TL;DR, Can't You Just Summarize it in a Meme? Thoughts on Getting Old...
One of the primary reasons it was easy for me to leave Facebook was the proliferation of inane memes cluttering up my feed... especially the kind you'd see seven times a day, presented by seven different people on your "friends" list... each time without so much as a single word to explain why you thought it was stupid, funny, clever, offensive, on-point or something else.
Perhaps my exit was somewhat aided by the stunning explosion of political memes during the 2016 US Presidential election campaigns. It just felt like nobody as contributing anything original anymore.
Take Out Your Brain and PLAY With It!
Butterfly
Here's the thing, I wasn't even put off so much by the political shrieking on both sides of the aisle as much as by the fact that I was observing a majority of the population substituting meaningless memes for having an actual thought-through and verbalized political stance.
In some ways, it felt like 2016 was our meme-driven Presidential election.
I'll be the first to admit that I really enjoy writing, and I also recognize that many people assume the fetal position and curl up in the corner at the mere thought of participating in something requiring writing.
That said, I have this sinking feeling that we're gradually losing our capacity (and desire?) to hold and own our own opinions, in favor of sprinkling around other people's not particularly bright generalizations and going "me too!"
In case you can't tell, the general "dumbing down" of the world has been weighing on me, recently.
And sometimes I find myself getting a little depressed by the distinct possibility that my enjoyment of occasionally "taking my brain out and playing with it" somehow renders me a part of the "old fossil" demographic.
So Why Am I Writing This?
I am a bit of a "trend observer."
River near Estes Park, CO
And I've been noticing the extent to which memes and other "short formats" have been on the rise here on Steemit. Not that there is anything onherently wrong with that... as long as it doesn't start displacing the type of content people are putting serious effort into.
Of course, then we can get down inside the whole discussion of what's "popular" and what's not. And I am well-aware that "good" and "popular" are not the same thing.
One of the things I have found very attractive about Steemit is the generally more intelligent level of discourse and debate here.
Anyway, just hoping the bloggers don't end up feeling "displaced by memes." And that we don't end up with yet another example of the lowest common denominator becoming dominant!
How about you? What drew you to Steemit, originally? Has it lived up to expectations? Did anything in particular cause you to leave other social media venues? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
created by @zord189
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 180211 16:30 PDT
I came here based on the June 2017 push from jerrybanfield when he went nuts for the place at that time. I'm a content creator on the topics of weight loss, health, and social media skills. The Alexa ranking is a key reason I made the jump.
Here at steemit, I mostly post into challenges and contests and create tutorials for steemit skills I have learned. I don't do a lot with my main topics but link out to one or more of my sites with each steemit post.
I've had great results in every way. Traffic and sales are up everywhere and I have lots of new connections into the crypto world. This is my first use or knowledge of this new money, so I am happy to have about 500 new crypto connections on Twitter - for one example.
I try to interact and be as useful as I can be, and I have been able to pay my expenses from the sbd I take out over the last months.
But recently I have noticed a lot of "empty" posts here. The steemit post only refers to a dtube video or a zapple or that new meme place. Sometimes there is no text at all. I know those sites have uses, but I am working here and not really interested in the other places. I feel like they are a drain on the steemit in some ways.
My biggest concern is the 97% failure rate for new minnows. I do not think we can be successful unless the masses come. So maybe those sites have value for that purpose.
No matter what - I am all in and spend most of my work hours here now.
And you have certainly done quite well for yourself-- and congratulations on that!
"What it takes" around here is really two-fold. A lot of people come here with unrealistic expectations, and that's a good part of what's responsible for the high minnow failure rate. I do remember @jerrybanfield being super enthusiastic about the platform early on... and it was "all about the money." Now he has settled into being a far more "responsible" Steemit citizen; running a witness and doing all manners of supportive things for Steemit.
My own account here is 100% "organically created" and I feel like I have done quite well, too. I came here as a content creator, hoping the site would take off and become fairly popular... but I also recognize that will take time. We're pushing into the top-1000 on Alexa, but I see no reason why we can't become a top-100 site within 2-3 years.
You are right about the empty posts... and I fear many of them come from those seeking "easy money." And they may end up being disappointed. But I think we can still grow based on "real" content. At their peak, the old "social blogging" platforms around 2005-06 had some 30 million users. And that was on an Internet that had 15% of the number of total users we have today,
Wow! Where are those people now! I have many contacts on many other platforms since I've been at the weight loss gig for almost 8 years now. I think less than 10% have the content to succeed here at all. And many of those people will never put the time it takes into this place.
