Does replying to your comment supporters matter to get upvotes/rewards for your posts?
There are people who have some popularity outside of Steem, and when they get here, their popularity rockets them to good rewards from the get go. They have good material. But then they don't engage in the comments on their posts. It seems that interaction with your supporters in comments doesn't seem to matter to these high-profile popular users. Yet, they keep getting rewards just for dumping content on Steem. Just posts, no interaction with the community (or very little).
Source
They post daily or every few days, getting upvotes and high-rewards, yet they don't reply to the comments from their supporters. What gives? Why doesn't their level of interaction factor in to people who support them?
People who go through their content are taking that time to do so presumably, and then they take the time to comment. I understand not all comments might be contributing relevant additions to the topic. But all comments aren't just fodder. I have a backlog of being 1 day to 2-3 days behind on some posts for me to reply to comments and upvote them (been busy with girlfriend in evening so time to comment gets cut). So I understand if that's the case of having a backlog and not getting to comment replies right away, but it's not the case, as they have week- or month-long no commenting.
You can go see their #comments page and check to see when they last made a comments. They may have made 6 posts in the past week, or 6 in the past two weeks, and get comments, but their last comment is sometimes 6 days ago, 10 days ago, 2 weeks ago. One accounts I saw recently, @pressfortruth, has not made a comment in a month, yet they post each day pretty much and gets well-rewarded for each post. I am using this one account specifically because it was the last one I saw recently and to demonstrate the veracity of what I'm saying. There are other popular users who come from antimedia or other journalistic sites and do similar on Steem with not engaging in replies with their commenters. They get supported by high-SP user upvotes and get decent rewards for their content.
I appreciate the knowledge of many posts. But when I see that they don't even care to interact with the commenters who leave them support, I am left a bit disheartened by their behavior. I am left wondering if they should be getting the support they do -- the rewards they do, when they don't seem to care to interact on the platform at all beyond posting.
Many users are just doing hit-and-run posts, and not responding to comment or interacting on the platform in other ways. They get rewards and are happy I'm sure. Why reward others when they essentially ignore the community of supporters who interact with their content? Engaging in the platform to get rewards apparently doesn't matter in order to get rewarded, at least for some users. If you're popular, you can do hit-and-run posting and reap the rewards without caring to interact with your supporters. Sure, they might be (probably are) busy, but is that a valid excuse to ignore your supporters?
People are free to vote how they want. I am bringing to light some behavior I have issues with. Does anyone else have issue with this, or is it just me? I'd like to see well-rewarded posters care more about their supporters. Maybe all of the users doing the upvoting/rewarding can take this into account, whether they want to support hit-and-run posters that much or not. Is the content all that matters, or does their interaction on the platform with their supporters matter at all when you support them with an upvote?
Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.
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Some content producers are so busy making content, they just don't have time to interact much with their followers/commenters. Add on top of that family/social engagements and other life problems, and the time for commenting on Steemit is almost non-existent.
So it doesn't matter at all to reply to comments. I should just not bother either then :P I could be doing other things instead of replying to comments for sure. But I see it as obligation to the supporters to give them the courtesy or replying to their comments, rather than ignore them.
I agree that those large accounts should make a point about interaction - as to whether it makes a difference to success - clearly not if your a big account, as to whether it does down here in minnow land I couldn't say with any statistical certainty, but I certainly feel that if I didn't reply to people's comments I probably don't deserve their rewards.
I'm still trying to figure out whether I find lack of engagement 'distressing' or not. I probably have about 20-30 people who clearly make a point of occasionally checking in and reading something I've written and making a comment, and I probably have about 40-50 who I do the same with.
I don't think I could handle more than that!
Even with the people who want to engage - they haven't got that much to engage with! to give you one example - @mountainjewel is an excellent e.g. of an account putting out excellent posts, and who clearly wants to engage ( they are active in two community/ curation initiatives (e.g. part of @tribesteemup and @abh12345's curation leagues, and more) - but check out their feed to see how little engagement they get.
To further this, I always come in the top 50 (I think) of Asher's engagement leagues and TBH, even though I respond to every worthwhile comment and make a point on digging around, I don't spend more than a few hours a week on this.
In short, even at the top end of 'engagement', engaging mainly means adding someone to auto-voter. Or to put it another way, I don't think people on here are that interested in engaging, in particular! Being one of those who does 'engage' it's a very, very small world! Maybe that's something to do with the rewards structure?
Of course, the record on here doesn't tell us anything about what's going on off-steemit.
As a teacher this doesn't surprise me, however, churning out content/ lecturing is much less stressful than engaging - interaction takes more time, and is more stressful.
Also, I don't think it's possible to churn out content on here, maintain a full time job outside, bring up kids and engage meaningfully with more than 30-50 people anyway.
But zero engagement, that's taking it too far for sure!
