I scored a Century !!!

I scored a Century !!!

(that's an actual photo from my home that I clicked in night the other day :))

I just checking my blog feed and the corner of my eyes caught the attention of a 3 digit number on my followers list.

I couldn't believe that I had steemd past 100.
Its been 12 days for me here on steemit. But It only seems like yesterday that I started writing here. Having never blogged in my life ever, I was a lot nervous, I saw myself floundering as I made my attempt to pen down a few words. my mind was blank as I struggled with words or an idea or a story.

Then I slowly started typing.

and it's been 12 days now. 8 blogs ( 4 of them photos actually) later here we are celebrating a small victory. A century scored. some achievement there.

Then my thoughts turned to my followers. the 100 people who brought me to this stage. I just wondered if I it would be a disservice if I simply said thanks to you guys without knowing you first.

I decided that I should know my 100 followers before I write this post.

So I made an excel file of my followers.

And some pretty exciting thing happened..

I just found that I have been followed by Steemians from UK, USA, Finland, Russia, Germany, Poland, Canada, Brazil, Belgium, Venezuela, South Korea, Romania, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Macau, The Netherlands, Bangkok, Croatia, Mpumalanga, Malawi, South Africa, and many from the world, earth, sun Island and some no comments.

Steemit is everywhere !!!!!

I have a few Steemians in my followers list who predominantly write in a language that is not English and that I do not comprehend (Korean & Deutsche). I don't know if they appreciate this post.

I have a very young Steemians who is just 14 year old in my group.

My followers interests range from Christian anarchist to Astrophysics authority in Netherlands, from Professional Poker Player in Brazil to Banker & Public speaker in Hong Kong, A gardener and fishing guy at Ukraine to Spanish Lesson enthusiast and Vegan in USA. Phew!!!!!

I have in my list, dreamers, musicians, artists, foodies, travellers, medic, retail, e-commerce, architect, gamer, entrepreneurs, Mentors and of course the crypto and blockchain enthusiasts, experts and lovers.

A heavy weight Steemian had 8658 followers and 45823 following!!!!

64% of my followers were newbie like me and had joined in June, 2017

Only 13% of my followers are from 2016 era.

87% of my followers joined in 2017

Highest no of posts by 2 newbie was with over2000 posts. They joined steemit in May and June, 2017. Watch out for these guys!!!

Highest no of posts from all my 100 followers were a whopping 18137 posts by a very senior and respected Steemian, @thecryptofiend

Only 2 Steemians in my follower list had less than my no of blog posts. I have posted 8 blogs till now

In my 8 blogs till now, I received maximum comments for a serious subject read the blog here: https://steemit.com/steemit/@topdog/is-language-a-barrier-in-steemit
and then received maximum payout for a short story, read the blog here: https://steemit.com/life/@topdog/a-whistling-village-where-a-tune-is-your-name. it happened when I had about 31 followers. At it’s highest this blog payout was around $440, which has since declined to almost half its initial amount (due to dilution of votes and drop in steem value since last few days I guess).
But that’s alright. I can live with that.

About 11% of my followers have reputation under 30 still and I guess I have some work in hand to help them get some traction on the platform. I will try to advise them on their blogs, up vote it more often and also try to raise their morale. This is the group to which I shall spare some of my time to see that they do better. I guess I owe it to them. It’s my responsibility.

I am fortunate to have some absolutely heavy weight Steemians in my follower list and I am humbled by their presence here. I know I have their back.

With a milestone of 100 followers some of my immediate random flowing thoughts and rants are here.

1. I have never ever asked to “Follow Me” or “Up Vote me” or “resteem my Post” in any of my 8 blogs nor in any of my comments or replies. In spite of that I was able to have a payout close to $500 in all (it would have been much higher if not for the declining value of steem since last few days). You don’t need to ask in every blog to follow or up vote. Everyone who is blogging in this platform (except for newbie who are here yesterday or today) here is aware of them. So write a good post and If a blog has any value, you will receive recognition.

2. I follow only few people as of now. I am very selective as to whom I am following. I follow someone who is having the similar interests as mine or a very senior experienced person here to draw from their experience and knowledge base, I also follow the minnow in my follower list as I could get feed from them and encourage them with my up vote and provide them with some advice or titbits so that they get more traction.

3. Guys everything matters here. Do not blindly follow someone. Your feed will be cluttered with blogs that you might not be interested to check out and some really valuable feed might miss your attention simply because you have so much feed coming to your page. Follow a very few really good bloggers In your area of interests and you will get lot of ideas and help from them.

4. If I like someone’s blog I keep a tab on them and read at least 4-5 blogs from them. If it interests me, I follow them, else I don’t.

5. I am a minimalist. For me less is more. That’s what I do in my “following” others.

My advice and Mantra to all of you there: Engage your readers, Engage your readers, Engage your readers !!!!

I checked out my followers list to see their profile and see if there is a pattern, if their interests match with mine. I am a general blogger. I am no specialist in anything. I write something about life, some stories, philosophy, some random thoughts and more rants.

The profiles of my followers were so wide and varied from one another that I just gave up seeing anything there. I believe I have just a good bunch of faithful here.

My followers come from so many countries. It read like the countries parading during Olympics inaugural day. It felt good and also humbled me. All of you my friends, have my deepest gratitude. If there is anything that I can do for you, I shall be much obliged.

Another thing came to my mind. If you visit a blog and liked the content, and you commented that you appreciate the content, then it becomes your moral duty to upvote.

My upvote is only $0.03. it does not matter. It is the token of appreciation that matters. when I love the content and I commented there, I shall press the upvote button. It becomes a moral obligation.

So guys, Don’t be stingy with your upvotes. Steemit works great with upvotes.

So next time, do not just comment and move to next blog. That is not fair on the part of the author for his time and efforts and also your time in reading that blog. If you like a blog, you comment there and you just have to upvote. Make it a habit. It will make you feel good. It is the right thing to do.

My mentor @firepower advised me, think with your mind and write with your heart. And that is what a first time blogger like me is doing here. The idea is to have fun here and rant a bit. Money is only a bye-product and will definitely follow.

So my dear followers, keep your head down and write with your heart, the whole world will follow you and all the treasure will be yours. God Bless you all !!!