The price drop in Steem and crypto in general has people going one of two ways, either they see it as the end of the platform and Steem, or they take it as an opportunity to buy up while it's cheap.
Whilst this is great for people like me who make good money outside of Steemit those who use it as a source of income or to boost their income are now suffering.
It seems to be driving people away en masse, whilst Steemit still stays active thanks to bots in reality it's a barren wasteland lacking in people and community.
Something I've noticed more prominently during the price drop.
Whilst there has always been debate about bots(albeit mostly bidbots) it seems, at least to me, that Steemit is becoming more robot than human. Sure people are posting but unless it's something in trending not many people are commenting, not many people are voting or connecting.
But we don't even notice
For the most part we don't even realize. 80% of all votes now are autovotes, the next 15% is probably "curators" and the last 5% is just people scrolling through the tags/platform and actually using it
What good is it when everyone is a content creator and no one is an actual consumer. It's like a singer getting paid to perform to an empty venue. Great they made some money but really, it isn't what anyone wants. Why is there no longer an audience for Steemit...
How can we expect user retention when we have nothing to offer them?
I've seen some great content creators, people who brought real value to the platform, leave because there was no audience for them. They might get lucky and get curated but for the most part they were ignored. I wonder if it's because there isn't any people left using this platform.
Why is curating so damn hard?!?
One issue with Steemit is the amount of utter shite that gets posted. It shouldn't be tiring to find something good. Curating shouldn't be hard. I shouldn't' have to scroll through 3 days of posts under one tag to find something worth curating.
Sure maybe the quality that qualify for real curation is higher than is needed but it just shows how much bad there is compared to good. Yes I know it is subjective, but we all know there is plenty of shitposts and abuse of the system.
Something I think would help?
I wish there was a way to search a tag but exclude other tags from it, for example I want to see nature posts but I dont just want to scroll through a whole bunch of photos of trees. So I search nature, exclude photography and bam there goes maybe 30% of the posts I would scroll past or through anyway.
Or maybe you're interested in the future of Steemit but not cryptocurrency. Same as above and bam you don't end up seeing all the shit about price comparisons and all the people who think they can predict the market.
Sure that isn't going to stop bots or keep people here, but it would assist with finding good content and hopefully building communities designed around one particular topic.
When it comes to the bots?
In all honesty there is nothing wrong with the bots. But just as everything it requires balance and the balance is off. Whilst it's great to have curation trails, to use an autovoter and to be part of discord groups who share good posts between them, it has taken away a huge amount of actual interaction. I have been getting over 100 upvotes on a post and regardless of how much it makes I wonder if anyone actually read it. 0 comments, 0 response other than an automatic vote.
I do not give a shit about the 50c I make for the post.
I just want people to start connecting again and being people. The bots aren't the problem, the problem is we're relying on them far too much. It's also the only way to get into trending now. I don't remember the last post with a high payout that didn't have booster or upme and however many others as the top 4-5 votes.
We need PEOPLE for Steemit to not only survive, but to thrive.
Let us try and bring back community, connection and something more to the Steemit bockchain.
When I first came here it felt warm and welcoming. Now it feels cold, like coming back to a hotel room after work instead of your home with your family/pets. It's different and I don't like it. Let's bring back the Steemit where I met all those amazing people when I first came. Forget the politics, the witnesses the forks, forget the issues with price. Build somewhere people want to come and they might stay.
Steem on Steemians
Yeah i've noticed that there are sod all people commenting too. I usually try to make a bit of an effort even if it is a tease.
I also agree there needs to be a search tool for creating. Even just splitting posts to categorise them into 1 day old. 4 and 5 days old that you could just jump to would be helpful.
Fear not there are many of us real people. Just head over to my account and chrck out the redfish power up league or the @steemcommunity minnow power up league and see for ur self 😀
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I'm still here..
I think the problem with Steem/it is that it's audience is content creators, and not regular readers. People come to the platform to make money primarily, not to read good content.
And what passes off as good content on Steemit usually isn't. If you just post a whole bunch of blahblah, add some pictures and use proper markdown, this is considered to be good content by most curators. But the sad fact is that almost nobody really wants to read that blahblah in the first place... so propping it up as good content really hurts the ecosystem more because if that is the best of Steemit, then the platform is kind of crap. On the other hand I do see actual interesting articles come by too, but they are largely ignored and overseen - discouraging those content creators to keep using the platform. Steem/it isn't so much about good content as it is about who you've made friends with, unfortunately.
What we're seeing now is that all of those 'quality posters' are going away because their posts aren't making enough for them to warrant spending the time on it. Essentially it means that all the money-grubbers are leaving, and only the 'true' content creators are staying behind. This might seem like a bad thing, but I think it's not entirely bad to see those people post less. At least it gives a chance to smaller minnows and the like to try and get the attention and following of other serious Steemians. You know, the people that actually give value to the platform.
