I've not been blogging an awful lot of late, but reading more and having discussions instead. So today I was stalking @mattclarke’s comment page, because he usually finds interesting content that I miss, being that my time on here is often sporadic. I was attracted to a comment on @tarazkp's post which I must have missed in my feed. It turned out to be a thought provoking ‘rant’ and well worth a read.
So he was talking about the chances of a middle class on here which he feels isn't going to happen if people aren't invested for the long run in the form of powering up. There is some interesting data in his post retrieved by @abh12345 showing that accounts with 500SP and up are actually rarities and in the top 1%.
I can see where his frustrations are coming from. There are plenty of complaints about good work not being rewarded and a middle class could potentially help with that. However, if no-one is powering up rewards that come from that middle or upper class, then they can't be helped to bring them into that middle class.
How many accounts have had @curie knock on their post, @ocd, @utopian-io or @blocktrades tap on their shoulder? How many have had @steemstem support them, or random votes from @acidyo, @kpine, @thejohalfiles or @glitterfart types over the last 2 years yet... so few powered up and kept it there, so few thought that being part of the future of Steemit meant being able to support others to be part of Steemit.
tarazkp
This is a good point here. So many people complain that we don't get support from the whales, but these mentioned accounts (and more) tirelessly work to give undervalued content that little boost. That's why there is probably a lot of talk about paying it forward and one of the best ways to pay it forward is by powering up that SBD to increase the reward of your own vote.
I wouldn't be past the 500 SBD mark today if it hadn't been for @blocktrades, @curie and later @ocd paying some of my posts a visit. Admittedly I also had amazing timing as the early ones came through at the point when I could exchange SBD for about 3 times the amount, or more, of Steem. I'm not completely altruistic, I have also cashed some earnings out. When SBD was high I paid $400 of my mortgage debt. I wanted to be able to say with certainty that you really can make money before I started promoting it to others.
So why doesn't everyone power up? Could it be that our instant gratification lifestyle means we aren't capable of seeing things long term? Do we come in with the attitude of “what's in it for me?” Maybe its because there are easier ways to earn money?
I've seen people incredibly well rewarded for their good content early on who have gained a higher reputation than I currently have, but their SP hasn't even got past the 500 mark because they've cashed every last bit of liquid Steem out. I saw a lot of people power down when the Steemit site was struggling with DDos attacks or running very slowly. Then when things picked up again they struggled because their account was so low on Steem Power. A lot of the previous support they'd had was gone and they lost interest again.
Here was an approach I found interesting to watch unfolding. The Steemian was approaching Steemit as business, so all their SBD was cashed out and they even powered down as they went, never reaching the 500SP mark. They were generous enough with upvoting others, but the value of their vote was constantly so low that I think after a while supporters started to wonder why they should continue to support them with their own growing SP when that blogger would constantly remove the value of their own votes, effectively saying “thank you for your support, I'll take it!”
To me this business approach was flawed in two ways. Firstly this is a community oriented business, so there needs to be a bit of tit for tat. If your blogs are incredibly valuable and help others to improve their own life or earnings, then you might get away with just posting and being rewarded for that. Really, customers need to feel like they have got a good deal, but that wasn't happening in this case. Secondly, having SP means you can earn more SP via curation and the more you have the more you can earn. So every time they powered down they lost an earning opportunity.
Anyway, this all took me back to thinking of community. Communities have an incentive to support each other. I expect when Steemit was new and the were only a few on here they were probably all supportive of one another. As Steemit has grown it's gotten bigger and more distant, so you can't support everyone and unless you're part of a community other users are rather faceless. There are complaints of circle jerking, but how many of these are communities supporting one another?
I belong to 2 communities (Team Australia and Homesteaders Online) and I don't think I'd still be here without their support. As those communities grow, however, it becomes harder to keep in touch with everyone and support can dwindle off as they break off into smaller more sustainable groups. I probably keep more contact with Team Australia members because my time zone puts me out of contact with most of the chat going on with the homesteaders who are mainly in the US and Europe.
Perhaps the new communities update will be pivotal in developing a middle class. It might be the incentive needed to support one another.
How do you use your Steemit account? Are you community minded? Do you power up or do you take what you can get because Steemit might not last?
