The Power Of Your Voice
I've read or watched tons of posts that were not considered popular or set to make a ton of money but I still came away being positively impacted by them. Obviously we want people to hear what we have to say and obviously we also would love to be compensated for the work we do. So I totally get people's frustrations over not being able to gain traction Steemit.
At this point you may feel like your voice is not important. You may feel like you don't have enough Steem Power to make a difference. You may feel like giving up on Steemit all together. Well the reason why I made this post was to encourage you to reconsider those thoughts.
Reasons for using your voice, voting, and staying involved in the Steemit community:
- You may literally change someone's life by the words you speak. Remember that life and death are in the power of the tongue
- Even if you have very little Steem Power your vote can still motivate someone to continue producing content
- People will respect you for being yourself and having the willingness to provide something helpful to the community
- You can be a part of projects that are springing up all across Steemit
- You can meet so many people from all over the world
- You have the possibility of getting paid for what you have to say
- You may be sitting on a gold mine of knowledge & wisdom that other's can glean from.
Wrap Up
We all have something to give regardless of what it is. Find a way to give what you have and enjoy doing it.Steemit is not just about the top authors or those with the most influence although those things are rewarded the most. Most of us are just trying to build a healthy and mutually benefiting environment here. So please understand that what you have to bring to this platform is important too even if you go unnoticed in the process. If you can help at least one person, which you WILL be able to do, then you have made some kind of impact. Peace.
Are you a newbie or minnow?
What has been the most frustrating thing about being on Steemit?
What has been the most exciting thing about being on Steemit?
False Promises?
I've been told many times to "just keep at it. Your efforts will pay off in time" by people whose efforts have been rewarded over time but I never really know if it's true. It's kind of like Amway, or most any Multi-Level-Marketing where you learn about the ones fulfilling all their financial dreams and you are told, "Just keep at it. This will be you." But that's all based on personal anecdote, not statistics. For every one who does quite well there's probably one hundred who work and work and work for a long time and get nowhere, and the whales are banking on all that effort based on a false promise. Is it the same with Steemit? Not knowing for sure whether all this effort actually will pan out is frustrating. And if it does work out, is it only because the value of Steem has risen exponentially? Would it be a better use of my time to deliver pizza and buy SteemPower with that money instead of trying to earn it through posting in these early months on the platform and save my content for later on? There just isn't as much information as I'd like to see to base these decisions on and that's frustrating for me.
Bots In The Recipe
I appreciate your encouragement as I know it's possible to have a major impact while only getting a handful of eyes on it. My off-chain blog gets a hundred page views a day and I have no idea who they are or what they are getting out of it except for the very few that comment but at least I know it's probably going to people who are actually interested in what I have to say since most of them come to my blog as a result of doing a Google search. But if I were getting 100 views a day on Steemit it would seem like most of them are there just to be a part of this big game we play trying to eke something out of this system and if I do get a bunch of upvotes that translates into a decent payout is it because people actually benefited from the content or is it because I got lucky and got hit by one of those bots? The whole bot thing I find frustrating because it seems like they work against actual content curation.
Both very valid points. I always appreciate what you have to say. Hard work is just only one of the factors that goes into someone doing well on Steemit. It's no different than an actor who spends 15 years at their craft and never getting in a blockbuster film but someone who has never been in a film before lands a blockbuster role. Much more than hard work is at play.
The bots are heavily abused. I've seen this. Some try to get around making their content better so they just pay to have themselves in the trending sections. This is a problem. I'm not sure what can be done to alleviate bot abuse.
Election of Witnesses that pledge to do something about it. Tough row to hoe.
Brother you are very inspiring and you talk about a topic that concerns many minnows-newbies.
There were several times in the past that i was thinking to quit Steemit.
And the reason is obvious. You can’t get attention.
And you know why? Because everyone is too damn busy to promote their stuff to make money
That’s the truth. If it wasn’t for the money it would have been a whole different story.
I don’t pretend to be a saint. I want financial growth as much as everyone here. But lets be honest. No whale not even a”dolphin” as they say here won’t visit me and thousands others. Big votes,those that make difference come ang go to the same people every day. In every post.
They say have good content and you’ ll be rewarded. I agree. We must have good content. But how on earth someone knows if i have good content if he won’t open my article?
