Does Steemit still have room for personal blogs/vlogs?
I started Monday with the workings of a post. It was just a seed in my brain and I am not even sure it has fully formed yet.
As is typically the case, I got distracted by something shiny and I ended up writing this post instead.
As I mentioned in that post, I was chatting on Discord with my Steem friend @daan as I usually do once or twice a week. We were talking about current content on Steemit and how a lot of it has moved towards Steem specific topics.
That got me thinking and quite honestly a bit panic'ed thinking "does that mean I can't write personal blog posts anymore?" When I first started on Steemit it was pitched to me as a place where people shared and curated high quality technical content.
I think Medium is the closest thing I can relate what I thought Steemit was going to be like. I have said this before and I will say it again, I was pretty intimidated. I am fairly techie, but not as much as some others here. My thought was "how can I possibly add anything of value to Steemit".
I soon learned it wasn't all tech stuff and I eventually found a home writing a mix of travel, food, music, tech, and other posts. It has been a long hard road, but I am pretty happy with where my account is today and I think I have turned into a pretty decent member of Steem.
So anyway, I was starting to get a bit concerned that I might not have a place on Steem anymore. My account isn't big enough to solely curate or delegate and I don't have the skills to develop my own dapp.
It was just last night during an after midnight epiphany that I realized personal blogs aren't going away from Steem, instead they are just moving to the communities (tribes) they belong in. Steemit will start to be more posts about Steem because that is the tribe it encompasses.
Personal blogs will find their own home, food and travel posts will find their own home. It might be harder to find a variety of subjects all in one place, but it will be easier to search for the stuff you want to find.
It took me a while to sort it all out, but I think @daan probably understood this all along.
If you are a dolphin or lower on Steem, where do you see the future taking you? Are you going to keep blogging? Will you try to find a niche in one specific tribe like some of my connections on here have? Will you try to find a project to invest in and cut back on the blogging or just focus solely on curating?
I wish there was a clear roadmap pointing us towards what our next step should be. I know users like @exyle have basically stopped writing personal blog posts. Of coure, his account is bigger than most so he has options that the rest of us do not.
My personal blog posts rarely break $2.00 and most of that is SBI (Steembasicincome) votes or delegation votes. @curie is still around helping out the smaller accounts that deserve it, but even now their power seems to be diminished from what I remember.
@curangel is doing some awesome things, but they have a lot of ground to cover and limited resources like the rest of us. I am guessing many of us have yet to see the benefits of an orca or whale account renewing their focus on manual curation after HF 22 and dropping us some big upvotes.
At the end of the day, I know I am not going to get rich here. I might not even pull out enough to buy a burger, whenever I decide to powerdown (something I have never done). I'd hate to think all of my hours of sharing, writing, laughing, reading, meeting others, etc are just going to turn to dust and not be worth anything though.
I'd really love to hear your thoughts and plans. I'd especially love to hear from some witnesses and those bigger accounts. What is your best advice for the smaller accounts now that everything has changed? What is the next step for those midlevel accounts that maybe don't have the skills to develop but they can blog or vlog with the best of them?
Good luck fellow Steemians, Marlians, Neoxians, Palians, Helpies, Adsactlians, Busyians, whatever platform you use to share your world here...
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It seems like Orca is the new Dolphin now... Dolphin was a big deal once, and even Minnow I's had a 60c vote.
If we see $2 again, it will be a different scene your looking it. Don't give up heart.
The bot's are starting to dish out votes, but I really wish they would hit the smaller accounts as well as the ones that are going to get them big curation rewards.
For your content.., well I can only speak for myself. I rotate around 5 or 6 subjects, some about parts of my life, some SteemMonsters Strats, Urbex, Tasteem with my attempts at fiction with a bit of STEEM talk mixed in (like this post).
I always try to write something that adds value. The Urbex posts may tell you about a place you want to check out, the SM ones may give you an insight on tips, the restaurants reviews have turned a little satirical but I do judge them fairly.. do you want to eat there or not?
