like most great things!
You enjoy your weekend too, and I'll pass on the same advice π
I did, I'm sorry. I tried to mention the ones are established and can potentially provide a whale sized up-vote.
Hopefully one day, the @sbcbot will be able to do this too!
Cheers!
I would like to answers that it is not a matter of if but when. But I doubt that we will ever be capable of reaching that.
But every push we can give serious steemer is worth all the effort!
It'll take time, and perhaps a beefy sponsor, but it's certainly a case of united we stand, and grow into bigger fish
Well take a look at you, Positive Pete :) Two in a row...that's impressive!
I've never been one to look at the good ol' days and wish I'd been a part of it now. I'm a realist, so "it is, what it is" and I do what I have to do now to be successful. My father always said, "life is not fair", so I guess I should be thanking him about now.
I'm glad you got in when you did though and are able to influence new folks with ideals here!
Yes I know, might even go for the hat-trick!
There is not much point thinking about how it could of been, but I think it's worth comparing and looking at the different approach that I think is required this year.
The accounts I mentioned can do much more than me vote-wise, but I'm trying, thank you :D
@abh12345 you are welcome! A hat-trick would be pretty awesome! π
You're right. It's not worth dwelling on the past in terms of "woe is me", but it's certainly worth looking at to see what could be done differently and better.
On the issue of buying more steem, I've done so recently but wish I'd hit on the tactic of checking the powerdowns, which I've just started doing using @penguinpablo's daily and weekly stats.
Obviously a powerdown doesn't necessarily mean the steems going out to the market place, or when, but I think it's fairly likely.... and today there's another 200K liquid steem just waiting to enter bittrex and presumably drive the price down. Possibly (although for the same period there's more coming into steem than going out)
Also, any idea how I find out who the big powerdown is: I'm assuming the 240K, then 200K below 7 days apart are the same person. This must be a >1m SP account powering down.
Something's just telling me to wait to buy more.
What's your take on @thejohalfiles now manually voting BTW? I'm wondering if that's even significant now in light of all of those 'collective' whale accounts you mention.
@tribesteemup's also a nice little group to try and break into 'relentless positivity' is someone's bag.
There should be a place to locate who's powering down, I'll have a look around - maybe @paulag know's off the top of her head.
I do think staged buy-ins are a better plan, we are in a downtrend and no-one knows where the bottom is. Last year I was buying most of mine following the spike, the price kept bouncing off a $1 and I was adding $100s at a time. The nice thing about not getting the buy perfect on STEEM, is that as long as it's vested you are earning from it anyway (via self-votes or people looking at your wallet and going ooooh, best up my vote for this guy!)
Johal back voting is brilliant news, thanks for the heads up. I noticed he slapped a couple of DVs on a EOS shillers. Repect to him for 'policing' the network, something that has been seriously lacking due to delegations out to Bots. Yes, I'm blaming them again.
I was only looking a somewhere with powerdowns the other day and can not find it. Will keep looking.
You could also add @slothicorn to the project list
TxPows? Although it doesn't contain any numbers :/
Cheers, I'll add Slothy!
I don't actually look at the dollar price that much TBH, I look at the BTC price! ATM I want it at <0.0003 BT/ or however many 00s there are if you know what I mean.
Actually come to think of it I'm sure there is a regular stats post with the biggest power downs, it might even be @arcange's basics.
Way too many 0's for my liking. I end up counting them with fingers!
True - but it's all relatively minor fluctuations anyway. I wonder if the steem price will ever properly break its tie to bitcoin.
I mentioned this yesterday to a knowledgeable Steemian who told me that Ethereum led the rallies in 2015 and 2016.
This is the goal for a token or two though, breakaway from BTCs movements (to the upside) and they are in mega business.
And now we've got Monster Backed Dollars in the pipeline to replace SBDs I'm sure steem will be just that token.
BTW I read that donkeypong post about unvoting EOS witnesses - interesting thread that!
I think we are on the same boot, something is telling me that steem price will go down again with all these powering down, but i must carefully examine the situation before investing on steemit, let me know if you have any idea about the current situation of steem as regards to investing.
I'm waiting, but I'm giving out no advice to anyone! Risky game that.
True fact,
Because no one can predict crypto market .
