Diversifying the Steemit User Base with New Featured Author Post - What do you think?
I’m hoping to engage with the Steemit community to see whether you think this is a good idea or not…
I have been approached by a number of users asking me to feature their work, however I have declined each one. I don’t have to time to read enough on Steemit for this to be a fair exercise in meritocracy, and there are already enough users engaging in this activity.
The other issue I have encountered is reputation risk. One user sent me a great post, that really caught my imagination, however on closer inspection, they had referenced an image from a website that I had no interest in being aligned to (anti-gay rights), and they didn’t even have permission to use this image in the first place..
I have come across a number of users who believe that the Steemit user base needs to diversify in order to grow significantly. I believe this to be imperative for the medium to long term success of Steemit.
The Idea:
A Featured Author Post, Featuring Friends and Acquaintances of Myself and Friends of Trusted Steemit Users, with the Sole Aim of Diversifying Steemit’s user base, with New Interesting Users…
To add another layer to this, Featured Authors will receive 100% of SBD the post generates, which will be sent as Powered Up Steem to their account. If they are still an active user at a time in the future when I Power Down, they will receive this part of the Rewards too (which will also be sent as Powered Up Steem)
Why the Power Up Clause?
I’m only interested in bringing long term, committed users to Steemit. This is not an exercise in enriching myself, or any of my friends. This is purely an attempt to boarded, and enhance the Steemit Community, one user at a time…
I have said a number of times in the past, Steemit should not be viewed as a Get Quick Rich Scheme, and I believe this to be the only valid way for me approaching this project.
To give you an idea of some friends I have in mind…
- A friend who is amongst the best OCR (Obstacle Coarse Racers) in world. He is also a top Amateur Triathlete, and a Sports Lawyer specialising in Drugs Offences.
- A friend who at 28 years old, runs a software company employing 50+ people.
- A friend who is an ex-professional (clean) cyclist who beat Lance Armstrong in a Grand Tour
- A friend who was the most unhealthy person I knew (he lived on Big Mac’s, Coffee and Branston’s Pickle for years), who last November turn Vegan and decided to Exercise every day.. (he has already agreed to join if I help him through the process like this..)
- I would engage with other community members to onboard other interesting (diverse) users, who can add something to the Steemit community
Now, you might be asking, why haven’t I already got these people signed up? Well, I’ve found it difficult to sign these potential users up for a number of reasons.
- Most of them are not bloggers, and thus don’t even know where to start… They also don’t understand how easy it is (with a little help from someone who has been there..), and how interesting the Steemit community would find their life stories…
- Non of them are Crypto-currency Enthusiasts, so are put off by things like, the 32 character password, and bad press relating to Bitcoin Hacks…
- Fear of the unknown. The easiest thing in the world is to do nothing, and carry on with the status quo…
However I know that, if I hold their hand through their first post, and support them with their following content, and they see the engagement and success that may follow, I could sign them up to be active member and advocates of the Steemit platform. I also think we could help many others do the same.
Summary
I’m essentially looking for a mandate from the community to do this. Especially from the users who have supported me with frequent comments and up-votes.
You know who you are!!
If it’s Not a resounding Yes I will leave this topic alone and continue on other endeavours. I see this as a chance to open up 'The Network Effect' to a few class of user. The main opposition to this could be along the lines of, should I be using my reputation to give some new users a leg up on other users? This is a question I want to leave to the comments section to answer.
Thanks for your consideration…
EDIT: I am considering a more passive approach of a mini feature, with Prelude and Link to the authors content, within my normal posts... Would be interesting to hear what you think about this approach too...?
I like the idea and I also think you should periodically blog about the experience with an eye toward encouraging other steemit users to do the same. The larger benefit would be to start a trend as opposed to just bringing in your own personal contacts. (But all of those people sound fascinating to me and I would look forward to hearing from them!)
Great. Thanks for the reply @smooth. I will bear in mind your larger benefit point too!!
I think this is a great idea. One question though, do featured authors actually see an uptick in their own upvotes and rep score? Or does life go back to normal after the payout?
Hello @geke Think of it like a helping hand for the first post to get noticed, then support with posting content in their own right, from then on... So the answer is no...
Suppose what I could do, is a 'Hidden Gem' kind of set up, with the link to there first post...? That way they could benefit from the reputation-upvotes...
The problem I see with that is when a whale posts featured content, other whales and bots will automatically upvote as a bet that the post will do well. Those whales and bots won't necessarily click through to the minnow's post because it's a much riskier bet. I suppose that's a jaded view on my part, but I do think the majority of upvotes are cast for that reason. Many of my upvotes are cast for that reason, though I do read the posts and try and give a relevant response. I do upvote minnows from time to time, but it seems I have an incentive not to do so most of the time. Am I wrong to believe that? I really hope I am.