Maybe some don't add value, but at times I place some writing in the junk pile as I feel it doesn't.
Saying that, Steemit was touted as a 'blogging platform'. That means anything you want to write about. So that's my perspective. Does it teach, educate, make you laugh, have you enthralled.. etc...
I think it is all pretty relative too and specific to where you are. I remember a post from a guy a long time ago about this beef jerky store near where he lived. I actually happened to be travelling to that area and visited the store and it was fantastic. I even wrote my own post about it. Most people would have found it useless info but for me, it was well worth the read an the trip. Those are the kind of things that keep me holding on, but being the analytical person I am, I always have to consider all angles.
#ulog and #marlians ..
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For me there is certainly room for personal blogs. I do like to read about people opinions about various topics. Yes, some will move to tribes or SMTs.
When writing my post today I did discovered what was missing for me in most steem posts and that is a personal opinion. Personal opinions does give readers a platform to interact.
If I do write a personal opinion I do like comments from YEAH's and NO's. I don't care so much about the steem value of my posts. Because I rarely get big upvotes. (Just got one today, but that is besides the topic).
If steem wants to become mainstream we should have more opinions. This is what could steer new potential users to the steem platform. Not a post about steem. The problem with trending is that steem is ruling there. So a newcomer only sees articles about steem. Which is good and bad.
So, keep on writing!
Cheers,
Peter
That makes sense though that on Steemit posts about Steem would be trending. In SportsTalkSocial for example it would be sports. That is where I think Tribes are going to be a big deal. As long as you can still cross post (or tag) I don't think it will be a huge deal. I loved Musing.io when it was in a more lucrative state. The ability to share my experience and opinions and get upvoted for it was awesome.
Thank you so much for participating in the Partiko Delegation Plan Round 1! We really appreciate your support! As part of the delegation benefits, we just gave you a 3.00% upvote! Together, let’s change the world!
I couldn't agree more @bozz.
I seem to have given up since HF22. For the first time since joining I haven't posted for more than a week despite going to a really fun meet up at the weekend which would have been perfect posting material.
My curation rewards are down too and with all the new token options it just gets more and more confusing for me. Too many ways to turn.
I've not powered up my last couple of purchases of Steem because I'm not using the SP I aready have so it seems a bit pointless.
It seems again that, for the most part, those who already have the most are benefitting the most from the changes.
So many people have left the platform and I held on and held on but now I have pretty much fizzled out.
I won't power down because I still see Steem as a good long term investment but I'm not motivated by the latest changes.
I don't get all the excitement about cleaning up the trending page when, as you say, it's now mostly Steem related.
I did think about writing some a post with the newsteem tag just to get the upvote but then I thought . . . "then what" . . . so I didnt bother. 😂
Wait!, What? I should have used the newsteem tag! :) I will have to log back into busy and add that! Yeah, I understand that things evolve and stuff like that, but right now it just kind of feels like the majority of us are in a sit and wait pattern. Sure you can post here and there and maybe make a couple of Steem, but in the grand scheme of things it really may not matter. That's sad that you have kind of backed off, but I totally understand why. I haven't really seen my curation rewards go up like everyone is talking about either.
Definitely go back and add the newsteem tag. It's being upvoted by smartsteem as their idea of manual curation to avoid getting downvotes for being a bot. 😂
The benefits of finding a niche can't go unnoticed. A clear set of boundaries is healthy in any sort of creation. If you don't have any focus or guidelines to go by, limitless possibilities can stop you from making any progress toward one goal or another — not knowing where to start can be paralyzing.
That being said, I'm VERY new here, so I'd also love to hear from those with some weight behind them.
I appreciate the read and questions, sir!
Thank you. I appreciate the great comment. It does appear that in New Steem it is going to be a little more important to find a lane and stay in it for the most part :)
i quite enjoy your posts dude and I hope you don't stop making them. There are a lot of changes going on right now and while there is an overall direction, i can't really tell what it is. I hope it ends up being a good one.
