Every Little Bit Helps: Take Ownership
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We all want to be rewarded for the content we provide on here.
There is a bit of a debate that takes place on here over the issue of "quality" content. It seems that a lot of this stems from the early adopters of Steem who, for the most part, are bloggers. It is obvious that these individuals would lean towards the idea of quality.
At the same time, there are those who understand most of the Internet is not about quality but, rather, fun and what is of interest. It is a world full of cat videos, memes and pics of kids doing outrageous stuff that makes you laugh.
This puts Steem right in the middle of a debate. Everyone wants mass adoption yet that cannot take place if we are only going to allow blogging. This is big on the Internet yet it is not the overwhelming amount of traffic.
Many of the applications we are seeing do not focus upon quality per se. They are after what interests people. For example, @dlike is modeled, to a degree, after Pinterest. Anyone who used this site knows it is like a public corkboard. People simply "pin" what they like.
There is also a growing use for the Steem blockchain as a Proof of Contribution (or participation). People are posting as a means to verify they completed a particular activity they are being rewarded for via a SMT.
This is all part of the evolution of Steem and I welcome it. We are going to see all different kinds of interaction taking place on this blockchain as applications appear. To hold steadfast to some level of "quality" is not possible.
That does not mean that Steem has to be a shit show with nothing but crap on here. Even the validation posts or things that are of interest can be uplifted.
Of late, we see a great deal of focus upon comments. @steemhunt put together an entire program along with an airdrop based upon comments. Their goal is to get people to leave better quality comments. @dlike is also compensating for comments. Unfortunately, it seems that spam type comments are becoming commonplace.
Each of us is a stakeholder. When we own STEEM or any of the SMTs, we have a vested interest That means it is up to use to do all we can to move the ecosystem forward. I do not think most people grasp this concept. If you want STEEM (or the SMT) to succeed, why do you insist on putting forth a terrible view? There is a reason why centralized organizations tightly control the message. They know their success depends upon how their product is viewed.
The one area we all can add to the ecosystem is with our comments. One reason why there is such garbage on places like Facebook is because the users have little to no stake in the system. They could care less. Unless they happen to hold a bunch of stock, however the platform is viewed means little to them. It is also has no impact.
That is not the case on Steem. If one is continually putting up comments that add nothing to the post, this means that individual is hurting the ecosystem. This not only hurts all of us but it also hurts that person. Of course, the individual does not view it that way yet it is how it unfolds.
There are people outside of Steem who read what is posted on here. At this time it might be minimal but it will grow. For this reason it is up to each of us to take ownership of our place here. I mean would you spray paint graffiti on your house or car? I do not think that most would. Then why you we effectively do the same thing by putting up spammy posts?
Bogus comments benefit nobody. Yes it might get one a few extra tokens and, perhaps, even an upvote from the account bot. However, what good is that if you are helping to drive the token into the ground? This is not what owners try to do.
One of the biggest benefits of the impending tokenization of the world is that it provides people with ownership. The only challenge with that is that it also entails responsibility. That is something most people are not accustomed to dealing with.
It is time to take ownership of this entire ecosystem. The reason I write this is because it is the reality for each of us. Anyone who has a single STEEM has a vested interest not only in Steem but every DApp that is on here. They all feed into the same ecosystem.
We can start by concentrating upon the comments we leave and the "conversations" we have here.
Outsiders are watching.
If you found this article informative, please give it an upvote and resteem.
I have seen your posts before advocating posting many posts daily by people and to be honest never understood the logic behind it. I think many do just that, and post after post do not get upvotes nor payouts for them. I know for myself, I do not have enough upvotes to give to the quality posts in my feed and certainly have none to give to low effort posts of low quality. I have never understood who you believe would be upvoting most of those posts. Many here do not invest, they believe they can build it from nothing and their votes are worthless, even curation of high voted posts net the average user with no stake invested little. That leaves those who have who either delegate their SP, vote their circles or only support the posts of quality that interest them.
I agree wholeheartedly with you regarding commenting. That was what turned the corner for me here, that and investing a little bit I really didn't have but saw the math demanded it of me. I built my community on others posts, forming relationships with them that would never have been built had I waited to be discovered. Ownership of ones account here is the only chance newer people have of building anything.
The reason why I tell people to post more often is because there are an assortment of tools to post with. And now, upvotes are available via the main accounts for dtube, dlike, actifit, steemhunt, and others. Some of these accounts have pretty large SP delegated to them.
So while a newcomer might not have the network, this is a way to start achieving it.
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While there is no success without content, networking, and persistence here, I tend to augment that with thoughtful conversation. Helps with all of the above really.
I tend to reply and converse where the upvotes AND conversation are though as 2-way engagement is more enriching for the content and community.
Glad it is noticed!
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steemit becomes a much better place when everyone begins using it and thinking of it as just one more platform.
Weirdly the one thing that drives users here (potential profit) might be the thing that holds it back, or even kills it.
The average person who drifts here comes probably for the potential money, especially those that started when I did... about this time last year, when the illusion of quick money hung in the air.
People use instagram, reddit, facebook, tumblr and all sorts of other platforms without needing or expecting money. For me at some point a few months ago my mind switched between more seeing steemit as a way of making potential money and more just an interesting idea that I expect to be a stepping stone to something greater and while I'm waiting to see what happens I'll continue using all these different platforms for my entertainment and information desires.
And I'll share a little and try and browse for interesting stuff (something that's very hard to do, but luckily getting better it seems. )
I think that the no thought posts desperate for tiny .001 SP are from people who aren't seeing any value in steemit itself as a way of communicating or gaining info/entertainment.
These people are seeing it the way I used to see it. The ratio between stuff I'm interested in and shit posts/comments are too great here for right now. There are many problems to solve if steemit or another steemitesque platform ever becomes popular. And this is just one of them.
sorry loooong comment. im way too verbose.
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I really enjoy the insights I glean from your posts @taskmaster4450 and this one is no exception. As a, new steemian it's become obvious seeing a correlation between a quality post and the depth of knowledge or new ideas expressed in the comments. Comments should not be viewed any differently than a blog or the op itself. That being said I'm going to have to go to task on the "could care less" bit of your post as its a pet peeve of mine and undermines your valid point you're making. It is could not care less, if they could care less believe me people can always reach new lows of pathetic and indeed care less. I know it's annoying to get nit picked by such a seemingly trivial aspect of the post, but the issue at hand is quality content,and editing is tantamount to quality.
Typed as always from my phone so I'm positive I could also attract an editing eye.
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The blogging will stay but different communities will be created here with not the same ingredients.
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I totally understand the desire for more quality content especially before the outbreak of Steem dapps, but something I haven't heard a ton about is the quality of the interfaces. It doesn't much matter what the quality of my blog posts are if my readers have to search through an unsorted list of content that may or may not have even been posted to Steemit or another blogging site. Or look at Dsound. They don't even have a search bar. I'm not trying to trash these dapps, but they're gonna have to up their game BIG TIME if we want to get mass adoption.
"Everyone wants mass adoption yet that cannot take place if we are only going to allow blogging. "
I can´t think of a better way to describe our current problem. The majority of people are consumers of content, not creators, and they would love to be rewarded for that, otherwise they will stay on Facebook and all those big social media.
STEEM purposed something different, but since it was created the path it took is not attractive for the masses, and that´s a step we need to take. The sooner the better, that´s why I support apps like @dlike.
The system is the reflection of the individual.