Well said @geke now I understand whale psychology a little better, thank you.
its admirable that youre giving all SP and SBD to the authors. AFAIK, youre the first one doing that.
That said, TBH i would like the idea way better if you simply promoted their post (that is to say, have them post on their own account and you post referencing their post)
because if you do that, it will have the added benefit of getting them followers. And the only votes they will be missing out on are the ones that are pure bot (that is to say, the ones that can't even be bothered to click through)
I do agree with @sigmajin that would be fairest, but others are doing blog promotions. There is a better monetary response to one per blog promotions like that what @gavet , @jacor , or @dragonslayer109 do. It's easier for promoted users get on their feet that way.
As long as you are honest with your intentions and work, when you promote new values as you said you would, it should not bring bad feelings.
For example, a few days ago @dragonslayer109 started promoting in his gems, some posts that got over 50 $ and users with a big following before he posted his gems, that way I lost some respect for his work. Reasons for that may be different, but I think that he lost his first principles once he got rich, or maybe bots started following his upvotes, or he promoted those in chat first, but nevermind, this is one example of bad feelings by me.
It's like with politicians, if u stand behind your words, and bring value to people they will love you.
@leksimus, FYI @dragonslayer109 doesn't share rewards for the Hidden Gem post. They do however for their Featured Author. If you want to up-vote a Hidden Gem post that does share all the SBD, look at @biophil
I do follow @biophil, and sincerely appreciate people that are finding true lost gems (its hard job manually) and I think they should be rewarded as quality lost content should be rewarded too. I also appreciate @dragonslayer109 efforts but when he started posting post from well-known users with 50$+ payouts it seemed to me he is not doing what he was doing at the start, or what is promised by name of hidden gems. It feels insincere, and that is what could make one's followers feel cheated or betrayed.
I will bear that in mind. Starting to think that might be a fairer was to do this too @sigmajin...
By all means bring your friends on board but to improve content we need a focused approach. It would be much better to bring in ten top authors in a narrow subject than in ten different subjects. Look at the anarchy success here. Everyone in the community joins. You could say the same for crypto news. You need critical mass to build a community. The approach of finding one good content source in a subject is like a city trying to randomly win manufacturing rather than try to add business that complement its population. Austin tech Seattle space, Detroit auto. These work better rather than a random city trying to win one good employer in each category.
Remember Facebook started with schools.
You have my support. I grew up surrounded by a multitude of diverse people from all walks of life, and raised to believe that diversity is a great strength. As it is in real life, so it is in the digital world. It sounds like you have some really interesting friends, and I would like to read their stories. I think it's fine of you to use your reputation to give them a bit of a helping hand; increasing Steemit's network effect will only benefit all of us in the long run.
I am a bit confused by what you said about sending powered up Steem to the accounts of featured authors. I thought Steem Power was non-transferable?
Thanks for the post @cryptomancer
If you click advance options on Power Up, you can Power Up Steem, and send it to another users account in the same action.
Good to know, thanks. That's my fun fact of the day.
Great idea to propose, especially the focus on: "I’m only interested in bringing long term, committed users to Steemit" and "not be viewed as a Get Quick Rich Scheme"
That's what I am about, as I have shared in my post to try to help Steemit suceed:
and also:
Please take a look at the above link. I think what I am saying needs to be read and understood by more people. Take care. Peace.
Same here, lol. Bought my first bitcoin, and converted it to STEEM after visiting this platform. I believe Steemit, STEEM will still be revolutionary. It'll take some time, and its going to happen
I don't see why not. I understand why you may have been hesitant previously, because it is your reputation on the line. But the way you explain your plan, with it being people you know, and from the sounds of it, these people will bring great diversity and specialist interest to the audience here at Steemit. So my vote is a yes.
And your plan regarding the exchange of Steem for their efforts sounds right too. If it helps lead to long term stability for Steemit, even better.
There should be a way for a author to be featured where all proceeds (both SBD and Steem Power) earned from the featured post, go to the author being featured. Right now too much of a reward is given to the poster doing the featuring IMO. Featuring should be a completely selfless act trying to promote an unknown author and help them gain a reward and following for their contributions to this new platform.
Thanks for your post @justtryme90. I think that makes sense. This was part of my aim with suggesting this post (Trying to find a way of Promoting new users, where only the User and Steemit Community benefit), the other part being to pick some valuable new users for help the Steemit community diversify...
nice idea, upvoted!
It is a great idea. You make a lot of people happy and some of them really need the cash which is a huge bonus as they might get noting for posting on their own account :)