To continue the steemit-meta-wankery that's all the rage here, I wanted to share some thoughts about the pros and cons I've discovered so far on Steemit.
First, a little background. I'm a techy (20+ years in the industry), but have also been a blogger for 20+ years, way back before they were called blogs. New technology doesn't scare me, and I do tend to be an early adopter, even if I have a healthy skepticism about the new hotness. My blog has typically been about technology and business, and I haven't used it to write about life stuff in some time, so it's more of a technical resource than it is a lifeblog.
I don't really want to get into a critique of the platform's implementation - I already did that here, and Steemit user @joannajablonka covered lots of great points here. What I do want to talk about the good and bad stuff about Steemit as it affects how I feel about writing.
Pro: I Produce More Content Than I Did Before
If you don't count Twitter, I find myself writing a lot more than I ever did on my own blog. It's easy to think that the reason for that is the potential to make money, but I think it's more than that. When I post to my blog, readers who are subscribed for notifications will get an email with my latest blog post. To me, that means that every blog post I write has to be worth invading their inbox.
I don't feel that way here. That's not to say I'm mailing it in or creating shittier content here - but as much as I love my curried eggs recipe, I'm not going to post it to my blog and send thousands of people an email about it. I posted it here because it seemed like something people might be interested in.
It feels to me like Steemit fits in a nice space between the formality of a proper blog, and the more relaxed nature of social media. This means that when I have an idea that's a little too long for Twitter, but not "important" enough to bother my blog readers with, I Steemit.
So far, I'm really liking the fact that I'm writing more (and making a few bucks along the way.) I don't expect to retire or buy a house with my earnings here, but people don't comment on blogs as much as they used to, so the validation of an upvote makes me feel good about writing. Not because I need to feel "liked", but because it means that at least a few people found value in the effort I put in to make something. And hey, that matters!
Con: Greed Makes Me Compromise
That's a little hyperbolic, but I *am* finding myself considering posting about certain things because I suspect they'll perform well here. It reminds me of back when I was a teenager, and was selling my art work (sculptures, paintings, etc) at a store in New Hope, Pennsylvania. I found myself less interested in making art as I did in making what I thought people wanted to buy. There's nothing inherently wrong with that - I make those kinds of decisions every day as I run my business, but it feels weird for me to compromise my art.
I haven't posted anything yet simply because I think it will do well, but the thought pops up occasionally. And that's weird. I suspect that will die down as time goes on. Right now it's still exciting for me to check on my numbers, but in another month or two, that novelty might have started to wear off.
I don't think I'll ever be at risk for creating trash content just for upvotes. My pride is such that I don't think I could do it. But I trust the Steemit community to keep me honest. :D
I went through almost the same process. I didn't blog often because much of my random thoughts didn't seem important enough to blog about. But here, well here this is my space to think out loud. This is for me as much as it's for everyone else I enjoy helping.
As to the money and how it impacts you, I went through that also. I ended up hiding the dollar signs for a day just to see if it changed how I voted or posted. You can read more about that here.
I wonder if you'd be interested in playing with the blockchain itself at all. It's a bit messy, but writing some code to play with that data was really exciting for me because I have been a blockchain fanboy for a long time, but hadn't yet actually written any blockchain related code until steemit. I slapped together some PHP code, and I've had a lot of fun with it.
I totally agree with you. I am having a hard time trying to figure out exactly what I want to do with my space here. I struggle with what I want to do vs what will make people give my content a chance. While I am struggling with that sometimes I end up doing nothing at all so I tend to go through spurts of creating 😐. Ugh life...
I feels strange to me to not have a "theme", but that might just be because I've had a traditional blog for so long, that's how this stuff is supposed to work in my head. Right now my posts are a hodge-podge of recipes, art, tech, and steemit-meta pontificating, but I don't know where it will go from here.
Nothing wrong with spurts of creating!
Thanks for the shout out to my post! It's nice to see its being appreciated. If I posted that on FB or twitter as a complete Newb I am pretty sure it would have died a silent death. So far Steemit is looking good :) I too am wondering what to specialize in. Trying to predict the future I think short form content as opposed to blogs would work best here as content has a short shelf life. When it comes to earnings, the more profit you make the more your content is appreciated so it's just a signal to improve your content. I'd say work with it, but stay true to your core :)
What I'm curious about is whether I need to specialize. I've been experimenting and seeing what people are commenting on, upvoting, etc, and I think that will let it guide me. I know that's weird in a follower situation because it's a bit of a crapshoot what your followers will get, but I don't really want to limit myself to any particular set of topics. I figure if it evolves that way over time, that's okay, but right now I want to see what's working for me (and for readers).
One thing I did suggest to @uberbrady (my fiancee) is that if he's got a long post, he should break it up into smaller, bite-sized pieces. Part of that might be to game the system a little, but if the content is really good, I don't think that part bothers me. (I usually don't take my own advice, of course, as most of my posts are looooong.)
Yeah I was thinking about that. Writers might be encouraged to break down their posts into a chain of bite sized pieces released throughout the week, which link back to each other. If it works for both readers and creators then I don't think it matters if it's a bit gamey. User experience on both ends is key.
That's the whole point of Steemit that I love. If I create content that isn't good enough, I'll know soon enough, because the community will let me know. If I fall down in my game, they will let me know asap. It breeds and increases honesty in content creation which I love. I am all about justice and fairness. :)
Good points, my thing in life is that nothing's ever perfect... if one thinks it is, something always comes along that will better 😀
True story :)
The struggle is real ! Let's keep the integrity (-:
