The Psychology of the Steem Follower
I’m quite new to Steemit and a minnow. I don’t want to exhibit any show of arrogance as I can’t; I simply haven’t been here long enough. So please read on now that I have got that off my chest. This article will ask as many questions as it gives theories.
Steemit is different than other social media platforms in that it rewards. This changes our perspective on things somewhat.
- What we would normally ignore before, we don’t.
- The effort we would have made to respond on Facebook is magnified.
- We may up-vote articles that are of no interest to us.
I just want to make this clear that this is NOT the case with ALL Steemit users.
However, from personal experience in my short 4 WEEKS on the platform I have experienced all these things.
Why, because we want that reward. Some may disagree but deep inside you know it’s true. If you don’t agree, then that’s fine. I’m no bigot and I will respect your opinion.
So let’s get to the title content. Tell me why would you follow someone?
- Is it because they have the same interests as you?
- Is it because they write good articles AND have the same interests as you?
- Is it because they have a noticeably large stash of SteemPower?
- Is it because they respond to your meaningful comments?
- Is it because they up-vote your meaningful comments?
- Is it because you notice that the OP responds to all the meaningful comments?
- Is it because they up-vote your ‘Nice Post’,” comment?
Can I ask these SEVEN questions to someone who is relatively new to the platform and has less than 1000SP, even better someone who is very new and has 15SP?
If the answer is (1) or (2) then great, if it’s (3) as well then I don’t blame you. There’s nothing wrong with any of these answers and I initially opted for option (3) when I first landed.
How about (4), (5) and (6)? I feel these are as important as (1) and (2). You can’t expect the OP to respond every time to every comment, but you do get a feel over several articles whether the OP is bothered about responding or not.
If it’s (7) then please make an effort to write something meaningful. I see time and time again this happening but the numbers of Steemit people who do this just don’t seem to get it. It’s even started on my articles and I’m a newbie here!
I’m not going to express any more personal opinions on these points. I would rather this be a discussion.
People, tell me what you think, especially about the 1-7 points. I would love to hear your opinion.
If you found this article so invigorating that you are now a positively googly-eyed, drooling lunatic with dripping saliva or even if you liked it just a bit, then please upvote, comment, resteem, engage me or all of these things.
In the beginning, which was July 2017, I followed a bunch of people who I thought might be faucets. I don't remember why I thought that. After a few weeks I got tired of all the crap in my feed, so I had a long hard look at my followees. I got rid of the inactive ones, and the ones who don't write in English, and the ones who can't write their way out of a wet paper bag, and the ones who resteemed a lot of crap even though they would occasionally resteem a post of mine or drop me a few cents because it wasn't worth the aggro. Ah, that's better.
I'm paying no attention to your list because I ... well I am not. You do things your way, I do them mine.
I follow a few dolphins and whales not because they are dolphins or whales but because they are somehow entertaining and/or informative. In fact, that is the main reason I follow anyone. Most of the time I find that out by talking to people, in comments or discord.
I follow Dan because he may have a solution to some of steemit's problems in the works. I don't follow Ned because he doesn't.
I follow you (finally remembered to just now) for the same reasons as I issued you a ticket - you've got something. Not sure I want it, so don't come too close, but ...
Trust me, I'm a doctor.
Followed you back not because I'm a 'Follow you, Follow me' kind of guy, its simply because you make me laugh! That's good enough reason for me.
I do need to ask though, was the initial rejection solely based on 'your too new to the platform' or because some of my earlier articles didn't cut the mustard or something else or a combination of all these?
I'll try to answer your questions seriously -- since it's clear my other half won't.
A lot of the initial hesitation really was because of how new you are on Steemit. We've had some real disappointments in that regard -- people who did good work and seemed like good candidates who kind of "ran out of steam" -- so to speak -- a month or so later.
I realize some of this is because people arrive here with inflated expectations -- and quickly get their "enthusiasm balloon" popped by the harsh reality of "what life is like here." Also people who are good at what they do usually know it ... and they aren't prepared to be ignored into oblivion -- which happens on Steemit, as I'm sure you know.
Also, many very new people just don't have their "sea legs" yet. They don't know how to behave and they can cause trouble without really meaning to. But this place is not like your usual social media platform -- and it takes a while to learn that.
New people also sometimes spend a while floundering around trying to find their focus, the posting schedule that works for them, the circles where they want to travel, etc. As curator for the group I was the one who put the "3 month minimum" rule in place. It can take me between five and eight hours a day to do the group post (that's at least a serious part-time job in the real world) ... and I don't have time to mess around. I want to work with people who know what they're doing and support ones who at least show some persistence in sticking around.
On the other side of the scale, your persistence paid off for you. Your ability to keep your sense of humor did, too. The fact that you speak and write well in English was a BIG plus. (Yeah, I know. It's your mother tongue. Big deal. -- But trust me, that's not always a given. Oh damn, now I sound like that docta-guy with his high-falutin claims.) The fact that you have a recognizable "style" also helped. And another big plus was that you didn't cop-an-attitude when you didn't get your way right away.
In this regard, life on Steemit is not much different from life in the real world. Only I've learned for some reason, when some people get to hide behind the anonymity of their computer online their manners go right out the window. Then they don't understand why others don't think that's just grand.
Ok, now stop asking questions. I feel compelled to answer the serious ones. And I already get slammed regularly for my "wall of text" comments. Don't feed the habit. My really-into-the-subject comments run longer than most people's posts.
Wow, another long response, and this article thread seems to go on forever now. I wasn't really expecting an answer but thanks for doing it. I thought it might have been me being new, but then again I have never written before so I thought it could have been that too.
As far as new articles go, I wont submit all of them to @thesteemengine because I do smaller ones which I really don't consider worthy. If anything my interest in Steemit is going beyond the normal and I need to step away from it as I am neglecting other factors in my life.
Thank you too for doing all this, I can see its a lot of work and I have submitted an auto-vote for @thesteemengine as I know it is for a worthy cause.
I did however have to get rid of the maniac guy on my little picture as he was scaring people away. I was going to keep him, but well... it just didn't work out. If you are really interested then have a look Here
Trade secrets.
I make you laugh? Seriously? That is NOT what I've been aiming for. I need to be way, way meaner.
Trust me, I'm a doctor.
Ha! Im laughing again :)
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I want to know who this wild-eyed and sweaty guy is at the bottom of your post. Do I need to be afraid of him? Do I need to bring mace in case he notices me hanging around? Before I answer your questions I think you should answer mine.
~~~~~~~~~~~*
That said, I voluntarily follow blogs because:
the writer writes well or has an interesting (read quirky, distinctive, etc.) style. Sometimes the energy of the writer coming off his / her posts is simply magnetic. I click that button ... and voila!!
the writer writes on subjects that interest me -- and that covers a wide range, from science to politics to psychology to the occult. If s/he is putting out information that informs, entertains or inspires me ... I'm there.
something in the writer's personality appeals to me and I think we might enjoy knowing each other -- or I might enjoy watching him / her from afar. Either one will do.
The day I follow someone because "they're RICH" is the day my husband has permission to shoot me. He would enjoy this too much, so there's no danger there. I'm not about to give him any unwarranted satisfaction.
Comments are nice. Upvotes are nice, too. Conversations can be grand. But I don't like to "force" myself to comment -- and I don't want the other person to feel obligated either. I am also a terribly terribly busy person and I understand when there just aren't enough hours in the day. I truly hope others do, too. Honest, I don't mean to be rude, but I'm only one person and I just stretch so far ....
Sometimes (often!!) I'll drop an upvote instead of a comment ... because I just don't have time, because I appreciate the work, because I like what the author is doing and he could use the pennies I can share. Lots of reasons. NEVER is it to attract attention from anyone ... rich, doing-ok, or poor. (This is probably why I'm not rich myself!!)
