5 Minnows > 1 Whale
You are probably thinking to yourself, “Get-outa-here... in no way is that statistically true.” And by the numbers you would be right. A whale or even dolphin has exponentially more power and influence numerically than a handful of new users.
But there are a number of arguments I'll make here to prove this point-
By focusing on fellow minnows to expand you community, you increase your longterm success on Steemit.
The reason I bring this topic up is that I see a lot of new users trying to grab the attention of whales (I use this term loosely for people with high upvote power) for both friendships and follows. The reward prospect is high with hefty upvotes and great visibility.
This has encouraged an interesting trend that concentrates more and more and more users onto those who already have established followings. As a result, my hypothesis is that Steemians are less likely/incentivized to explore new profiles and form horizontal relationships with people of similar history and influence on the platform. Why 'waste' time with people who's upvote generates less than .01STEEM?
Minnows flock to the whales (am I getting my analogical terms right?) for a chance that big sweet pot.
However, there are a number of missed benefits for 'younger' users when this phenomenon occurs. Here's why I think new Steemians should focus on fellow minnows -
3 Tremendous Benefits of Minnow-Focused Communities
1 – You're more likely to form stronger, mutually beneficial relationships.
One whale has the capacity of a sole person with a single individual's worth of time, concentration, empathy, and enthusiasm. Sure, you might get a nice @ned upvote for several dollars, but how sustainable is routing your energies towards this goal? Ultimately, the number of people in your community who will more often comment, upvote, resteem, and in general be supportive of your work is much more substantial than 1 fat and fleeting click. 10 comments in 1 post better than 1 comment every 10 posts.
2 – You'll be encouraged to grow alongside likeminded companions.
When I trained for my first marathon, I found it best to find a group that had similar goals. We shared collective ambitions, pursue difficult commitments together, and celebrated milestones we each achieved along the way.
Source: Villa-Bali
Finding a number of Steemit veterans to act as mentors can be very helpful as there are a lot of nuanced ins-and-outs. But at the end of the day, I believe I was able to better finish that first marathon because of my fellow diletantes and amateurs instead of trying to hire Usain Bolt.
3 – Your work will improve.
The combination of daily critique and encouragement from active fellow users will be a more sustaining support structure to improve your writing, presentation, and engagement. Creative content (which we all produce) benefits most from having more active paddles that ping and pong your ideas around. Again, similar ambitions and similar trajectories make for the best situations of productive practice.
The destination might be far off in the distance, but be sure to move forward with your Steemit companions beside you.
In no way am I saying that you shouldn't interact with bigger users and try to form relationships that way. Many of them offer incredible content and exemplify great uses of this platform to nurture productive content. By all means- comment, reach out, ask for feedback, co-write posts, do collaborative projects, etc. and so forth. I do all of these things and I wouldn't have gotten to this point without high guidance.
But I am also fully aware that I wouldn't have gotten to this point without the ongoing support of active young/new users.
I don't care if your rating is 44 or 74. I don't care if you have $10 or $100,000 worth of STEEM in your wallet. I check the “New” tab of Steemit every day and look for interesting content and I make sure to check out every commenter's profile on my posts. Valuable content is valuable content and I want to encourage broader exploration and support on this website.
So to come full circle to my original argument, I would trade the vote of 1 Whale for 5 Minnows any day. Would you?
Let me know your thoughts and Steem on!
Be sure to comment, resteem, and 
and check out my design collective @hitheryon
and check out my design collective @hitheryon
You definitely have the right attitude, being part of the community and getting involved in things that you personally enjoy will keep you happy and healthy more than money can do.
I think soon they are adjusting the voting system so that there won't be as vast a gap as there is now.
Yea I think that will probably make things healthier.
Nice analogy. Yes there are great content I do enjoy reading from fellow minnows out there. I like to engage with my minnow followers too. Keep it up! 😊
Thanks @shellany! Right back at'ya.
There is a lot of great content in some of these new posts that just get passed by. There are also "hidden" categories not listed on Steemit that you can find gems in as well. "HOMESTEADING!" yup, modern homesteading is a thing and we're bringing it to steemit!
Great post Hansik!
Haha thank you for the comment and I've seen some of your posts prior, I'll be following more closely from now on! Looks super interesting
That's a refreshing outlook that is very helpful. Being new to steemit I get frustrated that I don't have the eyes of many, because my point on here to to open converstion and raise awareness of invisible disabilities by sharing my story. Thank you for your input.
It seems you're getting more feedback and the quality/formatting of the writing is vastly improving! Keep at it and you'll have more and more people in your discussion. Also be sure to engage others on their content too!
thank you for the advice. I appreciate it. The Steemit Community is wonderful and very supportive
Glad you're getting the good experience!
Great post - so us minnows should stick together - just like in nature - safety in the shoal! Following you and upvoted - thanks.
Thanks! And I wholeheartedly agree.
Excellent points @hansikhouse
The way I like to think of my experience on steemit is that it is a marathon, not a sprint. I think building up a genuine following from users who engage is the best strategy. Initially yes, I sought out whales but I am increasingly checking out the new tab for interesting content. Us minnows must stick together and support each other for steemit will become a much richer community with more varied content.
Oh man, I've run few marathons and Steemit feels more like power-walking around the globe... =)
I agree, I think it's good to set up a solid wide foundation first and grow together steadily.
Interesting point of view. You made a lot of sense here... long term action plan always beat those who are only after quick bucks. Thanks for sharing! I need to update my strategy.
Haha well, I'm not really sure it's a hard line between interacting with minnows and whales but it seems the perspective of horizontal community is being lost in the race to get more, earn more, be bigger.
Exactly, the value of the platform loses its significance when it is all about money and no real engagement is going on...
I think the core problem is that most users (and this my personal hunch and understanding from comment activity) are being attracted to the platform on the basis that you earn money by writing. Thus the name of the game is race for followers and fat upvotes. I truly think the core benefits of content production and community-making are being lost in the swarm.
I totally agree. The STEEM pay out is a byproduct reward of generating good content. If your only concern is making more money, then you will stop thinking about truly valuable content for the community. Or rephrased: Stop worrying about the money, and start focusing on the people. The money will naturally take care of itself if you get you connect and add value first.
This is a great perspective. More and more "spamming" of just reposting existing content or trying to mold posts out of other outlets like Youtube/Facebook bars the community from really reaping the potential rewards of a social-crypto.
If it's 5 genuine minnow votes and not just vote for vote, or follow for follow. I completely concur with you! I spend a good amount of time on the new tab page myself. 5 minnows that you have conversations with is surely worth more than 1 quick whale vote though! Thanks for sharing. Take care yo!
Likewise! Thanks for the supportive comment and super glad there are many others in the same stream of thinking... =)
Another note too though. Whales are people, minnows are people too. So are the dolphins. It's really the motivation behind the upvotes that matter. I just wanted to clarify because there are some whales out there that are also good cool people too!
Oh absolutely, some of the people I interact with most with are whales. The point is not to get caught up in trying to get any specific person's endorsement.
What would you say dolphin status is? 60 and up?
I actually have no idea (probably should have researched a bit more) but I don't think the rating system really applies anymore. Many new users are investing large sums of money which is overriding the rating system.
Thats kind of good I think...but not sure what that means for the long run.
Yea I'm curious too. The fact that Steemit is both an exciting new crypto as well as an investment opportunity is going to conflate a lot of different ambitions.
Great post man! Networks are always the most important part of marketing. :)
Thank you sir! Really appreciated.