I'm just going to keep on posting. I've always had my doubts about the longevity of STEEM and will continue to have them, but for as long as it keeps working I'll stay around. This is my second crypto-winter, so I am used to downswings. If STEEM survives this winter then it will come out of it stronger, and the influx of money-grubbers will return... much to all of our dismay, I'm sure, by then.
I agree with all of that, Its because Steemit is more set out to be a networking site than a blogging site but gets used as a blogging site
It's a blogging site. How is it a networking site? You have followers, not contacts. It doesn't have much, if any, of the useful functionality of a site like LinkedIn.
It's a blogging site.
The fact that I see (I don't think it is a problem) is that many interaction went from steemit to discord.
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https://steemlookup.com/#/ <—- Curie funded search engine for the blockchain 😉 you can search specific tags, exclude tags, filter by rep, payout etc.
When the market is down things get tough.. but there will always be us diehards that are here for the long haul.. don’t give up yet!
god damnit someone always beats me to it :D haha bt thanks that will be v handy!
Active people exist. One just has to seek them out. But you make a good point about lack of engagement overall. About people not having an audience, either they weren't active themselves in seeking one or there may not be enough people that resonate with the topic. Communities centered around niche topics become pretty important for retention and growth then is one piece of puzzle.
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I have seen few similar kinds of posts and they always get plenty of comments. It's curious.
When you write a regular post, it's typical to get a few comments.
When you write a post about "Is anyone here" and about inreacting, people comment a lot more. Kind of pointing out that "Hey, I'm doing this!"
i also notice that
As the price started to drop early this year, I put everything I had to invest into Steem. It felt like a community thing to do, to put my money where my mouth was. I powered it all up. I had several hundred Steem - quite a large investment.
I've posted enough content (much of it very high or exceptional quality) EVERY week since then, to power several blogs.
Even with all my payouts and other efforts, I'm still down over 95%.
It would have been better off doing nothing all year, and keeping my cash under my mattress. I'd be fully rested right now, and buying TWENTY times as much crypto.
'Get paid to share your views', they said. I gave this site everything I had, and it still pops up a BUY MORE STEEM message if I 'share my views' too often. Ugh. :/
I told so many people about this site. I put my trust in those who were leading it, and my faith in it succeeding, and I vouched for Steemit to friends and family. Now I find myself wishing I hadn't promoted it so loudly, been so confident that it was legit.
My 100% full upvote isn't even worth 2 cents anymore, which is the cutoff for payout. I can't even make something pay out with my full upvote. My little circle of Steemit friends has shrunk, and none of their upvotes are worth anything either. We can't meet the 2 cent cutoff, so nothing we do or say here is likely to pay out. If nothing pays out, our account can never grow, and we increasingly get the BUY MORE STEEM popup (ever since HF20).
I think people are correct to say things don't seem stable or safe here. Where is the leadership, where are the promises HF20 made? Why has Steemit sunk from the #15 crypto to #45? Where did all the money go? What are the site's actual costs and can we see the receipts?
well one thing I can say is don't sell or power down yet. it cant be any worse for you so if you wait at least maybe you can get back the money you put in.
I can't see an amazing future for Steem if it keeps going the way it is but I think it is a long way from the end so I think itll go back up before then.
Are you on discord? you should join PAL and at least get the free upvote worth 10-15c
I am a photographer who found the platform thinking it would be a nice place to build a community, learning and connecting with others. Well it has been kind of the opposite for me, to the point I don’t even take time to write anything out for my pictures.
Some get one vote others get 3, if I’m lucky I get the occasional comment. I didnt come here with the intention of getting rich but I was hoping for a little more than what I found.
Have you tried joining in with the photography contests, challenges, and competitions? :)
I'm a writer, not a photographer, but there are definitely loads of those things here. When I was new, the first thing I did was look for challenges and contests. It gives you an excuse to post something, more people will see it, the hosts will usually give feedback and/or an upvote, and it enables you to become a part of the wider community.
Speaking of community - there are SO many different ones. You don't need to look for photography communities specifically. Where are you located? A lot of countries have their own little community groups, open to whatever content you produce whether it's writing, art, photography, cryptocurrency, ulogs, dtube, whatever-it-is-you-post.
Unfortunately, as a new person, it is you who has to find other people. Not many people will just stumble across you unless you go out looking for them first.
"Unfortunately, as a new person [on Steemit], it is you who has to find other people. Not many people will just stumble across you unless you go out looking for them first."
Should we add that to the Steemit intro, FAQ, and homepage? It would help newcomers (and people thinking about joining) get a more realistic view of what awaits them.
