That is a very interesting topic!
Let me begin by saying that I have been volunteering for quite a few years and have encountered a volunteer coordinator that has the ability to remember details for roughly 3,000 volunteers that she interacts with just once per year. This lady has incredible recall for names and the details associated with that name like what position they volunteered at and if she actually meets them can remember what they look like and attach the name to the face!
Someone like that would be able to handle a lot more followers than the average person.
Then there is the opposite side of the spectrum for people like me who have trouble remembering names of people I may see on a daily basis!
Although there are extremes on both sides, studies have indicated that for monkeys, their social group is limited to 50 and humans can handle 150. I found this when looking up the term, Monkeysphere. I encourage everyone to look at the research, because our current mentality is that densification is inevitable and that we MUST create more housing in ever-denser cities to make room for the growing population. Studies with rats show that over-crowding leads to deviant behaviours and eventual extinction. Is that what we want for the human species? Is this what we call progress?
Anyway, for me, I spend way too many hours on Steemit (at least 10 per day) and I can only handle maybe a couple dozen people at a time, so I'm glad that only a few of my followers engage on any given day.
As for the idea of profit: It isn't so much the number of people that you engage with, but rather the Steem Power they use when voting on your posts and comments! You can have a hundred plankton voting for you and receive just 10 cents, while 3 whales can fetch $50 for you!
The question is: Are you here for the money or for the social aspect? Where will you allot most of your time? If your friends are all generous whales, then you have got it made!
Hi @happyme, awesome comment. Let me start disecting it:
You have opened Panadors Box with your memory remark. ;) Not sure if you knew that but I am a professional memory coach. When it comes to names memorizing I know exactly how it works and that EVERYBODY can become incredibly good at it.
However, I don't think that names are really relevant on Steemit. You see them and then you recognize them. It is not that you need to memorize any names here and there is no face for them either (maybe the avatar if you like). You can also bookmark them and so on. So memory plays a very marginally role in this, in my opinion.
In regards to overpopulation and cities: Well, after 33 years I left the big city and I never want to live in one again!
In terms of profit you can just aim for whales but I think that is a pretty one-sided strategy. I am here 100% for the money. Sorry to say that but it was my original intention. Now that shifts a bit but because I am already paying my bills with Steem. I rather have 100 followers with 0 in their Steem Power but who engage with me than just 5 followers with high upvotes who never engage. i do need the money but I also need the feedback or I lack motivation. Whales tend to not comment because they are usually bombarded with requests.
Hi flauwy,
I didn't know that you are a memory coach. That leads me to ask the following question: Have you ever heard of prosopagnosia? It is a condition where people lack the ability to recognize faces. I used to believe that if someone had reasonable intelligence then they should be able to remember a face or a name or a number. Yet here I was, an honours student that could not memorize the names and dates of things I had to know for my history lessons. I just couldn't understand it! All my life I wondered why I had this difficulty. Then just a few years ago, I read an article in our local newspaper about a woman who couldn't recognize her own husband, children or even her own reflection. What she said resonated with me and I contacted the newspaper and had her contact me. Since then I have learned a lot about the brain and its many specific areas that do specific tasks. If there is some damage or deficiency to those areas, there isn't a whole lot one can do to make them functional again. At least not at this time from what the experts in those fields have found. You can train a mule to carry a load, but you can't train a dead mule to do it. If the mule is sick, you need to make the mule well first before asking it to carry your load. I made a post about prosopagnosia a long time ago.
As for the relevancy of remembering names on Steemit, I think one would need to remember certain things about a person in order to connect with them, otherwise everything is just superficial and there is no real bond made. Bonding is a critical aspect of socializing in my opinion.
You made a wise choice to leave the big city. Your health will thank you for that.
Thank-you for your honesty. I suspect the majority of people started out here for the money. Some stay for other reasons. It seems you have found one of those reasons. Personally, I find the mental stimulation I get from conversing with the people here on Steemit very rewarding in itself. There are many interesting topics (like the one you started in this post) that grab my attention. The monetary rewards are simply an added bonus! However, having said that, I must be honest and say that I love to share, so it has become kind of like a video game where I need to get to the next level, but in this case that next level is so that I can give bigger up-votes! All my earnings go into Steem Power so that I can give out more. I have no intentions to cash out. I have enough to pay my expenses and don't need the extra income. (Lucky me!)
Yes, some elements are surely memorized if you start bonding with a person. But I never do that on purpose even though I could.
In regards to Propagnosia: I have heard about that in Oliver Sacks book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Not sure if that was the same thing. I have never encountered a person suffering from that. So far everyone was able to apply memory trechniques and easily gets ten times better. You should at least give it a try before you dismiss it for potential medical reasons.
I also like all the nice side-effects of Steemit. But is is the money that makes me write most of my posts because it is all I have.
Are you willing to do the coaching for me here on Steemit? I have enough to pay my bills, but there is not much left over for extra expenses or even vacations, so I won't pay for treatment that I've managed to live without for all these years.
No problemo, I will start the @memorsports community account soon enough. :)
Sweet! I'll be looking forward to it. Thanks!