Why I Prefer Manual Curation And Whats A Girl Gotta Do To Get A Favorites Tab??
Happy Sunday Y’all! In hopes of blogging more freely (without always obsessing over only posting things that are perfectly formatted, written and presented... which leads to me avoiding it some days 😬); I thought it would be fun to start a Sunday Coffee Thoughts. I will essentially be practicing “free writing” about certain topics or thoughts in hopes of having a discussion here. So, join in!
Manual Curation
Let me start this by saying that I am NOT against auto voting. In fact I am lucky enough to be on many lovely individuals auto votes and I am not only thankful, but honored. The fact that they enjoy my blog enough to want to make sure I get a little love from them each and everytime I post is awesome.
I also know that this means some don’t actually see or read my posts. No, @soundwavesphoton I am not just talking about you so don’t feel singled out haha. So, while getting the vote is awesome... are we losing engagement this way? If we love these individuals work enough to support them on auto pilot.. don’t we want to read what they write too?
Now, I am not a very big account.. so for some I get that there is just no freaking way they can get through everyone’s posts.. there aren’t enough hours in the day. I get that, and I understand the only way you can ensure the bloggers you enjoy are supported, is to put them on autovote.
I want to read each post, and I don’t cast my vote on any post I have not read... which does mean I miss a few from time to time. BUT this also means if my vote (however small it is at the moment) ends up on your post I not only read it, but I enjoyed it. I don’t know why that is important to me, but it is. I do know I am a bit idealistic (too much so at times) and maybe it’s due to that and my stubbornness that this is just the way I curate.
Which brings me to my next point...
Wouldn’t it be great to have a tool that allows us to make sure we don’t miss our favorite bloggers posts??
Favorites Tab
Ok, so MySpace (yes, I am old enough to have had a MySpace account) even had a top ten list ability. A place you could always have you favorite accounts easily accessible. So, dear Steemit god’s why can’t we have a favorites tab??😩
With all the wonderful tools that have been designed to compliment this platform, the fact that this one hasn’t been created yet is surprising to me. The ability to add individuals to your favorites and have a separate feed for them, ensuring you never miss a post, would be life changing for me. I know I can’t be the only one right?
So, what would this take? Is the technical side of it just too difficult to easily make it happen? Or is it just not a priority? Seeing that steemit is a blogging platform and as we know some of our biggest issues are engagement and user retention.. making it easier to actually find those authors you want to engage with would be pretty beneficial in my opinion.
So... Thoughts? Opinions? (Or maybe does anyone want to publicly announce they will be removing me from autovote after this? 😆)
Let’s get a conversation going!
Much Love And Happy Sunday,
Justine
Edit: That time when you use the wrong tag and can’t edit it because you somehow put it in the first tag, sorry busy god’s... ignore me
I loved your very spontaneous and natural publication, I agree with you that this platform should have a section for the favorites and that their publications should remain there, it would be great. thank you for sharing your experience as a curator, a nice and objective point of view.
I also curate manually. I enjoy reading posts and this is also how I find new friends everyday. I try not to miss anybody from my list..but it might happen..
It's a great idea with the favorite tabs. I hope some programming gurus will read it and consider it as their potential project :)
Thank you for coming up with such idea!
Yes, I hate when I miss people... but it does happen! I just find it special to have that connection with some of my favorites.
I so hope it happens, I’m sure it’s something that many people have brought up before me... but would really love to see it happen.
Thanks so much for the comment!
I'm rather new to the platform, so my newsfeed still functions as a favorites tab. I don't have a whole lot of people who I follow just yet, but I can see how a way to group authors would certainly be helpful. Sometimes I'm interested in just one type of content from the people I follow. If I had a tab or grouping option that would make it much easier to sort through.
As for the manual curation, I'm in complete agreement about reading the things I vote for. While I love votes as much as the next person, I love comments even more. I make a point to leave a comment on every post that I've read all the way through. My vote currently counts for zip, zero, zilch, so I figure the comment kinda makes up for that. :-)
That is a wonderful attitude to have and welcome to the platform! I agree, the vote is nice and all but I prefer a comment any day of the week.. it’s what makes this platform special. If you are one who loves to comment a lot and want to be rewarded look into these contests;
https://steemit.com/engagement/@abh12345/6beawf-the-curation-and-engagement-leagues-steem-prizes-and-steem-bounty-available
https://steemit.com/contest/@curie/curie-comment-contest-week-1-august-5th-august-12th-2018
They are great for encouraging engagement but more than that I feel they build community mindset as well.
Also, if you are looking for specific topics try
https://steemlookup.com It’s a outside search engine for steemit provided by @curie.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment 🤗
I'm not sure but i think this feature might come with the next hard fork.
This could have been the original idea for the following list, but it's not really usable in it's current state.
I use a combination of ginabot, and check steemworld all the time. My vote on you here tells me you've posted, and i can come over to see what you've been up to from there :)
What an awesome view you have! Enjoy your coffee :D
Oh really? Hmmm I shall have to go read the details again, thanks for the update! It would really make my life easier...
Yes, I need to use ginabot more. I get lost in the notifications sometimes so was always worried I would do the same with having someone set up there. BUT it would at least give me a heads up that they have posted. On it!
And yes thank you! I am pretty lucky with the view ❤️
Also, thanks for the auto votes and not removing them after this
Or perhaps with Communities/Hivemind. The @steemitblog will have more details somewhere.