As a new person -anywhere- really. :)
You don't sign up to Twitter and have people reply to you or like and share your statuses straight away. Unless you already know people beforehand. Same with Instagram and other assorted networks.
In this case - photography and steemit - there are so many avenues. The Deranged contests, Monomad, there's the seven day black and white challenge, the daily colour challenge...
To @michaelsiino - I recommend following @derangedvisions, @monochromes, @czechglobalhosts, @daveks, just to name a few. Maybe you will find a challenge/contest to enter, meet some community members, and have your photos seen.
Most of the people here comes just for the money. They don't really give a f*** about the content. They just care for post something and then wait for the money comes.
I thing that the problem is steemit itselft. It needs yo be more atractive, because right now it's boring and unconfortable.
I am old fashioned, still engage the old traditional way
I don't belong to voting trails I do all manually... I may not be able to keep this up though but as long as I can whatever I post/vote is cos I've stumbled upon and read.
Im still here😅 But I have nothing to say so that comment is pointless😅
made me laugh though haha
I have only been here about 2 and a half months. My first month included the HF20, so one of those weeks barely counts. I do not depend on the money as I have a regular job, so I come here in the evenings or weekends.
I was lucky that I knew 2 people that were here before I got here and that meant that I automatically had a couple of followers. Some of their friends/contacts have also been gracious to interact with me as well.
I come and spend time looking around to find people who post things I might enjoy reading and following. I understand it is up to me to find them and in general I don't mind spending some time on that.
I have been fairly neutral about my opinion on bots. I understand some of the reasoning on using them, but on the ones that are set up to auto vote every post someone else creates without the bot owner ever reading the content seems a bit empty and to me may contribute to the hollow quietness of this place.
I have read many posts that had a high number of votes with possibly only 2 real time comments. Although the votes caused the post to pay out several dollars, there is a good chance that the 2 commenting people are the only ones that actually read it. If the poster is only posting to gather the few dollars here and there, then I guess it was a success. If they actually posted wanting to share, be read and gather new friends, then not too successful.
It also goes a little further in keeping the flow going. A lot of times when I have read a post, I may read some of the comments other people have made. Sometimes their comments have been really involved or insightful.... or funny and that has caused me to go check out their pages and scroll through a few of their posts to see if they may also be someone I might like to follow. That comes to my point, that if people don't come do real comments, it further limits their exposure and gives less opportunity for other new users to find them.
I don't mean this offensive to anyone, but to be honest, if you have everything automated and you do not come and put real time effort into the community, you may also be part of what is causing the atmosphere to become stagnant. To help keep the community alive, even when you are not new, still requires a certain amount of time commitment.
I dont mind spending time finding stuff I like it just gets hard when you have to go through so many.
Bots I really dont mind I understand autovoters and the convenience etc but yea it is taking away from the place as a whole. I have a few people on autovote but more often than not i go to their page every couple weeks to read everything anyway, and autos are probably only 10% of my post votes.
Its not offensive, it's just true. there are people who dont put any effort into Steemit other than figuring out what can make them money, that's their prerogative but its no way forward for the platform or their investment
Great post. Lots of commonsense and insight here. Thanks, man!
BRA-VO!
Well said! Well, seeing Steemfest last week, the community isnt dead at all. Honestly I dont mind getting less comments since now mostly they are a lot more genuine than they were in the 'high' days.
An dyeah I run an autvoter as well to A: make sure my SP is being usefull when I am away, and I find a lot of peepz on it always deserve it.
But aprt from that....yeah interacting, joking around and just being awesome should be the red line in this one!
The facts you have mentioned are all somehow true.But there is nothing we can do about it.The number of users of Steemit has increased.Most of the people come here for reward not for reading.
I see plenty of duplicate and low quality posts in the trending list by the grace of bid based voting bots and promotion service.People are moving their money to platform like Whaleshares and Steem price is dropping continuously.
Steemit is really in a bad condition.It has become nothing but a reward making machine.Still,if you write good contents people will read,trust me.I used to think like the way you do.
Create something good people will read and interact.In addition to that,also try Steem based Dapps like Steemstem or Steempeak.Those are better for people who likes to write good content and interact with people.
All the best for you man,see you on the 'PAL' server.
I think the price drop is taking alot of smaller users away, do you think so?
@bigdizzle91 They will come back when the price moons again because they think emotional.
Well,I don't think so,small users barely makes any money from Steemit. They don't bother much about the Steem price.It is those people who keep their post in the trending list and earn big amount of money from steemit,they are moving away.
I suppose that is true. But those in trending are usually just buying their votes.
As a relatively new user, I have been trying to find good content creators. Being here at Steem and on another network, few have stood out as memorable. At most, I'll give out a vote. Few merit a comment. My challenge has been finding consistent creators and people who will interact.
let alone finding someone to follow because all their stuff is interesting
Hey!!!
