Change my mind a little about individual bloggers/vloggers with a dream to live off the blockchain.
When you form an idea in your mind about something and you don't share it you will eventually start to think that the idea that you formed is the truth.
Here in lies the power of debate for me.
I do share a lot of ideas that I have about Steem with everyone but it's not always easy to discuss these ideas with a variety of people on the internet in text.
But here, on Steemfest 3, I can and it's so refreshing.
One of those ideas that crept in my mind lately is that I believe that individual bloggers/content creators will eventually lose against communities with thousands of members when it comes to earning STEEM.
It just made sense to me that these communities will just suck up all the STEEM from the reward pool. Why? Well they earn a lot of SP through their business model and can use that to rewards their community and grow it even more.
As an individual you can't fight against that I thought and so I believed individual blogging would die out. You must join a community to survive.
After talking about it on Steemfest with a lot of people I have changed my mind a little bit.
I think @nanzo-scoop phrased it the best.
"You don't have to be the size of Sony if you are Micheal Jackson".
Now I doubt any of us are Micheal Jackson but neither are the projects here the size of Sony.
I guess what he mend was that even though Sony is a very big company making more money than most individuals it doesn't mean that an individual can't make it in their on right.
So I'm hopeful for content creators that see themselves as a company and building their brand.
But things will change for them as it will change for projects on the blockchain.
Building a community around yourself is very important.
Also other revenue streams must be in place because relying on the reward pool as a 'individual' is going to be tough if you don't bring in our own SP at the start.
It's going to take time.
Anyone new to the blockchain and trying to find a stable income here will have to work hard.
Much harder than those first generation bloggers (That first mover advantage is gone forever) and harder than most people (probably two jobs, daytime and blogger/vlogger next to that).
I guess as a new person I would look at joining an existing community first and build a name there. It also allows you to earn your first STEEM/SMT there to start.
From there you can grow until you are big enough to stand on your own feet or move to a bigger community.
It's going to be a project and investment in yourself that will take you years to do from scratch but it won't be impossible if you really want to.
But it's not for the faint of heart. You will feel happy and sad on this journey. You feel like you wan't to give up and some will.
Again this is for the people that want to live off the blockchain, not the person that just want's to have fun.
It's not easy.
Show up everyday, make connections, work your brand, work on yourself and then it should be fine.
The reward will be worth all the pain.
I am part of witness @blockbrothers.
Please consider us for your witness vote if you think we deserve it here:
Vote for @blockbrothers via SteemConnect
Set blockbrothers as your proxy via SteemConnect
We are the creators of Steemify a notification app for your Steemit account for iOS.
Get it Here:
I think we need to market this as borderless. My post earnings wouldn't pay my bills here in Australia; but there's nothing stopping me from going to Thailand for a year, and thriving there instead.
(Thinking specifically of @annabanananz)
I couldn't take my regular, 9-5 gig overseas with me; so that flexibility is huge.
I think that’s the beauty of Steemit. You don’t have to be tied down to one place. I can post from an RV or tent anywhere in North and South America as long as I have internet. Truly borderless.
Yes, I agree after having my own business for 10 years and being stuck, Steem is way more flexible I must admit.
Yeah, a borderless 'currency' - maybe we need to think more borderless too...
Posted using Partiko Android
When someone enjoys what they do, it really is not hard at all. As I have become part of many communities it has become easier but it is not the only solution. I am trying to approach it from many directions by participating in communities, broadening my type of content and buying STEEM for leveraging my stake. I also intend to try to help new users with education and support in order to motivate them for retention. While this does not directly increase my stake, it add values to the ecosystem which we are all a part of.
What you have said about being hard and not for everyone is so true. I have been busy every day for more than 8 hours since April and I am knackered.I like you believe in this place and will just keep pressing on.
Keep pressing on indeed. It'll be worth it.
Posted using Partiko Android
amen to that man. show up everyday and get yourself out there. i think steemfest has secured my belief even more about community.
finding like minded individuals that share in your vision and journey. each helping one another. it’s a powerful thing when you combine it with your own efforts and focus.
Posted using Partiko iOS
Sounds like you had a blast! Been enjoying your updates and it's great to hear your enthusiasm has stepped up (yet) another notch!!!