I have 99 Ginabot notifications 😬
Why would I remove the autovote, I like Steem talk! And I like to support people as much as content at times 😊 Some people don't like this but it's my stake, right?
Yes of course, didn’t mean to sound judgemental at all. I am a true believer of to each their own... and have no issue with anyone autovoting and yeah, do what you want... it’s yours.
I will!
I think when you don't vote yourself, you get a pass to do whatever the hell you feel like with your votes :D
Feisty today...
rawr
I need to work on that video for the #steemfest #openmic comp - Have you started yours yet? :P
What do you think? 😑
Why don’t you just make one for me.. you’re a natural.
Ginabot is incredible @llafarms ^^ It takes a little time to set up right, but it's worth it. I removed anything that notified me too often and now it's easy to read.
My autovotes are set as a backup, if I reach 95% or more I believe. I think everyone should set up autovotes, even if they're set to activate only at 100% (life can happen). If unsure who to autovote, curation trails are a great option and settings can be adjusted as well. ^^
I wouldn't expect the hardfork to add any kind of favourites. That's more of a front end function as opposed to somethign that will be stored on the blockchain
Yeah you are right. Perhaps with the hivemind/Communities deal?
What is this Ginabot of which you speak?
Ohhhh you gotta have Ginabot! It notifies you when you are mentioned, have new comments etc. free service through the discord app. https://discord.gg/SVMpD6
Hey!
I just discovered your blog ;-)
I used to curate everything manual, now I use Steemauto to support a few bloggers.
I also use @ginabot, one of the best tools, to have different types of notifications... like user's posts, keywords, comments&upvotes, etc. very usefull.
Have a nice sunday too!
Plastic Hug
Steemitri The Mannequin
Hey there! I’m so glad you found me☺️
Yes true, we do have some readily available and great tools that makes tracking our favorites a bit easier. Maybe I am being overally needed wanting a place to just scroll through the feeds of those I put on the list lol. But I feel for the normal use and therefore the future of steemit, ease of use is important.
Awww plastic hugs are the best!! 🤗
Thank you!
That's exactly why I set up gina notifications for my favourite writers. I also manually curate and I love being notified when my favorites post. I would miss so much other wise.
Yes so true! I admit this is something I need to get better at doing... I am so old school I just have a note saved of my favorites that I try to remember to look at their blogs every few days. Maybe it’s time I join the 21st century 🤔
Thank you, hope you have a wonderful Sunday.
I'm a completely manual reader/curator too, @llfarms... and the way the Steemit interface is made doesn't support it very well. Both Facebook and twitter (for example) allow you to create "groups" of your own naming, and then you can create feeds based just on each group. We could desperately use something like that here... would make life here a LOT easier!
=^..^=
Yes, A favorites list! How do we get that done? I have so many discord groups and I am on Steemauto so I can try to show everyone some love with upvotes. I miss more than I care to share but I do try and sometimes it is overwhelming. I just keep on trying and do the best I can. Because if I upvote you I have read your post also. I try to comment but sometimes I just do not know how to respond or someone else has already commented with what I would have. Just keep on, keeping on is all I can say!
Wouldn’t it be great!?! Yes, there is only so much time in the day, I don’t know how some people do it. Truthfully while I read what I vote, I’m not great at commenting for those same reasons... which is something I am trying to work on. But you’re right, sometimes I don’t really have anything to add haha.
I agree, keep on keeping on indeed 🤗
This would be like lists like on Twitter. My Steemit feed is getting unwieldy and I'm starting to miss posts by my favorite people.
Steemit might have their hands full with SMT's but other Steem front-ends like Busy.org could make this.
Yes, I’ve heard good things about steempeak and the features they offer.. I am gonna give that front end a try and see how it works for me.
Thank you for sharing such thoughts @llfarms, you are right but nothing is perfect in this world so is Steemit. I believe the programmers working hard to make it easier for us, customers but still some things are not possible to improve. I have had the same problem like you, but what I have done for me, my hubby created a folder with my favorite bloggers bookmarked on menu tab so everytime my hubby or me do upvotes we make sure if anyone has done new posts and visit them. Because there are many people whose blogs we regular visit, we read the posts and upvote, but then when the Upvote power in "basement" then I sit and write comments. I try to write to every post that we upvoted. This is the way how we manage our family blog. I say family but lately it has been take only by my artworks :)
And you are such an amazing commentor! I always really appreciate your kind words and all the encouragement. Are you apart of the engagement leagues by the way? You could be earning a little Steem for your amazing engagement.
I agree, steemitinc Is doing their best.. lots more to come in the future I am sure. Favorites tab is probably not a super important addition at this time haha.
Thanks again 🤗
It is always nice to hear from you,commenting the posts is for me like in the past was popular pen pal when you write to someone who you never seen and tell the person about you, that was one of the projects in my school to exchange the letters between the children of different schools and in other countries. That is almost hte same what we are doing here, learning other people, sharing our thoughts opening the world and introducing ourselves.
As to your question, no I am a not apart of the engagement leagues but after you mentioning I looked through that sounds interesting :)
YEES - a favourites tab would be amazing, I think this all the time!
Or like a live ticker on the home page which updates with new posts from people you know as they are posted. It's so easy to miss posts from people you like! I also think a 'you might like this' type thing which can direct you to bloggers who post about similar topics to ourselves would be awesome.
I'm sure as the platform grows it will advance and make it even easier for us all to connect 😀