I am glad you posted this.
Not only because you are right but because I've been trying to look for you but I couldn't remember your username!!!
I think you are absolutely right!!
Hope you are well
And that with the few people left on here that do give an actual flying fuck, we can create something beautiful again!
Big hug from me
xxx
good to see you round
Eventually the price will go down to the point where only the people that care will remain. I'm not sure where this equilibrium point is, but once people get over their ROI mindset, they'll either move onto something else they can exploit or they'll learn to be people again. The only thing we can do is reward the content we find valuable and post and talk about stuff we find interesting.
Ironically, I think Steem's largest obstacle to adoption is the fact that it has some monetary value in terms of other currencies. It kills the social aspect of the whole thing and people simply run "mining" bots to maximize returns on the token.
I agree, the fact you "get paid" means there will always be someone looking to make maximum profit fast, I just wish it wasnt so prominent :(
I'll admit to being a little prone to just sitting back and using my auto voting to do stuff, but I don't think things are necessarily getting worse than they were.
If anything, it looks to me like there are a lot of people auto voting but not as many bots as there were back when I started on Steem.
If it were convenient, I would totally be buying some Steem right now.
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Your right- I am only now posting on Steemit again. I try to do my part and read (not just upvote) posts and leave comments if I have something to add or just want to thank the creator.
by the way I love your analogy -- " Now it feels cold, like coming back to a hotel room after work instead of your home with your family/pets"-- that sums it up perfectly.
It just makes it hard when you end up talking to yourself for the most part lol.
Thank you, it just seems less welcoming and more clinical now ;/
WORD!
This is something worth curating. :)
I agree.
So what can we do now? Write more? :D XD
oh I have no idea haha. Well not on a big level. individually we just need to use the platform and hopefully when the turbulence of crypto goes away people will come back.
Hehe... Expect nothing - style. :)
One problem which I see around here Is that the communication "dies out" quickly.
For example, if we take this post.
You wrote something, I reply, you reply... And sometimes it's already the end of our debate...
Afterward, we mostly return to whatever we were doing before.
Many times I feel like I have to "force" words out of myself, to make things work here.
Which kills the fun part many times...
On the other hand, I think if we (the Steemians) would use the "circle jerk" part of the business also in the RL and cooperate in projects not necessarily connected with Steemit (but could be intertwined), we could get pretty strong...
Then we could even use our outside connections and help to raise the quality and popularity of Steemit.
We could establish a whole corporation of people who meet here.
We could' still do our "ego trips" here, but at the same time we could do big global business on the outside... :)
Has anybody of you already thought about it?
Global Steemit users RL corporation? :D
yea another issue I face is that in my timezone ususlly by the time i reply theyre asleep so communication takes a long time
I have some business ideas I woud lov to run off the Steemit Blockchain but 50,000 users isnt a viable amount
#Steemsilvergold community is the warmest on steemit but we also use autovote as most have families to attend to and jobs.
I dont mind the use of autovoters, or just bots in general. I just wish there was less of it overall and more engagement i suppose. I get it's a good way to still use Steemit when youre at work or otherwise preoccupied but it also gives people an avenue to use their stake completely autonomously which seems to kill connection and community. imo
But other people don't have families or jobs? Sort of a weak excuse.
Couldn't agree more. And that idea of tag filters with exclusions is a pretty good one!
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thanks, I thought it was pretty handy until LL pointed out above there is a way to do that haha :D
Just saw it! Thanks, would have missed it! 😁
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The difficulty in curation and the sheer volume of bidbots is partially why @opgaming exists. Curation groups are a good way to find other people. I'm seeing more of a segmentation on the Steem blockchain. You got the Steepshot users, the curation groups, and so on, and so forth. It's not that people are dropping off, it's that they're finding their own microcosm to work with.
Outsiders just joining might not be getting lost in the bots, but I'm not...
I feel that but how are those communitys going to grow without new people coming in?
I like curation groups and all the little sects of steemit, I just wish there was more general interaction I gues. One of the reasons I liked it here when I first came was talking and meeting people from all over with different interests, that wont happen if I just stick to one or two groups, least not on the same scale
All the more reason for said groups to keep up the outreach. It falls upon us to reach out to the new folks and not get too insular.
bots are a good thing if it werent overly used i have stopped using bots for now
Happy thanksgiving! Do you celebrate it there too?
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Yo que estoy empezando comparto mucho tu opinión respecto a la situación actual, se siente frío y sólo.
Way, way back I posted that content needs to be more than anarchy/crypto related. Yes, there os a bunch of that on Steemit... But how much of trending is focused on those subjects? The platform is, for lack of a better term, very self-indulgent.
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