Thanks for the mention! Yeah I wonder if there’s anything we could do differently to get more engagement? Open to suggestions. For a while there, I had a lot of free time and would take more time to go out and find new people and comment on their stuff, that usually got the engagement going a bit more. Like a tit for tat thing unless you build relationships, like you say, where you “check in” on people. I do that quite a bit too.
But truly I think it just comes down to the money in the account (or appearance of money with consistently big upvoted). That’s where people flock to to earn! Totally get it!
Agreed- I always feel a little burn when people don’t bother to engage at all and just rake in the awards, not really adding any community value to the platform. But again, I know this place means many different things to different people and we’re all in different situations as you mention. I for one don’t have kids or a structured outside of the home job so I get to choose by and large what I do with my time. Good topic for convo!
I knew you'd respond, I was interested to hear what you'd say on the topic!
I don't think we need to beat ourselves up about lack of engagement, rather it's just a 'functional necessity' - people aren't inclined to comment because it's just exhausting!
It's just impossible to do that much of it, especially when you have to maintain a life outside.
BTW - I don't generally comment on permaculture things ATM as I'm hopefully heading that way myself next few months, but not 'in it' yet, don't want to jinx it!
I save most of my commentary for 'steemit issues' like this one. Bizarrely enough I sometimes prefer commenting on other people's posts rather than responding to comments on my own.
Also, there's a place for bants too.
Yeah it takes time to engage. Steem is a full time job :P But just hit-and-run posting with 0 engagement is not cool at all.
Well done and effective post by you and the Steemit community, @krnel. Great engagement/responses. I also agree that content providers need to interact more with their commenters. Most of the big-names on here simply use Steemit as an extra form of revenue from content they initially post on places like Youtube. However, I find that to be selfish. Their perception of this issue is that they are providing the "great, professional content," so we should just be happy and vote for it.
It wouldn't take much for them, however, to assign the job of perusing and responding to comments to some low-level peon. As a matter of fact, I think Sean @Sgtreport does that. I did get a response from a comment, but noticed it did not quite fit with my comment. And, it was not upvoted - although I had not intended or expected to get one.
Anyhoo...we can just vote with our Steem-dollars and they'll eventually get the picture.
They add good content sure, and I guess that's all that matters to them and the high SP upvoters... :/ The courtesy of replying to at least some comments factors in at 0... :/ It seems even upvoting other people comments on posts is something they don't even bother with either...
An essential note, by the way!
I've noticed that the more powerful the person is, the less often he replies on comments (though there're exceptions!)
Yes, you're right, not all comments are worth of replies, but there're rather logical and deep opinions, but they're left without any attention or even "thanks". It's a pity.
I am often in both situations: my comments are ignored sometimes, and sometimes they get a little upvote as a way of interaction or a reply.
Of course, I'm happy to have last two variants, the last one is even better for me, because I tries to express my thoughts about the topic, and when a person replies me, it means, it has touched me, and my words are somehow interesting for him.
When a person only writes posts without any interaction wiith his followers, it's sad. he is a money-maker only in such a case.
I tried to pay attention to all people who have supported me and who it now as well, even if they have low SP and can't give a profitable upvote.
Steemit is not only bussiness, it has much just about human relationships as well.
Do you agree?
Ot is it better to be here just like in a working place, trying to get profit?
Yeah popularity and less comments may seem to correlate :P Yes it's sad when they don't care to be courteous enough to respond to commenters :(
Steem is a business money making path for many, they don't care about adding useful content or interacting. I think it may take time for people to adopt a different approach than just trying to make money :)
do you think it's possible?-)
Moneymaking is in blood of most people nowadays, and Steemit isn't an exception unfortunately...
But you're right, struggle for quality content is necessary, otherwise, the platform will sink in trash posts.
There're cleaners and cheetah but it's not enough as we can see.
You know, I've come to Steemit from Golos (the Russian clon of it), and here they tried to fight for unique and good content by giving additional rewards to authors. There were some criteria: uniquness (plagiarisms programs tested it), the article or photos had to be published in Golos first (and then in other resources), and deep or interesting plot of the article.
This very program was initiated by one of whales, and was supported by founders of the platform. So authors got reward from that very fund, and there were curators who analyzed all posts, checked, tested, and gave rewards (or made notes for plagiarism).
It was great, and really stimulated people to write more and better.
The maintenance of it was expensive (but upvotes of whales covered it), but It really helped.
I was one of the curators there for some months.
The idea was cool, but it had too much critics from haters.
I left the platform soon when it stopped functioning.
How do you think it can be appropriate for Steemit? Or it's too big for it (I mean the number of posts and users). Golos is much much smaller.
