Curation, is half of what Steemit is worth. Curation is a fundamental process and lifeblood of what will make or break Steemit. It is absolutely essential that not only more innovation and effort. There is no doubt, that better curation will directly impact Steemit in a positive manner.
More good quality content will be found instead of dieing at $0.12 payout, more feeds would be propagated with content that actually interests you.
Steemit Whitepaper, Page 27:
Even with Curation Rewards and Curation Guilds like @Curie and @OCD, it is clear that currently, curation isn’t optimal to say the least.
How Much Curation is Enough Curation?
Curation Guilds are but a handful of hardworking people who are dealing with a tsunami of content to wade through.
Curation Rewards currently do not incentivize regular users enough to actually go out and find good quality content that has yet to be found.
In this post I am making a proposal for a new form of curation on Steemit which can make the user-experience of finding not only good but, content relevant to what they are interested which is also much more narrow than tags. Of which, all of the content will be highly specific to a specific topic and also, very importantly, curated by humans.
Curation Lists
Modelled after Pinterest boards, but with much deeper functionality, Curation Lists are a feed of content which is subject-specific and can be as narrow a field of subject as the user creating the list desires.
Though this is similar to User Categories, of which I proposed in utopian.io yesterday, I believe that there should be a distinction between Curation Lists and User Categories, in terms of functionality which I will explain further.
Highly Targeted Subject Specific Curation
Any user to create a Curation List, and begin adding content from all over Steemit into the list. Each Curation List should have a specific Title which identifies or give a general suggestion as to what the topic of the list is about, as well as a short description to further define what the Curation List will curate. The point is for each Curation List to have a specific subject or topic, and the owner of the Curation List will add topic relevant content which is deemed by the user to be of high value.
Think of it more like a Profile Page for Curation
Not only acting as a topic-specific list, this list should have the ability to dynamically update interested users of the subject to newly added posts.
Ability to Follow Curations Lists like you follow Users
Users will be able to follow Curation Lists of which they are interested in e.g. Bow Hunting, Dota 2, Bitcoin Price etc. and have the posts that have been added to the list, turn up in their “People I Follow” feed, acting in the same way as when someone you follow, resteems a post.
In doing so, they are highly likely to see subject-specific content of which they are already interested in turn up in their feed, though they most likely have never seen a large majority of the authors within the list.
The Owner of The Curation List Can Invite Other Users They Trust to Curate
A singular curation list may have multiple authors, but only one list owner. As such, acting as a moderator of sorts, the list owner may choose to invite or boot other curators to the Curation List to contribute.
Curation List With Additional Features
Just like a regular user profile, a Curation List would be able to have an image banner. Alongside that, the Curation List would have :
-A Pinned Post
-Feature of Curators of the Curation List
-3 Featured Authors, randomly rotating from the list of curated authors on the list. The more times you have been curated, the more proportionately likely you are to be featured.
Ability To Delegate Upvotes For Curation Lists
Users should have the ability to set Auto Upvoters to specific Curation Lists. Given in an example that there is a Curation List that curates Charitable Causes, People In Need or Weird BDSM content (Whatever, I’m not your mum), users can entrust their votes to Curation Lists for whatever reason they may have, as a curation list grows in size, it would very much be profitable as well, all while supporting authors within a general subject area that you are passionate about.
Profiting from Curation Lists
The defining factor and the engine of any free market, is profit. If it is even reasonably profitable for an individual to take an action, the likelihood of the individual doing so is clearly, very much higher.
Current System + Curation Lists
With no changes made to the current system, users may profit from Curations Lists by:
Personal Curation Rewards
Curation rewards garnered by upvoting the piece of content before curating it, where, given that the Curation List is popular enough, a flood of upvotes will come after, hence, profiting a larger than usual curation reward by getting in earlier.
Personal Curation Rewards, which also a varying factor depending on the amount of SP you have, will generally turn out to be a not exactly wildly profitable endeavor.
Accepting payment for curation.
