The steemit author/curator Hype cycle

Most new developments follow a cycle dubbed the Hype cycle and we as steemit authors and content creators experience a number of these mini-cycles when we first get into steemit.

So somehow we heard about steemit

...and there was talk about getting money for posting and curating…
interesting…
perhaps…
We started to hear about it a little more often… a little hype grew

Then somehow we found steemit,
…via a link,
…search engine,
…or twitface(facebook or twitter)
…or worse a friend (next time we see our friend tell them friends don’t tell friends about crypto, although steemit may be the exception)
we browsed the site for the first time…
we saw all these dollar signs below each post and large amounts…
the hype grew…

We sign up and log on,

we say to ourselves…
“I want me som’ of ‘em thar dallarr’s”
And hopefully we noticed that some people are doing really well with introductionyourself posts… we see the ones with a picture of themselves and a moving heartwarming life story or decent background attract plenty votes.

So we sally forth, keyboard abuzz under sweaty fingertips and after slaving away produce a masterpiece (at least in our own eyes)

We post…
and religiously press the refresh key…
the votes start trickling in…
first cents….
then dollars….
then tens of dollars …
the excitement just keeps on growing.

We battle to fall asleep that night… too much excitement… and we can’t calm the voices in our head replaying the words of the masterpiece we have just written… mind abuzz about what we will post next… the creative juices are flowing. It doesn’t help that we sneak off to the computer to see how things are going… more $$$...Eventually we slip off to a fitful sleep filled with dollar bill rain and other such capitalistic nonsense.

We wake before the alarm… ignore our significant others protests and head off to the computer. There it is… we can’t believe your eye’s $$$$$$$ everywhere.

We think to ourselves…
we’re are geniuses (or genii)…
these people love us…
“We’ve got this thing down”…
we start deciding on the color of our first Lambo.
We are so hyped we couldn’t be more pumped if we were a puffer fish.

We start working on our next masterpiece

We don’t research it as much… we’ve got this thing “down” remember. We don’t take as much care writing it up.
we post…

we wait with Eager anticipation…

nothing…

our dreams come crashing down…
we enter the valley of despair…
the trough of disillusionment...
it’s a total flop…
at least in our own eyes…
dejected depressed and despairing we wallow in our own self-pity…
eventually we emerge from our darkest depths, review our post, spot some mistakes, review our strategy and start again.

We set our sights lower and are pleasantly surprised to find our lower expectations are met. We put more thought into our ideas, work harder at conveying our message more clearly. We work on our delivery style and put in more effort and time before hitting the post button. Our gradual improvements are rewarded adequately and gradually we inch our way up the reputation ladder and the slope of enlightenment.
We discover that steemit requires constant work but, is as faithful as we are diligent and our relationship matures.

In tech all new development go through the hype cycle.

We experience it personally as authors. Steemit will experience it too… we see how FOMO and Hype are fueling interest and speculation in the price. This is just the start of one of many hype cycles. To be followed by valleys and then further hype. Until eventually the platform and its ground breaking effects becomes commonplace.

Some over-hyped dreams will be shattered, but the platform and its community will mature, as will we.