Anyway...I don’t want to discourage anyone.
Just some thoughts i make lately
Was once like you bro . I almost quit steemit too but come to think of it, it's not like when I quit steemit, I have something better Doing with my time. The problem might not be getting upvotes at all, but getting enough upvotes. But I got to realise that with time things change. As I started engaging in comments , I got to know great people like humanearl and it's been fun. Sometimes I even forget about the upvotes and just do what I love doing for fun.
It's all good.I understand completely. I honestly don't like the setup either. The attention economy as a whole is frustrating. I do my best to give back. This is why I upvote comments all the time and also push The Art of Reciprocity. I am only one person but I will do my best to make a difference.
Thanks for speaking your mind on this.
All newcomers go through the same development process. Some develop quickly, and some develop slowly. It all depends on the efforts that you make. But it is also important to have a clear goal of what you want to achieve at Steemit. Having a goal you decide on the theme of your blog and then you will have followers.
But the most important point is to communicate with other users. The best way is to find people who do things that you like.
Steemit is a growing family where you always develop. Being part of this family means helping others to become better and doing the same. For any newcomer - writing comments is the main task. It is thanks to the comments you can show yourself. It is thanks to the comments that any newcomer will have followers. But the comments should be constructive.
The most unpleasant thing that can be for everyone is to create interesting content but in return not to receive anything. That is, you spend a lot of time and energy on creating a quality message, and as a result, no one reads or comments on it. This is what many newcomers see. In this case, you need to look for exits and be socially active. Steemit is constantly growing and changing which means a chance to get what you are looking for is always there.
Thank you @humanearl. Good advice for beginners.
I agree so much with the comment idea. It is the fastest way to get people's attention and you can also earn a little at the same time.
Really strong words right there, one single word might be the difference between life and death
Hard work, success and dedication can make wonders to anyone's steemit career, i look to steemit as a game, right now i'm leveling up my character by powering up steem, the more time i power up, the more powerfull i can be and get, yes i might not be one of the early adopters of this platform but i'm still not to late, my account is just 1 month old, still i've done a lot of hard work and grind, i networked with many people, i had 1 discord server now i got about 15, and i need to spend time in all of them to network and make friends.
The first thing i learned on steemit is this, and it's the most important thing to learn on steemit: " your minnow friends of today might very well be your whale friends of tomorrow", i think i don't need to explain anyone what this phrase means
Steem is not worth much now but hopefully with time it will do really well and 1 steem could be worth over $100 2 years from now.
Let's just hope you are right! When that happens costa rica here i come, let's build a steemit only neighbourhood
Yea when i try to get people into steemit, I always tell them that steemit iant all about posting writups . I tell them that steemit is for everybody. Just bring what you got to the table and try to make it better than others.
Steemit is for musicians, actors, writers, poets, photographers name it . So there must be something you can do. Bring it on and don't be shy about it.
I also tell them not to get carried away by the trending page. Most of those guys invested on the platform and so use voting bits to get their posts to the trending page and not like many of them fit real upvotes from people to get there.
Bro that's what I say too. People get discouraged because they feel like they have to post writeups. But there's so much more to offer.
It's my 3 month anniversary on Steemit tomorrow @humanearl and I would say the most frustrating this so far has been watching people, who joined about the same time, get much further by buying delegations, using bots and self-voting. It's hard to stomach when they do much less "work"
The best thing has been all the great conversations I've had and interesting people I've met. And winning a delegation of 75 SP for my efforts from @abh12345's commenting league.
Bots and self voting can be abused. I agree. I don't think they're bad in themselves but they can cause people to do like you said and not actually do the work or provide and value.
Their use seems to be gathering momentum too @humanearl. 😢 I'm feeling close to throwing in the towel again. I will at least take a step back and reassess what I'm doing here. I'm trying to focus on the positives but I'm not feeling it so much right now.
Hope your week is full of all that you love! 😊 (I need to remind myself of the importance of that too) 😊
Yeah, i was just sharing this with someone recently. I joined steemit because i was told i could earn money from it, and grow/expose my talents too. What made me less frustrated is that the person who introduced me already told me not to expect financial rewards till about three months, but keep posting quality contents.