I, being a plankton, comment under the posts of people like you to be rewarded and show the world my existence. It is the truth. If someone produce a content, there should be consumers. @krnel need not to put as much efforts as he puts now to get decent rewards for all his posts since he has already gained enough support. Yet he tries to add value and engage with community because that is the reason the steemit has been designed this way!
People regardless of their power and position should engage with those who consume their publications. Haejin is such a person who doesn't care about anything other than making loads of money. I believe in engaging with the community for the success in long run!
Thank you for recognizing that I actually do reply to most comments, even though I could ignore them and keep making rewards as most upvoters don't seem to care that an author does that :/
I will upvote tonight--have to wait for a little recharging before I use my votes. However, I would like to respond to your post before it gets lost in the stream of other posts.
All of the issues you raise are legitimate, but I'm not surprised by the obvious imbalance between merit and reward. There are always people who have an edge, advantage that seems unfair. I grew up with five siblings. Learned early not to expect fairness. So, on Steemit, I don't look at what others get. I try to see if I can make progress in my own quiet way. Is there a path to success? Is there a mechanism whereby those without influence can still reap gains? I think so. I didn't invest any money. I'm not chatty and don't socialize a lot on here. What I do is reciprocate good treatment. And I work really hard to make quality posts. My progress is slow, but it is progress. I'm inching along, climbing the mountain. I see chalets at the top, but I don't aim for them. One thing that gives me encouragement is the small groups that are forming, almost organically, to help associates along the way. There's no entrance fee to become part of the groups, just a commitment to write quality posts and check in on blogs that members write. Now, I"m relatively new here. So maybe I've got it all wrong. But I weather moments of discouragement and try to give a lift to those who seem to be making even less progress than I am.
I'm having fun on Steemit. I'm learning a lot as I research different topics for my posts. Maybe in a year I'll think I've been on a fool's errand. All the more reason to enjoy myself while I'm here. Then my time will be well spent, no matter the material rewards.
Peace to you. I'll continue to follow your blog because you have a lot to say.
I agree with you on this. I take a very similar approach I like to engage with many people and I don’t necessarily do it through posts but comments. There are some great groups that comment on similar authors. I’ve seen your name here before as well though not sure if on krnel here but I appreciate the groups and the support we give each other. It won’t get us the chalet but it’s not so glorious at the top and I appreciate that and understand I enjoy my position in between.
I'm here for the possibility and for the experience. As time goes by, I realize the experience of getting there is just as important as arriving. After all, it's time, our most precious resource.
Be seeing you around :)
I'm not chatty either ;) I had to lean to comment more hehe. Well enjoy it indeed even if there are problems, it takes work to climb up ;)
Thank you, for the encouragement.
I've actually noticed that with the hodgetwins they were pretty big on YouTube and when they moved to steemit I thought wow their videos have such low engagement if i comment im more likely to get a response from them then on their youtube videos where it would most likely get lost
But they havn't responded to a single comment. seems like a very one-sided dialogue to me. Which mediums like YouTube are when you're a big channel you engage with your community as a whole by reading the comments and creating content in response and not replying to each and every response
If its a side hustle id get that you dont bother but if this is your full time job you should engage its what will set you apart from others and have users coming back for more as you build a strong relationship with them
Yeah, when the popular ppl get attention here, they just don't care it seems. They get upvotes regardless of their courtesy t their comment supporters :/
I tend to operate on the opposite end of that spectrum. I have spent most my time here thus far commenting and engaging with others before posting anything original myself. Building a small following through comments and getting individuals engaged through my personal contribution is my main goal. I don’t want a post I spend 7 hours researching and building to fall on deaf ears. So my approach is to build a following by showing my support for others. With well articulated comments and replies I think it is possible to get better results than posing blindly and praying. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve actually taken a similar approach. I have posted a lot more recently but I mainly comment because I find it easier than trying to come up with original content lately. It doesn’t pay as well sure but it’s not costing me anything I don’t already pay like internet so it’s a win no matter what.
Well that's a good way to start off, because early on for the time to write post, it can get unrewarded. You have more chance to get upvotes on comments on other people's posts ;) You are doing it right I think :) You're welcome.
I'll give people a few tries, but if I never get a response on a comment I will most likely not continue to support the person. I can find good content a lot of places, so I prefer to spread my vote and comments around to people I enjoy interacting with in a genuine way. I don't comment near as much as I would like to on content, but I always try to reply when someone takes the time to stop by my posts!
That's a good way to go about it :)
Yup, if someone gives you the time to comment, at least an upvote if you can't think of something to reply. Sometimes I can't, and just upvote...
I appreciate you taking the time to respond. ;) Yep, just some small acknowledgement is all it takes! I'm sure it gets tough to reply to everyone when you get hundreds of comments a day, so I do try to take that into consideration, as well.
Well I had just replied, agreeing with your way to go about it, and made another remark, but I forget. Steemit.com had a network error and it didn't even leave my comment there...