That said, there are also accounts I follow "because I have to." I wish there were ways on Steemit to separate follows into categories. Some groups insist that I follow all other members in the group. Some blogs ... that's the only reason I do. (But don't say I said so, ok?)
Somewhere I guess it boils down to "chemistry" -- the reason I follow another account. IRL, some people are "friends," and some are "love interests" and others just give you the creeps. Same deal here. Just not face to face.
I gotta go now. Bye-bye.
Wow, this is a long response. I really don't know how you do all this work on Steemit besides your everyday life things. I have seen the effort to create 'The Daily Whistle Stops' dailies and for that reason I have got to give you some applause. We do this because we are enthusiastic about it, well I know I do!
Thanks for voting my article on to 'The Daily Whistle Stops', that is so cool and I really wasn't expecting it. I have never considered myself a writer before I joined Steemit, but find it satisfies my creative outlet. I have no idea if my writing is good, bad or otherwise as that's for others to decide.
So on to the wild-eyed and sweaty guy - which your reponse had me chuckling quite hard about. I don't know who he is either but I do know he is quite safe except for a one minute window between 3.30AM and 3.31AM where he can escape and pound you with a mace (that was an excellent guess) before being forced back into the computer screen, so just be aware of him. This is a little like the 'Gremlins' 'midnight' rule.
My humour is a little warped, I am British after all!
We will try to be in bed by 03:15 just to be on the safe side. I'm sure he won't be able to get to us if we are under the covers with the dogs on top of us.
Trust me, I'm a doctor.
lol I like the comedy in your writing. All placed next to some very valid points(IMO). It is only those who have established profiles who do not have to worry about the hows and whys and all 7 have been employed throughout my steemit lifeline. I have done all the wrong thing(And still do sometimes) and I do a lot of good things, so hopefully it passes the grade for the steemit police. They seem to be growing and think their shit don't stink. Glad to find you are not scared to show your opinions. I have my moments too and somethings do need stating. You may like to look at @sift666 he asks some very sharp questions.
I do tend to put my opinion across quite strongly sometimes but it seems to work fine, on here at least. My 14 year old daughter thinks I'm quite mad for adding the lunatic picture to my footers but I'm going to stick with him, at least until I find something better hehe.
I too have been guilty of six of the seven points (not 7), I wanted to know if others were the same.
I just take it all with a pinch of salt now. Everyone seems to know what is going on but yet nobody predicted the huge down-trend. This is all new to everyone so we are all guinea-pigs in one way or another. I think that a huge section are on steemit for the right reasons and I like to think I am now one of them. Made a lot of mistakes but that's how I roll, lol. I like a good debate so I will keep an eye out for more. See you around
Hi @slobberchops
"Steemit is different than other social media platforms in that it rewards. "
I totally agree. As a social media marketer I realized that this platform is very unique. Not only because we have ratings, we can get paid, our vote matter etc.
One HUGE difference that you seem to forget is the fact that "wallets" are fully transparent for everyone.
This change everything. I realized that myself (and others) are judging others by value of their wallet. Because we all want to receive valuable upvotes.
Who cares about 100 upvotes of those who have almost no steem power, right? We rather focus on building engagement with small group of people that actually have some voting power.
My target audience are those who have around same stash of steem power as I do.
I tried to engage with newbies but I found it pointless because most of them dissapear very fast.
So the way I see it is simple: if you invested at least 100$ then you're serious about steemit and then you may be worth my time.
At the same time if I see that someone has way more SP than I do then I also dont bother because I know I will be ignored.
I noticed that you and @steevc are very active and helpful so right away I decided to reach out to both of you.
Another great article. I love it.
You do raise some interesting points. Yes the wallets are transparent to everyone and I for one have looked at others' wallets to see how much they bulge. Thats OK, we can do that just because we can. I have also tried to interact with the 'big wallet' guys for the wrong reasons in the past, but they usually are not interested. At that point I have unfollowed them.
I dont do this anymore because even though they may take an interest and interact with me, if their subject content is of no interest to me, I dont want to respond about articles I do not care about.