Well, i'm two months old on the platform and i've been encouraged by the little i've earned. This made it more interesting for me.
Actually, i don't earn much per post, but i decided to take responsibility for the minds of my readers, to constantly stun them, and my target has been to wholly reach out to just one person, who would see the light after reading.
This has made me less expectant and more creative. But by all means, i do want to succeed financially here too because it's like a full time job for me. I just want to focus more on creating a long lasting bond with the community, then see the rest as huge bonuses.
I did have my unexciting moments as a minnow, like when you take hours to put together a content, then have maybe just 5 people view it, lol... But most excitingly, i love the moments of interaction in the comment section of people's posts or mine.
Well, my epic was when i had my post resteemed and subsequently referenced by you @humanearl, i felt like i had just been launched into a whole new level, and i was!
It's hard not to expect some financial rewards. It's not a bad thing though. We just have to remember that the people we reach are more important. But I know you always are thinking of those who read your posts. I think you are doing a great job and like I said before you are a great writer.
Oh, what can i say? Thank you everyday @humanearl
I’m no longer a newbie but definitely not a minnow either well according to someone’s post you have to have a ton of SP to be a minnow.
So it’s more like we are all little fish. The most frustrating thing about steemit is writing a good post and not getting a single upvote. Also, people, who follow then unfollow you it can be irritating why follow me if you were just going unfollow?
The most rewarding thing? I don’t think I ’ve experienced that yet. I would think it’s having a large following. So I wouldn’t post my best content, videos, on steemit until I have a ton of followers. I would just post really good content, not outstanding content. I hope that makes sense
Hehehe you are still a plankton. To be a minnow I think you have to have about 500sp or 1000sp. It will suprise you to know that @surpassinggoogle isn't even a whale yetbas many might think but a dolphin. Steemit is just funny ...lolzz
Now is the best time to get better and keep experimenting. I've tried to take this approach as well. Then once people find you, you will have really great stuff then because of so much practice. Plus it builds diligence.
Your definitely right I think the YouTuber Roberto Blake talks about this as well
Thank you so much for this encouraging words @humanearl....
I had always felt bad about being a minnow like I have nothing to offer.
Even my up votes are worth nothing yet...
But thanks for this encouragement... I know that with time, I'll get to that peak I want to...
Even a great comment or supporting a great project helps. You are valued.
Thank you very much sire....
The most frustrating part for me here in steemit is that I never get many votes. I don't know what is wrong with my posts. But somehow I realized I'm still new in here. I need to have enough patience to make my reputations go bigger. I needvto work harder and harder. Make some blogs that will help other steemians to uplift they're selves. I admit that my very first reason that came up on my mind when I heard about steemit is to earn some money. As days goes by the votes on my every post has only have 1 vote -3 votes I was then frustrated. I was like having some negative thoughts not to continue steemit. And then the other day I just realized that I must not think about the votes, I should keep on posting. I should enjoy what I'm doing. Because if that's the case I know that each and everyone of us will not get frustrated even though they'll get little votes. That's what I'm doing right now.
Besides the interesting part here in steemit is that I can share all my works, my story, and my life. Steemit is my way to express and share my ideas.
Thank you @humanearl for this very very encouraging article for all the steemians, especially fot the newbies like me!
May God bless you more!
Keep inspiring others! 😊😇
I understand 100% and I know it is highly difficult. If you really love sharing your heart with people keep doing that.
Thank you @humanearl 😇
I'm a minnow😊, The most frustrating expirienced is that, some of our effort works are unnoticed.
What excite meeehhh.... a lot.!!!
Meeting new friends, showcasing my hidden talents haha, and enhancing and pushing myself to improved my weaknesses.
That's the right mindset. If we only focus on the money we're missing the point.
Though is frustrating to see a post you spent hours to write didn't even get a cent. Others may want to appreciate you but their voting power couldn't produce more than 0.01 cent.
Aside earning on steemit, I have gotten vast knowledge of things I didn't know before and virtually traveled to places through steem travel by @sweetsssj @joythewanderer @flamingirl and others. @papa-pepper doing a great job about animal training and I got to know more about cryptocurrency in steemit
Glad you found others to learn from and I wish there was an easy solution to getting people paid for producing content.