I'm absolutely thrilled with the Alexa ranking. Now I do everything I can to get my "good" posts over a $10 payout so I can take advantage of it.
I've followed Jerry to a few places. When I got here is June he was insane. But I've seen him do this in other places. He tries everything with great enthusiasm and is the first to admit he was wrong and back off. I find that very refreshing in this world of people doing nothing.
Thank you for the compliment. I am very happy here and just keep posting!
One of the things I appreciate about Jerry (whom I'd only briefly come across on Facebook before here) is exactly that he stands up and says "Ooops, that might not have been the best thing to do" in a world that otherwise tends to abandon all accountability in order to SELL, SELL, SELL! And he puts his money where his mouth is-- he runs a witness, programs to help people and he put in a bunch of his own money... so he has "skin in the game," as they say.
Where are those people? Most of us did what we were told was "the future:" We created niche blogs that focused on narrow topics and provided information rather than personal experiences. Our "voice" became New York Times style, rather than "conversational." The "social" aspects of blogging were lost to Facebook, leaving behind only the WORDS but not the connections. Which-- I feel-- was a great shame. But I also acknowledge that it's a "sign of the times," relating to our eternally shorter little spans of attention.
There's no reason Steemit shouldn't continue to do really well. At their peak, both Squidoo (now defunct) and HubPages were top-100 web sites, both peaking somewhere in the 60's. If you can make it into the top 100, that's some serious substance...
I was on Squidoo! I don't remember any money from it :)
I've been screaming about the Alexa ranking to all my contacts who are content creators ever since I got here. That was my most compelling reason to join. I've had really good results on my other sites from posting here and my posts rank well if I get over the $10 payout level or so. So far - few of my contacts try - and fewer succeed in this very difficult place.
What I mean by "those people" is that the @archange reports show close to 8000 steemers above the level of redfish. If I actively follow everyone good that I see as I browse here for over 7 months, why am I only following 3000+?
Maybe that is a reasonable number; I'm not sure. These days if I scroll 50 comments on a good post, I am already following at least 45 of the people posting them.
Yes, there might be empty posts but comments like this one show how dedicated people get more followers. The secret is dedication
Cheers
Great Post!
I found steemit by searching “how to make money with cryptocurrency”. After clicking on the post I read it and quickly signed up. Since I have slowly gravitated away from facebook. I find steemit to be a much more positive community with much more meaningful posts. Hopefully the memes don’t overtake us here as well. I’m not against them cause after all we all need a good laugh sometimes. Thanks for sharing & Steem On :)
I got here pretty much by accident: A Facebook friend asked me to check out an article about Universal Basic Income, which just happened to be published here on Steemit. I was impressed by the relative intelligence and insight of the comment section, so I read a few more articles on different topics and decided that I wanted to be part of this gig.
If you like the not-so-occasional really funny and original meme you might want to follow @thedailylaugh. He posts a little too often to keep up with in my opinion but if you want a good meme laugh and a little social interaction he's one of the best. Considering how many people are following him, you may also make other contacts by commenting on his posts. Dunno.
I think one of the great things about Steemit is, there will be room for everyone. The issue at the moment is that it's hard to get the content you want but I think it will not be long before we see apps that sift through the noise to show us what we are interested in. There are a few examples already.
Like you, the level of discourse was one of the attractions for me to Steemit and also one of the reasons I never joined Facebook. I am very optimistic for the quality of the content here. There are a few killer USPs to this platform.
indeed. Ideally once the communities feature rolls out.... checks watch... there will be communities for everything, and we wont have to worry about how to find the content we're actually interested in, and how for our content to find it's way to the people who are interested in it
I'm hopeful there will be room for everyone, too. I just wish we had a better "sort mechanism" for viewing posts... but I expect that will come in time, especially when the long promised "communities" feature becomes a reality.
2016 was our meme-driven Presidential election
no doubt about that..it might not even have been the first.
most likely not the last either...
FUDCurr legacy media is declining in importance by the minute...online social media is taking over.
why did I leave FaceBook?
I got tired of being banned....it would seem that they didn't want me. I didn't leave so much as I got kicked out.
I tried Twitter...lasted two days..
can't imagine why..
oh...well.