Quite simply, users pay a price for their content to be either definitively curated, or to Curation Lists with higher standards, considered to be curated, or somewhere in between.
Accepting Payment for Curation is surely some level of scummy, ending up with Curators spending time sourcing for buyers and playing games rather than the actual job of curating.
Additional Curation Rewards for Curation Lists
A fair way for Curation List curators to make some profit, would be by having the all upvotes which were garnered by being referred from the Curation List to earn 15% of the curation rewards of those specific upvotes.
This entire process is curation in it’s purest form, and just as the reward is called, Curation Reward. Leaving 10% for fairness to regular curators, curating in the traditional fashion.
This would create a system where Curation Lists with some level of following and notoriety would easily justify their time curating quality content, with a proper monetization system, allowing them to focus on nothing more than doing the best job of curating.
The End Result
More Quality Content Will Be Found
With Curation Lists in act, more good content will be sifted from the tsunami of content on Steemit and the gem will be found and rewarded, more often than not. This is a key function of Steemit that is still extremely unrefined at this moment and could really use the help.
Users Will Find More Quality Content That Is Specific To Them
By following just 1 Curation List which is of high-relevance to your interest, your “People I Follow” feed will be often be propagated with the absolute best content written on the subject from an array of authors who you very well have not heard about.
Users will effortlessly find quality posts which are highly specific to their interest delivered right to their home page while discovering new authors which are relevant to them.
Synergy Between Authorship and Curation
Both authorship and curation when done in this manner will also synergize with each other as if your curation efforts gain traction, it is more likely than not on a subject that you are actually interested and passionate about, of which you most definitely would be posting about as well.
The self-promotion within your personal Curation List would garner you more views of highly-targeted users who have shown interest in that specific topic and is very likely to engage. Users will have an additional avenue to make profit from both authorship, and curation.
Bring Curation To New Heights
Curation, once again, is the lifeblood of how the Steemit ecosystem will succeed. As amazing as @Curie and @OCD amongst the list of amazing ongoing curation efforts, they are but a hand full of people who can only achieve so much each day.
As Steemit continues to scale, there needs to be an effective means for curation to scale accordingly alongside it. There is no stronger power than the power of the swarm.
Curation Lists will once and for all tip the scales and properly incentivize curation efforts from mass amounts users on Steemit. Bring the highest quality, user-specific content in right to user’s home page.
This is an ongoing proposal which does require holes to be poked in it, and for it to be mended, as well as innovative input on the matter before further refinement and proposal once again.
So please do add in your thoughts on the matter in the comments!
Posted on Utopian.io - Rewarding Open Source Contributors
This is an incredibly rich article full of fine suggestions and much food for thought. I am resteeming it so I can have it on my own blog -- and find it again. (One of the big problems on Steemit still is how easily things of tremendous value get lost!!)
I am also putting it in front of at least one group I belong to on Discord. I am currently curator for a writing group called The Unmentionables, ( @unmentionable ) a group dedicated to encouraging exceptional content over a wide range of interests and cultures. I know first hand the enormous amount of work that goes into producing a curated list -- and yet, my husband and I continue to talk about how to create such a feature ourselves from among the accounts we find and follow.
Right now, we don't have the (Steemit) resources for our upvotes to be worth much -- and that has so far been the big stumbling block we haven't yet seen a good way to overcome. (In time, that will change. But meanwhile, people need help. Visibility is a huge problem for small, new and relatively new accounts. I think there are ways the developers could address this further, but they don't seem real focused on that -- or apt to create a better environment for new writers / artists / content creators to grow and develop any time soon.)
This has led to the current controversy involving vote-buying ... when that remains one of the few ways for a new account to get seen and gain the necessary traction to make a Steemit existence worthwhile and ultimately profitable. I am absolutely dedicated to finding a way to work with this though. (I am not one to sit on my hands and lament "the situation" if I can take any remedial action at all.)