In the meantime, just keep blogging about what you are interested in... it's interesting to a lot of people out there... like me for example. :)
Thanks! I appreciate it and the feeling is mutual. I had hoped to one day get to the point like you. where I have a couple of larger accounts following me that I can count on for their votes. Those votes from the bigger accounts are usually what draws in the smaller accounts and that that is how real followers are built. I'm not going to lie and say that isn't how I was initially drawn to you. Now that I follow you, I truly enjoy every single one of your posts. Even your right wing crazy stuff :) I don't think I could post as many times a day as you do though!
well my situation was a unique one as i was actually contacted outside of steemit and asked to come and write "human interest story" stuff for a website that had potential but was inundated with crypto talk that the "average user" can't really relate to. I was working for a couple websites and I guess they liked my articles because they talked to me about Steemit and I had no idea what it was.
It isn't all sunshine and rainbows though. I have been targeted for downvotes lately being accused of buying votes without any such evidence and this being the community that it is there really isn't anyone to appeal to. We'll see what happens: For the time being i'll keep writing about things I find interesting and you know me, it will likely be video games and Netflix stuff :P
Don't give up man, you have a decent stake here and if and when it all turns around, the good times can return.
Thanks I appreciate it. Also that is cool to kind of hear some of your back story. I have always wondered about that :) Yeah, the whole downvote thing is pretty crazy. I wrote that post about it on Monday because I can't really wrap my head around what some people are thinking. Bot voted or not, if someone takes the time to write three or more paragraphs and offers some honest thought or opinion it shouldn't be criticized. You are more than welcome to self downvote it, but don't try to launch a campaign or bring in the abuse fighting groups. They have bigger stuff going on.
I'm just gonna have to roll with the punches but yeah, they totally have bigger fish to fry than ol' gooddream who puts quite a few hours into his work and then several hours more into finding new people to upvote... and of course i spend an hour interacting with you because you comment on everything haha, I love it.
Yeah, I am kind of pathetic like that. :) I always have to get my two cents in though! If you need me to knock some heads together let me know. Or at least writing a witty scathing post about them!
lol, appreciate the offer. I'll just keep doing what i've been doing. I kind of enjoy getting the posts out there anyway if they want to demonetize it, i would imagine there isn't a whole lot I can do about that. 130 am now. see ya pal.
Thank God! I have never been in a fight before and I don't want to start now! Take it easy!
oh and i somehow missed your post about the football from last week. I read it now and I think that the downvotes are somehow attached to whatever appreciator is. I don't know who or what this is, but i received a massive upvote from the same person/group (appreciator) a few days ago, and large accounts came out of the woodwork to downvote in almost the precise amount of the appreciator upvote. I think there is an internal war going on there that I don't know the details of.
Hmmm, that is interesting. @steevc might have some input on that because I know he works with @steemflagrewards and he might know the background on that account.
Such a good post and somethigni have thought about also and I have decided to just plod along as I have been doing mainly for the interaction I have on here with great people including yourself
Thanks, I feel the same. It is almost habit now so I will probably continue to plod along as well. My biggest fear is we may eventually reach a point where that just isn't enough...
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I guess time will tell I am staying positive and hoping for the best :)
I'm between a rock and a hard place. I don't really belong anywhere and I blog about whatever moved me for the day. I fear I may get left in a corner one day. Right now, it is working okay and I get decent upvotes and comments.
I don't want to really put myself in one group and not have the freedom to indulge in others without feeling out of place. So where do I go? What do I do? Who do I be friends with?
Yikes! I feel your pain. I have worked hard to get where I am, no bidbot or buying steem until I hit 5,000 SP and then I bought a couple hundred, which was only weeks ago. I love steem and will probably stay unless they shutter the windows on it.
Le sigh.
!tip
I am totally with you and I can tell you understand where I am coming from. I think there are a lot of us just kind of looking around right now and thinking "what next?"
Hopefully we can gain some clarity once SMT's and communities are released.
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