You have magnificently voiced many in your words. You are right there are tons of people who are trying to get noticed on steemit. I believe if one is doing the right things and is being involved with the positive intent will definitely get success on this platform.
The upvote is a source of happiness and hope for all of us regardless of power it carries. Definitely strength do count but the minnows vote like me can give a warm heartfelt feeling even it does not have much value. The key is to stay focused and persevere with putting genuine effort to engage in a positive way.
I'm grateful to you @humanearl and everybody here with so much candid thoughts and feelings for others. Together we can build a progressive and rewarding platform for everyone of us which is filled with so much knowledge, happiness and success.
Love this comment. I would love to see people actually rewarded for their posts regardless of who sees it or not.
Hahahhahaha
When steemit came to me, I thought it would be an ABC thing
Later the rhythm changed. 😂😂😂
Nevertheless, steemit has been a great deal for, I've been able to purchase some textbooks with the money I earned.
And I've developed my writing skills.
From any angle I view steemit... It always get better... Because finally no matter how small it maybe, there's always a reward.
I've heard many people being able to buy things using their money made form steemit. From cars, to rent, to food, you name it.
@humanearl, Most appreciated encouraging post & conversation who want to stay and used steemit platform. Yep...I agreed all of contents as you said here. I didn't think create contents when I started steem blockchain. I tried only comments and waited return upvote from authors coz I wanted build up follower community and some SP's and SBD's. Now I think it's wrong decision. But I'm not disappointed. Blogging very hard to earn when we newbie in blockchain. But we can pass to give trend level command to high curators sure you'll success very soon. Blogging is very important to stay here and increase reputation. After spend 03 months on steemit I've earn financial freedom from here. Your voice power very important. I'm newbie in steemit coz my less vote power. But I don't mind am newbie. I tell you I'm small fish in blockchain. I have seen and I think most frustrating thing is here, someone comment like spam. For long read articles, they put comment very nearly like as a speedy reader. In fact some great authors didn't paid whole commentors under above reasons. I have lot of most exciting things. I earned some extra income from here, also I have donated some projects using my steem and SBDs. I build up great partnerships with great humans in this platform around the world, even known cryptocurrency update / geographical thinks indeed nature, wild lifers, hiking adventures/ sport, poetry, arts activities etc....
So I tell you, steemit best platform to increase your life and must remember use it correctly via read steem white paper rules.
Stay blessed.
I simply ignore spam comments. Sometimes it is hard to tell if it is spam though.
I am newbie. Most frustrating thing is when nobody notices for great content. Yes it is really hard for newbies but I believe we should concentrate on content and posting regularly and then other things will come as usual by time.
I love your line that voice can change lives of others. It's is true.
I wish there was an easy way for people to simply be paid for what they produce regardless of who sees the post.
Yes, it should be. Then quality increases. I head some months ago that if anybody regularly posts at least 2 posts a day, they will started earned within 2 months. But now, it is different, I clearly don't know can I depend on it or should move after 2 months, even if I post 2 good posts daily. Hope I will find a success soon.
It really hurts to see a good post left unappreciated, that's why I upvote every good post I come across, regardless of my low SP. I just try to show appreciation in my own little way.
As a minnow, i've had my fair share of frustrations on steemit, but top of the list was when after I spent so much time to come up with what I though was a good post, had over 20 views but just 3 upvotes! I felt bad.
On a brighter side,the thought of getting better and better with my writing is the most exciting thing about steemit.
Trust me if you stick with it for a while. You should see much improvement with your skills. I have witnessed this myself.
No doubt, my writing is really getting better. I'm even surprised by it
For newbie and minnow... Understanding the importance of community and becoming more active within yours will greatly increase your quality of life. After all, every one can contribuate from his side. Now get out there and smile!
The kind of engagement we have on Steemit is very unique.
The most interesting thing for me to be in steemit is here I can share together and can meet new friends,
And the thing that frustrates me is the difficulty of getting a voice, like all the little fish,
But our small fish keep the spirit in sharing ..
I really agree with you @adson because that is the only problem that is experienced by small fish ..
That's also something I like as well. Just to meet new people.
For me the most frustrating thing that I’ve known is when giving all my efforts to write something that I think it’s good enough but no one notice or upvote my post.