So far I use my Steemit account as another creative outlet and also for building/enjoying community. I like this community more than that which I’ve had on other social media. I have a bigger following on other social media but I have better community already here! So I think I’ll stay 😁
So I am finding my feet here and hope that it’s for the long term :)
That certainly seems to be the way to go. If people find value in it, then all good, no matter how much or little their upvote is. I hope you do stick around.
Look at @budgetbucketlist.
Her recent post explaining why she's stepping away until the platform is fixed.
The rewards aren't there like they used to be etc.
This is from an author who made $14,000 from her first couple of posts, back when steem was 50c (so 25-30,000 steem), and did nothing but constantly power down and sell out.
Now she's asking why the influential people have gradually stopped supporting her, when she herself could so easily have been incredibly influential today.
This is not a bad thing, though.
Who has two thumbs and was buying up the steem she was dumping back then?
The system works :)
With that kind of income, had she stayed powered up she could have given herself a vote now and again to keep her income coming. I don't think anyone would have begrudged that if she still shared votes and they could tag along for the curation rewards.
She actually illustrates another thing I was thinking about. Those who get huge rewards on early posts because of blocktrades or curie and then experience some posts without that support often give up. I guess their expectations have been set at a high level then they can't accept what they get without that support, not appreciating that the support the high post probably got from being noticed brought them to the attention of people that wouldn't have noticed them without it.
I was reading something that a criticism of curie is that they upvote then abandon. I suspect that a smaller upvote more often would be a carrot to keep them trotting along, but that wouldn't get them any attention in from hot or trending. Sometimes we don't appreciate hidden benefits.
I had Shaun complain a bit when he first started that he was only getting $5 on posts! He'd caught the attention and support of wwf, so that was still double what I was getting on an average post and WAY more than I was getting early on and he got that from about 7 upvotes! I told him some of us had to work a lot harder to get to that point. 😆
Absolutely. If you wouldn't normally blog but come here to do so for money, you're probably going to burn out pretty easily.
If however, you've always wanted to put your thoughts and activities online, this is hands down the best place to do that.
I was lucky to make 5c a post in my first few months, but I didn't care because I just wanted a permanent, free place to get some of these concepts out of my head.
If I'm hit by a truck tomorrow my kids will have a record of who their Dad was.
That's what drew me here in the first place.
I'd been putting a few blogs on a weebly platform, but had no real idea how to get views to it. So this was the opportunity to get a few eyes with a small chance of earnings. I certainly got more communication here than with any other attempts. Although sharing about gardening isn't really a crowd pleaser! Lol!
So i wanted to ask you a thing. To grow in steemit, did you at once invest in it or you just waited for your steem power to grow?
I personally haven't invested any outside money, although some have. I do power up most of what I earn from posts though. As your steem power grows you start to earn more from upvoting people and those earnings come in steem power, so that helps to grow your SP too.
thank you so much. Just reached upto 3 sbd and had no idea what to do.
I also wouldn't be here with the support of @teamaustralia.
Also, there are many good Steemit celebrities who demonstrate a variety of vibrant talents, blogs, opinions and perspectives.
Your sincere comments are always appreciated and welcomed.
Very true. Reminding me that we can each develop our own Steemit containing the things we enjoy. 😊
I guess it also comes down to if Steemit is actually your "job" or if it is an informative social network/community in which we participate in for pleasure/entertainment. While you may have friends at "work" often it is your community friends that will support you in the long-term...
Very true and a very good point.
I see you're in Australia. Have you joined the team Australia community yet? It's good to see another homesteader in a similar time zone! 😄
I just like to share my journey and knowledge for free with anyone who has interest in personal health and self sufficiency. Some of the things I do are incredibly unorthodox but I practice what I preach and I encourage people who struggle with anything in their lives to give it a try before they immediately reject it. Good Luck on growing your channel.
And here on Steemit you can make it your own without censorship (from steemit themselves at least); format your own Steemit for your own purposes and enjoyment. I think as long as people have their own reasons for staying, then the site has a chance in the long haul.
Thank you, although I'm not really on enough to grow particularly quickly. I figure I'll enjoy the ride and see what I can accomplish along the way. 😊
Steemit is a Centralized Oligarchy and once the newbies figure this out, usually within 90 days, they are out. I am no longer contributing to Steemit and powering down. Once that is done, my SBD will converted and used to promote another platform.
The distribution of steem power is getting flatter every day.
Did you have another platform in mind?
I think I'll stick around, if only to see what pans out.