Thank you so much for your ideas and suggestions this morning. It has renewed my determination and inspired even more thought on the subject (which I'd say was your intent.) Excellent work deserves to be seen, encouraged and rewarded. If there is a way -- even a small way -- I can manage this, I will find it. My husband and I will be talking again about this as soon as I post this comment. Thank you so much for the work that went into this post.
I'm, as always, impressed with your depth of consideration of the ideas you present.
I'm going to forward this to a friend of mine with whom I've discussed some relevant matters, and hopefully their mind will fruitfully amalgamate this into their own considerations.
Thanks!
Thank you very much! I think I have found my Steemit calling.
Cool! My intention is to further build upon this proposals that I have made and refine them to the point where they may seriously be considered. As usual, if there is any input or collaboration that can be had to get it done, I am all ears!
Thank you for dropping by so often and engaging! I really appreciate it!
I was surprised by a post by @stellabelle today (she posted a couple days ago, but I was unaware of it because I haven't tracked mentions before. I do now!) in which I was nominated for a delegation, for curation purposes, along with a long list of much more likely delegates.
However, I pimped your promotion improvement post there, and nominated both you and @pathforger for similar nominations.
I'd recommend having a look at @pathforger's blog, as I believe the two of you might both benefit from some discussion, even collaboration.
Also, there are a lot of folks interacting on that post of @stellabelle's, and I doubt it would hurt you to have a gander at it.
Have you engaged with MSP, BISteemit, or other outfits? Folks from both those outfits have received delegations from the @stellabelle initiative. All good people, and BISteemit might be a good fit for you, you seem to have a head for data. Business Information Steemit, BTW. Whatever, I'm not your mum! =p
Thanks!
Congrats on the nomination!
Thank you very much for that! Have never managed to get to @lexiconal for some reason.
I read his solution to the War on Drugs and completely stand on the same page! Will see how I may connect with him!
I had a look at that this morning! Definitely don't think the SP delegations is going to make much of a significant impact in the sense that it is still, but a hand full of individuals who are required to make immense efforts.
No I have not! Will definitely look into those! Business Intelligence definitely is where it's at in terms of solution innovations as well.
hehehe like that huh..
A dozen accounts applying small delegations isn't going to change the platfrom dynamics, but as a test, by tracking impact on the affected accounts, it should be easy to ascertain impact.
User retention is dismal on Steemit, about ~11% of accounts from 2016 remain active. if accounts affected by delegations affect that retention rate, a far broader spread of delegations can multiply that effect, to the immense profitability of the whales.
If retention doubled for affected accounts, 1,000 x $5k delegations would have a dramatic impact on the platform, and greatly increase price pressure on Steem, IMHO.
No bots necessary!
Whenever I see BISteemit, my first thought is NOT Business Information, and I wanted to make clear my reason for the suggestion. Just in case =p
I do see you point! Indeed, that amount of delegation would be considered dismal in place of the amount of positive impact on scale.
I still think the wealth distribution on Steemit is kind of warped as is, seeing as how the biggest holder of SP is getting covered in scandals all the time.
@freedom could singlehandedly dole out this 1000 SP delegations, and see the steem price increase in a short few months.
Somehow, trusting people with power to do the right thing has been a fool's errand in throughout history..
Haha what would your first thought of BI be? I'm curious haha. I came from a Microsoft Business ecosphere so BI only ever stood for Business Intelligence to me.
Recently @ned made some $500k delegations to several people, and most of them were quickly seling votes or self-voting to profit from it. @surpassinggoogle did not, and @ned withdrew all the delegations, except the one to @surpassinggoogle, which, AFAIK, remains.
@ned is apparently trying again with smaller delegations, and I really find that evidence of dedication to the users of the platform.
I look forward to seeing what is learned from this effort, and hope it sparks higher retention, and broader distribution of rewards.
Well, let's just let BI stand for Business Information, then =)
You've put a lot of effort into this post, and I sure some of these ideas can be worked on.