Your other point of 'Who cares about 100 upvotes of those who have almost no steem power' is an interesting point to look at. I do actually follow some people who have no or little power because they do write good articles and that interest me. Also because they have a slim wallet now does not mean this will be the case in the future.
I myself joined only 5 weeks ago and had an account valued at $0.17 (the start value). I have since invested in Steem because I love it, I think it has a future, and yes I wanted some attention and have managed to get some now. With Steemit you get only what you put into it, and thats work.. ie.. Proof of Brain... thanks for the analogy @teamhumble! But putting some fiat into it helps at lot too, with bigger author rewards and bigger curation rewards. If you can, then I would suggest you and others do this.
'At the same time if I see that someone has way more SP than I do then I also dont bother because I know I will be ignored.'
This is not always the case. It depends on the person you are interacting with. If you take @steevc as example, we connected due to out music tastes being similar and me responding to a really old post he did months ago. I have other people I regularly connect to who have considerablly more SP than myself but they dont ignore me.
There are no hard fixed rules. You have to make your own!
I noticed you have a rather large one. That means of course either that you are filthy rich and can throw a few hundred quid at a toy on a whim or that you are a little bit rich and take steemit seriously. My wife and I are very poor but we invested what we could scrape together because this is, for the time being at least, our lives and future. I envy you your ability to jump-start your career here, but not the green, steem coming out my ears kind of envy. Just the mild, damn, wish I could do that kind of envy.
If you do it well steemit is fun. Glad to see you doing it well. Good on you, sport.
Trust me, I'm a doctor.
Yes I have invested in the EcoSystem because I think its unique and has a great future. I for one wish I had 'got in' much earlier as I probably wouldn't have needed to do what I did to catapult myself forward a little.
I am however working class and have a boring 9-5 like most others do. I really wish I was filthy rich and could ditch the job, I would do it tomorrow.
Thank you for your valuable reply. I realized long before that you're very knowledgable and responsive but I never expected that you would put so much time and effort to reply.
BIG THX!
I figured out that so called "whales" will be probably not interested in keeping in touch with small players (as we are). We're nobodies here at the moment. But we're ahead of others and within a year we actually can have solid influence on this platform. And influence can be always monetized. That's the fact.
We're both on the same page and I see things exacly the way you do. Which is kind of boring hehehe :)
I also decided to avoid whales because many of them may be a threat to you. Whales like to play "police" and they are very violent and brutal with their actions. It's best to stay out of radar and engaging with whales can bring unwanted attention (that's always a risk that we need to take into consideration).
When I wrote "Who cares about 100 upvotes of those who have almost no steem power" I actually really didnt mean it.
My goal here is to get to know interesting people from this growing industry. I see blockchain as a lifechanging chance. Something that will create enormous opportunities. So Im looking for valuable connections. Im looking for right people.
That's also why I reached out to you. Because I read your previous comments and I liked them.
But at the same time I know that my quote reflect majority of population on steemit. Because most people out there have very different goals.
Thanks for the plaudits but I dont feel im very knowledgable on Steem.. yet any way. Im only 5 weeks old here, but I do try and respond to everyone and all messages.
As for whales, yes they can destroy your reputation number but not necessarily your credability or SP. I dont interact with any so my knowledge there is minimal.
There is a lot of growth potential and I love these peeps who do good articles and teach me something thats out of my sphere of knowledge.
I also just started few weeks ago so we're on the same page.
I noticed that we share some passions. Hope to stay in touch with you :)
I follow people because I like the posts they publish - as long as they're generally about subjects that interest me. Simple as that. I'll only follow a whale if they post content that appeals to me.
Sometimes I'll follow someone because I want to learn from them - maybe there's something unique about their approach to Steemit.
I don't follow people if their content is full of "Day 52 of the Black & White Challenge" kinda stuff, or mindless re-steems. I don't mind if there are a few things like that, but not if it's packed with bland stuff that will just flood into my feed.