I just upvoted you,give it time you will see and remember... Friction=Fusion
Nice post Rezel :) Be positive and Stay Positive
Toddjr.
#smtfloridacommunity
#frictiontofusion
Thanks @toddjr
I understand how you feel. Many have voiced the same thing.
Wow, thanks for the motivational words. I have wanted to give up a long time ago when I saw some who just posted a gif and got $300 on the post, I was shocked and I was like OMG but I later realized he work his way up that why he can just post gif and get such reward. But seeing this post give me an extra motivation and I aren't going to give up until my voice is been heard loud and clear.
Yes hard work definitely helps.
Nice words! To many people expecting to much when they start. One of the reasons why they leave very early steemit again. To post something from time to time and just give it a try, to see what will happening in a half year should be ok. I think there will be always someone care of what i do write. Thats ok for now :)
Yes people think Steemit is the land of milk and honey. So they get here post a few times and get disappointed.
There is no such frustrating thing in joining in steemit. ' Cause it depends how people may work on it( meaning how they share they daily live, not thinking of the money they will redeem or receive) and how they provide or give time on it to do some story of their daily lives or what happen at them that day. Just keep and go with the flow to attain our each goal.
So much does go into it. We all have different live to live too. I like that you said go with the flow. This is something I am currently working on getting better at.
Everyone is unique and i believe that each voice is worth something steemit provide the base support and the rest is we have to believe in our-self the community push us along the way and bring the best out of us :)
Exactly. We have to each embrace ourselves and bring what we have to Steemit.
Every big thing starts from the bottom !
I am indeed lucky to be here !
At first people does indeed feels low but as time passes by it really becomes interesting !
I do feel low when getting on so much in the post yet it does not gets the value that it should have but it gives me another reason to do better in my coming posts !
Starting from the bottom is not fun but you learn so much from it.
I totally agree with it !
steemit is a platform that is very much in interest but now many small fish are missing the spirit in sharing in steemit, its simple problem just do not get the sound of whale so they become reluctant in sharing,
when they have created quality content but the results are the same ..
that's what I think is a frustrating little fish in steemit..
It's frustrating for sure but there are many ways to find your place and enjoy yourself.
@humanearl You have judged the problems of minnow and gave them a advice and hope for better future at this platform.
Yes, he really has!
Words like this keeps a lot of people going in this initial difficult moments
I'm doing my best to give advice and help new people. Feel free to ask me any questions in the future if you need help.
Steemit is not only about earning and being on top it is something about sharing, giving and learning from others...all of us started from zero but in a long run we will gain more and more. It will pay off in time.
I believe so too.
I'm new to this already huge partnership and I want to express my thoughts with the goal of helping others, like all users. Your words have really helped me to tune in to work, do not forget to write comments and read posts of not even very popular users.
It is very important for beginners to understand how important comments are. Through them we can express our thoughts and recommendations.
I would say the same. Adding comments is very underrated.
Sagacious advice for glean from...
☝☝
That is the summation of effective living not just on steemit only
@humanearl you truly inspirational
And
@humanearl - Sir this is an excellent inspirational article... How wonderful your thoughts are... Nice you decided to share it Sir...
+W+
It means alot for me to try to help encourage because new people get very frustrated.
@humanearl,
This is a life changing speech! I made a success story in STEEMIT and still doing my best!
Cheers~
I know you are. Keep it up friend. I hope this goes well for all of us.
You said a great word ... I agree with your words .... Thanks
Hey man i saw your follow for follow tag. Have you tried steemengine yet?
steemengine the followers i have gained is unreal. I gained 100 just in the past two days. If you want you can use my referral link not required though...
Or
Steemengine.net
Hm and how many of this 100 followers are really interested into your posts? I guess 0. No real benefit in it.
you always great post..........////////
wonderful post,,,,,,
really great and helpful.............////////////
interesting post once again thanks for sharing your knowledge :)
this place looks so magical a photographers dream actually any persons dream
Great post
Very inspiration article , full of positivity .
Thank you so much! Exactly this.. So helpful and encouraging :) Intention and authenticity matters. When the intention is enjoyment and connection, that's what creates abundance. Of everything - love, friends, upvotes or money... 💗 So no, I'm not frustrated. It's a new adventure :)