Parts make me think about how communities might look for an owner as she 'pins', discards, and organises sub-lists, ready for the curation/social/etc teams work through.
Resteemed for proof of brain 😊
cheers!
Thank you very much! I do believe that these proposals that I have been making do require work as I put in more time and effort into concocting how they may be improved.
The question I have would be, do I post a Proposal 1.1 in contributions or do I put it under development.
Maybe I should check on utopian discord..
I did have a thought on that too! I thought what could happen would that users of a community could call out to a bot much like !untelanted for the post to be considered for curation.
Your thought on the matter is much more for scale and I like it, I will definitely build upon that thought and credit you accordingly!
It is very much appreciated! I am finding my work on utopian to be the most suitable activity for my thoughts and comes to me most naturally. As such, I have a list of contributions I am intending to expound upon further while refining ideas like this one till they are worth implementing.
I also wonder though, what is the likelihood of Steemit Devs considering implementing good proposals from utopian.io.
Nonethless, the support is very much appreciated! I hope to engage with you more often!
A pleasure :)
I suggest the category to be suggestion, but think a chat with a mod may be wise.
Continue your thoughts along these lines for sure!
Will definitely do that! Thank you for your kind words!
This is such a good idea! I have been toying around with the idea of making a new account that's sole purpose was to curate/resteem content in a specific niche. Your idea, of course, would make it much easier.
Hi again @littlejoeward! Nice to engage with you again!
Thank you very much!
The inception of this proposal began exactly because of the thought process you had as well! It is clear that both you and I have thought to do the same thing on the simple premise of wanting to curate better! I am sure there are many more individuals who are thinking the exact same way.
By making it easy for anyone to do so, there could be a totally new curation engine running to make Steemit a better place!
I absolutely agree. I hoped this is what communities would be kind of. I hoped they would be a way for members to share posts.
If they end up being a community blog, they're a lot less useful, because you'll have to dedicate content to them. Though they can be fun for like stories or something.
One thing of note though. They'd probably have to have some form of structure. So one person would create it, and be able to nominate people to different positions, and depending on the settings, only certain people could approve things for resteems, but anyone can nominate them. Or something like that.
Hi there @geekpowered!
Let's hope I can make something come of it!
They can all exist! I love the fact that if you create something like this and put it out there, there is no knowing what will come of it or what kind of communities will be created with it! There will be a flavor for everyone!
@abh12345 mentioned a similar suggestion to the same like and I definitely did not think of that and it is definitely a good suggestion! I will be adding that in to proposal 1.1!
Thank you for dropping by and engaging! I hope to hear more from you!
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by bitopia from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews/crimsonclad, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you would like to delegate to the Minnow Support Project you can do so by clicking on the following links: 50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP, 5000SP. Be sure to leave at least 50SP undelegated on your account.
Hey @bitopia I am @utopian-io. I have just upvoted you!
Achievements
Suggestions
Get Noticed!
Community-Driven Witness!
I am the first and only Steem Community-Driven Witness. Participate on Discord. Lets GROW TOGETHER!
Up-vote this comment to grow my power and help Open Source contributions like this one. Want to chat? Join me on Discord https://discord.gg/Pc8HG9x
from when the proposal is working??
Hopefully, it will be considered, but that is up to the Steemit Developers and we have no say.
Oo. I see.
@eileenbeach has voted on behalf of @minnowpond.
If you would like to recieve upvotes from minnowponds team on all your posts, simply FOLLOW @minnowpond.
To receive an BiggerUpvote send 0.5 SBD to @minnowpond with your posts url as the memo To receive an BiggerUpvote and a reSteem send 1.25SBD to @minnowpond with your posts url as the memo To receive an upvote send 0.25 SBD to @minnowpond with your posts url as the memo To receive an reSteem send 0.75 SBD to @minnowpond with your posts url as the memo To receive an upvote and a reSteem send 1.00SBD to @minnowpond with your posts url as the memoThank you for the contribution. It has been approved.
You can contact us on Discord.
[utopian-moderator]