Thanks anyway
If I may, I would say add fulltimegeeks @donaldmarshall seies into that mix, as he has and v4vapid, handsomely contributed some pretty amazing upvotes to people willing to put in the effort. Thanks my friend, have a great week.
Good one!
Cheers for that, I've see you've been contributing there with some effect :)
I like helping people I like. :-)
2 positive posts in a row haha... you are right, its 10x harder now than last year but the challenge pushes me harder :)
Yeah, been tough for me to do that recently - I get caught up in all stuff that doesn't seem to be working as it should. 10x, that should suit you nicely then! :D
I love the @comedyopenmic folks and I also delegate some SP to @newbiresteemday. They are great folks and try to help out the new folks arriving every day. I am just a January arrival. They should have some kind of terrible name for our "generation " since we arrived right after the bubble popped. Maybe we could be the bubble bursters or something. Either way I keep fighting the good fight each day and never backing down.
Yeah @comedyopenmic is looking like one of the best newer communities - everyone got something to offer there I hope?!
ha - It was you who burst the bubble was it? :)
call us the Miley generation because we came in like a Wreeeecccckkkkiiiiiiinnnnggggg Ballllllll
:D
you added @steemstem twice in the list.
To me the key factors to success for new members is doing effort to learn and make a blog with the right intention which means you would still make most of your posts even if there was no such thing as post earnings. Writing about something that you are passionate about or something where the post itself help you personally really works.
One of the biggest issues of people who join now and have a difficult time is themselves. Sure it used to be more easy to earn something on steemit, but it is probably really easy now compared to a year from now. SBD still are trading against a premium price and there is a lot of potential for in increase in the STEEM Price. Also steemit similar to Youtube is not designed to be a get rich quick scheme, it really takes a lot of time to build something.
Something that might solve a lot of problems is devs having 33%+ of all steem that is being used to spread around between different communities and projects that curate and spread the rewards around similar to utopian and some others.
Cheers dude, I've fixed the double entry :)
And even more so this morning. Typical I sold a bunch before I went to bed to cover this months bills. DOH.
I agree that as long as you find interest in your work, then you are winning regardless of the rewards that come.
As far as your last point, I think/hope that this is coming. The Communities features, when they arrive would get off on a much better footing with some delegations out to those who are doing it right. We shall see.
Joined on 6th Jan '18 and made my first post on 11th. Kept dabbling for a couple of months before deciding to get serious.
In March Won a small contest worth 5SBD and that gave the desire to push forward.
I congratulate the guys and girls who have made there mark here because after almost spending 6 months here I understand there struggle to some extent.
I found that commenting is the way to go for newbies like me (BTW I will keep calling my self a newbie until I complete my first year on Steemit). Iff you don't have any money to buy steem and invest here then you are on the same boat as me. Trust me the situation might seem bad but if try you can make it.
I am trying my best and have left the rest to..........................
You have left the rest to........... not chance I hope! :D
Glad you are still here and aware that it's not an easy road, hopefully one of the above accounts could help?
Definitely not to chance........ more to the community but only after I do my part:-)
Thank you so much for sharing this post and your thoughts on where the future of this platform. I just wrote my 3 month evaluation today and I was talking about how I've seen a steady increase in followers but not Steem/Steem Power/SBD. While I may not be looking to make a living off of Steemit, I do see it as a valuable source of income. I post constantly on Facebook and Instagram and never see a single penny. At least here I know people genuinely enjoy my content and I can make a little bit from my work as well.
lol....do not let such karius, the hardest thing is experienced by him when blunders committed at the time of the UEFA Champions League. I agree with you, together we will make the community could do more
A bad time to make 2 really shocking mistakes! :D
No Problem baby, You should try again next time.
I agree with you, together we will make the community could do more.
their story really made my spirits rise. although it is not the same path to success, but at least I will strive for it, if my sustenance is not there maybe he is here. a clear sustenance will never be swapped. thanks for the motivating story.
Good luck to you :D
Thank you very much for replay my comment
Your achievement is the result of self confidence, consistent effort and implementation of fresh ideas.
Thanks @daan007 :)
Amazing content bro.....i totally agree with you....together will we make the community could do more.
the journey will get more interesting only but some problems need to be tacked for the great growth :)