Posted using Partiko Android
addicted lol better way to describe it lol
Posted using Partiko iOS
Ha, yes, steem-addict.
Posted using Partiko Android
Thank you for your insight, I guess this comes from your experience here in Steemit. Good way to share realistic expectation for those who want to tread the path you just described above,
I see a lot of reasonable truth here though it is more difficult for those of us that came late to the party. I hope I can be part of a meaningful community soon.
Thanks for sharing your perspective.
This is an important point. Over 2 years ago many people did sink their own capital into steemit. Newcomers don't perhaps realise that. I came to steemit with nothing. I had no expectation and I invested only my time and intention. Other people have ridden the highs and lows of establishing this platform based on real investment and the very real losses and gains along the way.
As time passes I know we need to move away from that point and look to the equity of the platform, if for no other reason than for its survival. But we do each have to consider what it is we bring.
Our accounts are roughly the same age. Up until now I have not been consistently active and hard working, I used steemit as a distraction from life rather than a source of success (I am looking forward to a shift in the coming year, but til now I have just been socialising, but learning a lot at the same time). I haven't taken the time to build a brand. I would not therefore dream of just reaping the same rewards based simply on an entitlement of signing up and expecting that currency will rain down. Too many people expect that in the early days and are disappointed.
But if you do have an idea, a brand, something to share, grow, sell, a passion... steemit is one very useful tool to compliment that vision. But it is unlikely to be the sole place in which it is realised.
Many people use it as a creative space to cultivate creativity, discover potential and share ideas. This is still beautiful to witness, even as times change. The growth and confidence from nurturing potential and seeing people harness that through hard work is wonderful.
Seeing how much small revenue can effect the lives of people in developing countries. That is the greatest accomplishment. A Bangladeshi school for 40 kids in a slum that would not exist without steem, that is incredible.
I know you can do a perfect Moonwalk!
i will go on the other side and say that bloggers/vloggers gonna get crushed by the dapps or forced to adapt doing things they don't like but the dapps are not exactly the issue.
Let me warn you and everyone that reads it, that i tend to write a lot so beware!
First of all, it's important to remind that literally everyone get in here in order to make money. The priorities may changed for some, for others not all, but at the back of our heads money remain in the top list.
The dapps as you mentioned too, hold power (SP) granted by delegations,investors or everyday Steemians that either believe on it, or they have something to earn from it (remember money will remain in the back of hour heads!). Because of that most of those Dapps will have a great amount of SP+ their SMTs, so they can make more things than an average blogger can.
They can make contests with more rewards, rewards users in different ways even the simplest thing, granted upvotes to community members if they do specific things for the community. An average blogger can't compete to that
In a way the same applies for every community. A straight blogger have to attract audience and he needs to interact with others. Pretty fast he will realize there are communities depending on the country-ethnicity, so belonging there, there higher chances of interaction and rewards. Then he will find out about more specific communities like the stem community and such. In a way if you think it he/she will remain in their "micro-world" because there are granted rewards and interaction.
The Dapps are taking the stage now, with more rewards and ways of rewarding so all those people will try to get in there. What i have seen and witnessed so far and only a few will admit is that the majority of the Dapps users are doing it just for the sake of money-tokens and ease.
The real issue though is the extremely low account activity. We got 50-60k of daily active users, counting the bots and the alt accounts. Also, if someone use autoving services or does any transaction during a day, he/she will count as a daily active account. Thus the actual daily active accounts are around 10k even less. Nobody does anything manually and add the bad interface to that, even the most dedicated blogger at a time he/she will search for the easiest thing to do because nobody actually reads-comment their posts but some close friends-loyal followers.
What's the easiest thing to do if you were/are a blogger/vlogger that dedicate more than an hour for a post?
Simply delegate at a dapp to earn passive income, upload posts about products that you don't care and after 2 minutes everyone will forget just to earn some easy money and tokens and upload how many steps you did today (that nobody cares, not even you) in order to catch some of the auto-votes!
You blew my mind with this write up. Exactly the true state of dapps. Am I liking it?.. it's a definite yes.
The content speaks for itself and the communication is the key here ;)