I’ve seen a number of posts recently which promise fool-proof ways to get your content noticed, particularly the ever elusive Whale Vote.

Timing, yes of course. A good headline, got it, and images - absolutely!

What I realized, though, is that none of those posts were by actual ‘whales’ themselves. So I decided to reach out to a few to gather their thoughts on the whole thing, and I found a couple that weren’t too busy in between meals of microscopic plankton.

I went to the richlist and selected a number of high ranking individuals and got in contact with them. Of those who were available to contact, some of them responded, some did not - understandably, as we’ll see shortly. It’s tough to reach most of the top 10 as an unknown.

@jacobt has written that the circle jerk must end, and for the most part I agree with that assesment (and so did at least one of my interviewees) yet here I am adding more jerk to the circle. Bear with me, though.

I normally post plenty of non-Steemit related material, and I plan to continue doing so -- this is a brief interruption in my regularly scheduled programming!

So what did “the whales” have to say for themselves?

Whales are people too!

I’ve gathered that the high value voters generally aren’t fans of all of this “whale” talk.

I’m sure that there are individuals who don’t mind, or don’t care, but the people that I spoke with expressed that the term “whale” is a bit depersonalising. That’s fair enough.

They were early adopters, and have benefitted greatly, but they’re still people.

People often treat them like a cash register, forgetting the human element sitting behind those majestic whale accounts moving slowly past your most recent post, not even considering the upvote button!

They aren’t a monolith, “The Whales”, they have their own thoughts, and they don’t work in collusion necessarily unless - like any other people, it serves their mutual self-interest. They have their own ideas about what should be acceptable or not on Steemit, and what should be rewarded. They don’t all get along with each other! Imagine that?!

Spammy McSpamface

Every single person that I spoke with mentioned that they are constantly barraged with links in PMs, often enhanced by sob stories. This is not the way to get their attention.

Now, I’ve tried this and I don’t blame people for trying it either! We know where the big money votes come from, and we want that fast track, please and thank you! But begging for upvotes or views isn’t going to work, it just makes them ignore everyone more. This was highlighted by a few of those interviewed.

Say no to spam

It will only make things worse. If you thought you were about to be put on that magical autovote list, you could easily find yourself put on the ignore list if you spam them with links.

A couple said they maintain a follow list. This means that if you make good contributions, and a high value poster comes along and sees this, you could end up on that list! By the way, you can use SteemStats.com to keep track of your followed users. It’s a really great resource, thanks to @jesta .

Besides that, we know that there are autovote lists maintained by some others, which are curated carefully to maximise the good and minimize the bad effects. The benefits of automatic voting can be discussed elsewhere! I’ve posted before about The List and how much I’d love it, but I’m also a bit skeptical of its usage on Steemit as it is today. The early days were different. But let’s move on!

Let’s drop the “pander to the whales” bullshit

I’m nobody to be telling you what audience you should write for, but for me, I’d rather write for my people and not for the top 10 largest account holders, some of whom are not really that active! At the end of the day, unless I know these high value voters personally, I won’t know what they’re into anyway. I can go around checking what they appear to upvote and copy that — but then I’m just a copy cat, that can’t be very fulfilling and it probably won’t work any way.

The advice I received was this, and others have said it over and over;

Post what you’re passionate about, it will attract others who are passionate about the same things.

If those people happen to be high value voters, then that’s an added bonus!

Those interviewed said that sometimes they will upvote things just to have a bit of fun, it’s not all serious business! Often they will upvote posts which aren’t necessarily their cup of tea contentwise, but which encourage discussion or bring up some good points.

Making a few cents on your post is deflating, I know…

But you cannot count on a group of people at the top to always be present and always be watching every new post, there’s just too much shitposting and, to be fair, a lot of goldposting too (is that even a real term?) which can get lost.

Going through the brand new posts is a real hassle, those interviewed said that they simply don’t have the time, and it’s true that most of us don’t.

So how do you stand out?

Build relationships naturally, be real, honest, authentic. Also be very active.

Find out who your people are and where they congregate. If you’re a photographer, drop us some lines in the #photography tag If you’re a writer, try #writing. Do you love tortoises, like I do? Check out #tortoises and interact with those people (I think it might only be me!!) Building those communities, I was told, is what will make Steemit survive in the long run.

Start a new tag! Did you notice the #SteemitPhotoChallenge tag trending recently? That’s because I had an idea and ran with it! Though I did not solicit any high value voters nor did I pander. It would not have been as successful if it was not supported by @berniesanders, of course, but I didn’t go into it with that mindset. I did it because I wanted to highlight the great photographers that I know we have on here, and @berniesanders chose to support that initiative.

Focus on what you’re good at, do what you love, and be who you are. If you fail, then you’re just a terrible person. No, I’m just kidding. If you don’t achieve immediate success, don’t become disillusioned - this thing is going to take some time. Have you ever tried creating a successful blog from scratch? It’s tough, much tougher than Steemit. Just keep swimming and use the avenues available to you.

Build The Middle Class

In finalizing this article I saw a trending post on this very topic, written by @timd, praising the rise of the Dolphins— the middle class. Make sure you read that article! It's pretty good and this now only serves to reinforce their points.

Steemit is new. Everyone here is an early adopter. Not the earliest adopters, but still early adopters. The chance for growth is gigantic, make sure that you’re active so that you can move up with the platform. Vote for things that you like, even if it’s just a few cents.

I’d feel better with 10 $50 upvotes than 1 $500 upvote. Of course, the payout is the same, and I’m obviously not asking high power voters not to upvote me! But I’d feel like I made more of an impact with the 10 $50 votes, meaning that 10 people appreciated it enough to upvote rather than just the one. 500 $1 votes would also feel pretty good, if you’re picking up what I’m putting down here. The point is that the wealth is going to grow for active users. If you put in the time and energy, you may not get that fast track to immense wealth that most people don’t get. But you will be able to slowly build your influence and the middle class. The pool is small right now, use that to your advantage!

It’s true that an upvote from a high value voter is a fast track to exposure, and a high payout. But the value of active accounts can only increase over time, because you are generating small amounts of Steem Dollars and Steem Power through your interactions and posts.

I believe I'm coming to understand how the high value voters are instrumental in building the middle class. The public may not always agree with the methods or the individual posts, but generally speaking the posters that are being supported are worth supporting, especially if they then turn around and support those 'below' them in the list.

When you get $10 on a post that you were going to put on Instagram for free — that’s still pretty good. It’s not $1000, I understand, I’d prefer to get $1000 on all my posts consistently as well! I’d quit my job and move to the Caribbean.. Oh, wait...never mind.

By growing our own reputation and being active in posting, we can't help but gain upwards mobility on this platform.

So the take away, in summary...

• Don’t spam links in PMs
• Don’t treat high value voters like robots or cash registers
• Do write passionately, if you pick up a ‘whale’, great, if not - great.
• Make sure that you yourself are seeking out the type of content that you like, upvoting it, and promoting it, not just yourself.
• Build the middle class!
• Network, build relationships naturally with people. Comment and interact, be active on the forums.

Have a nice day!

and build the middle class.

Thanks to those interviewed for their time and energy, and thanks to @tuck-fheman for giving this a once over. Much appreciated!