I was in a Helpie meeting earlier and @meno was raising the discussion of how we suggest utilizing the platform to make the most out of our time investment. To be clear, I'm paraphrasing, but that's what I took away from his question. I wrote a post once upon a time for @minnowsupport that I can't really manage to find as we currently still have a severe lack of working search tools for the platform, but I figured it's a great time to revisit this topic and share my thoughts after almost two years on the platform.
The first thing I suggest to any new user that is trying to figure out how to be "successful on the platform" is to actively participate and use the platform in a genuine manner. What I mean by that is to actively consume content and interact with other users. It doesn't matter if you are crafting literary gold and are an award winning author if no one can find or does find your work. Obviously, I've already pointed out we have limited search functionality at the moment, so how can the average user get seen without spending hundreds of dollars worth of crypto on bidbots?
I generally suggest new users spend time reading posts in each tag that actually interests them. This will first and foremost teach them the importance of proper tag usage for their content, but also help them find other authors and communities that they may be interested in. The second thing I suggest is to comment and interact with the other users that they find. Genuine interaction is something that we can't seem to get enough of here on the platform, so proving that you are a real human and actually have something to say about another person's content often provides value that can and will come back to you.
When we comment on someone else's posts, we initiate interaction with that user, but also we put our names in front of anyone else that looks at that post. If people like what you have to say, they can interact with you there or find your page and see what you're working on too. In general, don't expect people to just find you, sure there are curators that are actively looking for new authors, but there aren't enough of them to expect to be curated regularly. We tend to get what we give in terms of genuine interaction.
The other thing I suggest is to not chase trends or what you think people want you to post about. That is a surefire way to burn out and make this whole experience feel very results oriented. We are not guaranteed any amount of money for creating a post and if we aren't creating something that we're genuinely passionate about, it's easy to feel like it's not worth it. That being said, interacting with other users is still key to helping people find you're work no matter what you are posting.
This brings me to the last big thing that has actually evolved a bit since the last time I wrote about this topic. Utilize the applications for the platform that you actually enjoy and find value in. Applications need users and many of them will reward you for being an active user. I create the majority of my posts on busy.org and sometimes I get rewarded for that. I may also use other applications from time to time like @dlive, @dsound, or @musing. I don't expect them to pay me to post there, I use them because I like the platform and I want to see them succeed, if they value me in return, it's always a nice boost and feels satisfying as well.
Many of these applications are a great way to network with users that are interested in similar content and also help develop platforms that you are interested in using for yourself. Try to avoid looking at everything on the platform as some kind of tool to extract value from the rewards pool and instead consider this: How can I add value to the platform? I believe that when we add value to the platform and approach things with this mindset, we can often be surprised at how well we are rewarded for doing something that we genuinely enjoy doing. These are just my thoughts, but I hope they help to understand the perspective that I approach the platform with. Namaste.
Hi, have added you to our MAP Curator Trail for your curation work for MSP. Please see this post for details.
The first thing I suggest to any new user that is trying to figure out how to be "successful on the platform" is to actively participate and use the platform in a genuine manner.
I really appreciate this. If you normally write formally, write formally, but if you have a readable, but casual writing style that is fine too.
I think the worst thing I run into is the Google translated posts that make zero sense. Trying to explain how that is actually just creating junk posts that no one can really read on the platform across a language barrier is fairly difficult. Thanks for dropping by! :)
Great advice. Still posts like this always make me think of a great line from Styx: "I met a man who told me once sincerity's the key... and once you've learned to fake it son, you're gonna be home free."
Thanks to @tcpolymath, this post was resteemed and highlighted in today's edition of The Daily Sneak.
Thank you for your efforts to create quality content!
Thanks for the support! I'll have to check out The Daily Sneak.
Very true, it is a lot easier to be empathethic and interested about somebody who authentically likes what they talk about.
Very interesting thoughts @clayboyn. I´m new and still trying to find my way. Hopefully some of your recommendation will work for me. Thank you for this great post.
Resteemed and upvoted
I hope so! It's worked for me and quite a few others. :)
Finding a community that appreciates you for you is the key most struggles new or old. Many newer people might show up and write some really amazing stuff early on. Over a few weeks that drops as they don’t see it being worth their time.
The community I’m involved in Archdruid Gaming try’s our best in the gaming tag to find decent to amazing writers and at least give them a place to share their work. Many strike up some conversions with some other fellow gamers and hopefully grow. Many even take that opportunity and really step up and start giving back as well and try to spread opportunity around.
Still this requires people to find them. It requires them to click that discord link to join and do more than just say “hi” once in our general channel.
Many just want remain in their shells and not leave there blog for anything. Those kind of people will never read the blogs out there telling them they need to go out and explore. Sometimes there just nothing you can do to help them out.
I don’t know how many times I’ll talk with someone and it’s always “well if I think of anything I think people would like I might join/write about it.” Then I go into our feed and try to find a post I think they really want write similar to and I link it or the most geeky thing I can find. Then they realize that just being yourself and writing what you want to is all it takes. Yes, it won’t have some crazy wide range of audience like some subject. Those wider subjects are always the perfect way for a new persons to get 100% lost in the sea of everyone else doing the same exact thing.
If nothing else I just wish they would comment more often. Hard to find out about opportunity if you are not at least doing that.
Have you guys crossed path with the OPGaming crew? They started after the fallout from the Gamer's United server. Might be a good way to find more people and roll them together.
While I'm a new face in there we have several that are active in both communities. Some in OPgaming that are content creators to even an administrator. I mostly just pop in there to look around for any under valued gaming content I can try to help out when I find the time.
While I do see a lot more of the normal uses sharing to every gaming community they have. I think its great there are a lot of options out there. Always easy to spot those people as they tend to use our format and just copy/paste it everywhere lol "game genre,
type, and description "
There's not many niches on steem yet for a lot of people to really be engaged in many discussions, IMO, which is personally my biggest issue.
You could always make a niche if you find one missing. Maybe other people are looking for a similar niche.
I do my best with speedrunning but so far I've only found 1 other person who is constantly around in about 8 months haha
You hit the nail on the head mate, being your honest self on this platform is probably some of the best advice. I also feel that discord has been such i vital part of making the most out of steemit. Being able to actively engage and develop relationships via discord is what has really helped me on my steemit journey so far.
I think Discord is a great tool, but honestly it just makes me think we need a better chat interface that integrated into the blockchain. It works for now though and it helps us find communities. Who knows, maybe in the future we'll see a decentralized version of Discord on the STEEM blockchain. :)
Oh yeah, that would be a HUGE improvement to steemit I think.
Great post clay and nice DLive shout out :D
I gotta show some love to my favorite dapps if I'm going to talk about adding value to the platform. :)
You have laid out a sinple way for beginners to start here whike managing expectations which is tough for new and small accounts. I will suggest this post for many as they enter the platform. Thanks!
Thanks for writing this @clayboyn. I always enjoy reading the "voice of experience" posts from those, such as yourself, that have "been there" ...
From my limited time "in here," this stood out to me as key to remaining engaged long-term. And any of us wanting to see our Steem blockchain grow in value want to see the number of those "in it" for the long-term increase.
As you say, what we deem to be of value is what we will passionately work at it, which will hopefully get us through times of disappointment / disillusionment ...
Thanks again for the input for all of us new to consider going forward.
Posted using Partiko Android
Thanks for checking out the post. :)
steemit very good platform to us to share our post thoughts and all etc....!