I'm pretty sure Twitter saw you coming. I have friends who post about natural health and got banned there. You and your topics are their worst nightmare :)
heh...I'll take that as high praise.
You should! It's a badge of honor :)
Ah well, I'm with @fitinfun on this one-- getting banned by Farcebook is worth being proud of.
They simply loathe straight talk.
It's OFFENSIVE to some.
You probably "forgot" to ask someone which pronoun they prefer.
And that caused their "crying room" to overflow!
As for twatter...
That's mostly just a shit-slinging contest.
The link on your profile don't work for me. I am not stalking you by the way lol
Cheers
it doesn't?
Oh. Well.
It's to Sola...and I'm about tired of that place.
just ignore it.
I wouldn't say you're part of an old fossil demographic but I would say most people want the easiest way to relay something and if they have to behave like a modern day cavemen them "so be it." It depresses me too
I guess I'm just a writer at heart; I find communication reduced down to "blips" to be mildly disturbing because so much nuance is lost in the process.
I hear you! I think a lot of this stems from too much communication. Like most people are on so many social media platforms. Me it is just steemit, discord, fb (but really bare minimum on fb)
Memes at first were funny to me but when I started to see them everywhere they got old quick. I agree with your observation on the “dumbing down” occurring. Part of me feels it’s our modern world coupled with our species natural inclination to hurd and follow the crowd.
The thing about memes is precisely that they can be funny in small doses, but then people start having contests, and next thing we know we're looking at 500 copies of the same picture with slightly different captions. I'm sorry, I'm an ogre... but go create something original!
To me, it is unfair that a minnow would put a 3 page educative, entertaining and highly cerebral post and goes home with little or nothing to show for it while a whale can easily snap his cat and make a meme from it and spins hundreds of dollars. I know the system is not perfect but I still believe something can be done about this. I am not against memes though.
well, it's certainly fair as far as people having free will to use their stake to reward content they find valuable. Short-form content has an advantage for sure... especially with humor, we all know that people can be liked more for being funny than for being useful... the ultimate question is how to connect our content with an audience, as well as how to create content that will build an audience.
I agree with you. But kindly comment on the issue of putting up memes, then upvoting the post and upvoting all replies on comments on the post in an effort to rape the reward pool. Is it very fair?
umm, @penking.... the answer to this question is the same @inquiringtimes stated earlier... question: if you put yourself in their shoes, would You do it?
Create good content. Choose your tags well. Read, comment and upvote others' posts that you like... A well thought out comment can get you a follow. That follow can result in a resteem, which can bring comments and more followers... Your audience will grow and your rewards will grow.
An intelligent contribution I must say @randykrafft
yup...life is not fair...
oh woe..
"Unfair"is such a weird and vague word @penking. Is it "fair" that when I got to Steemit about a year ago I wrote "long form" posts with nice photos and well-presented... and sometimes earned $0.00 for my efforts?Is it "fair" that someone who invested $1 million of their own money get greater rewards than someone who signed up for a totally free account? Is it "fair" that after a year and 500+ top level posts, the few dollars I will get as a reward will still be less than the whale with a meme of his cat?
I do think that it is quite fair that I have been able to blog about whatever I want for a year and have earned some rewards in the process. I am not "owed" rewards, I take them thankfully, as they come.
Well, this is an intelligent reply. I now understand the angle you are coming from.
Agreed, and although I do have what I think is legitimate issues with this platform I do find a fair bit of really good quality blogging; that's what keeps me here.
If by comparison, I scroll the first Minds page I tend to find most of it meme pics that do little for me. There is some good blogging over there but it gets drowned out by the inane.
I share your concern about that happening here, too.
I don't think the short form posts are the problem, it has more to do with short form posts of little substance, or what I have begun referring to as "Captain Obvious" posts, that generate rewards out of balance with the quality of their content.
It was the idea that creating quality content could generate a decent return, both in SP and, eventually maybe even enough to generate some cash flow.
No, and the more time I spent here, the more obvious it became that what you really needed was a huge amount of SP, and a group of friends who also had a huge amount of SP so you could circle jerk your way to that cash flow.
A whale suggested that I "befriend those who are building wealth." but I don't think I could ever take enough showers to feel clean after that.
But thank you @denmarkguy for demonstrating character with your thoughtful and thought provoking posts.
I just wish there were enough like you to overcome the greed and sycophancy.