I'm also a bit more likely to follow someone from the UK even if we don't have similar interests, simply because I don't think there's a big UK presence on Steemit so I'm curious about the Brits who get involved in the platform. (I'm from Scotland.) But I won't follow them if I think their posts are dull, even if they're my next-door-neighbour!
Nice to see someone else from the UK, as you say there are not many of us. Some of us met up at SteemCamp just last weekend but that would have been a long travel for you I think. Your question about how we got involved with Steem is an interesting one, and could well start a theme. I do have a story to tell and maybe it will be one of my next articles!
Good - I'll look forward to it! And yes, I missed Steemcamp and I wouldn't have been able to go anyway, but maybe I'll get to the next one :)
Ok, I just came from the other article on the number of followers on other person's blog and I see that you have written a similar post here.
Like I said, in my comments on the other article, I am a teeny tiny minnow with no power whatsoever and I follow people with similar interests. BUT, I don't follow big whales or people I have never interacted with. The users I follow are mostly the ones who held a conversation with me in the comment section. The reason we had a conversation is that we both shared an interest about a topic, or we just clicked. (I usually comment on a post when I am interested in it. I would never just comment "nice post", you can say that with a simple upvote)
This is a social platform, as far as I see it, so when someone is willing to have a meaningful conversation with me, it peeks my interest and I am more likely to follow them :)
Thanks for stopping by @vendee. It doesn't matter to me that you have no power, what does matter is that you interacted, held a conversation and voted if even if its a nothing vote. That means a lot to me. I also no longer follow any whales unless I have something in common topic wise.
Ahh thanks! And just like that, you've just got a new follower :D Looking forward to discovering more about progressive music and other things you plan to write about ;) Always happy to interact with opinionated people!
I follow people because It's either they post important things or they are important people. They can also be steemians who post interesting things. I try not to follow everyone because I still want to enjoy my feed
If im looking for fresh content I either check discord post promotion posts, or Steemit trending or other Steem platforms.
I rarely follow someone because of their SP, I used to do that in the beginning to hope for some upvotes but that has changed after joining great communities such as @thesteemengine ...
If I see someone who engages with his followers even if he doesn't upvote them but at least acknowledges their comments then I respect them more than others who just post and wait for the comments and upvotes
Thanks for sharing @slobberchops
Thanks for your comments @lifeaef, I too have found some good stuff on @thesteemengine. That is probably where I find most of my new content now, but I look at the new section too and the introduce articles too. Sometimes you find someone good on there who has got something to say.
I try to focus on (1) or (2)... but I can't lie, (3) usually gets my attention too. In the end for me I just want a good content feed, if someone's posts are annoying or just not interesting, I will eventually unfollow them.
Hopefully it gets easier to find more good content in the future... right now content discovery is pretty hard.
'but I can't lie, (3) usually gets my attention too'
I like your candor!
I'm finding ways to find good stuff now, the curation discord channels are useful for this. I'm finding more likeminded people and am attending the Steemfest tomorrow in Birmingham. That should be very useful.
Definitely NOT #7 haha :-D
I follow as long as I see that profile is not fake nor spammer. That's all. :)
I think you could separate point 2 into 2a and 2b. 2b is obvious, yes, you are going to follow people sharing interests with you.
However, I think it's totally possible to follow people writing "good articles" (it's always subjective right) that you could have none or only a marginal interest in, or simply out of curiosity, to broaden your horizons. Of course, you have to stumble upon them, sometimes because they comment on one of your posts, sometimes because they are resteemed by one of the person you follow.
Also, in 2a you could also fit users that provide daily/weekly best-of of posts that only sometimes will be interesting for you. For me, @francosteemvotes (daily French) and @curie (just found about this week) are doing an excellent job at it. I find myself reading things about architecture, comic drawing, etc. that are outside of my interests. I think you always get something out of it.
That said, like @lifeaef, I try to limit the number of persons I follow because I try to look at/read everything happening in my feed and I have zero interest in following people for their power (point 3)
I wish I could figure out how to attact @curie, I have managed to get one of my articles noticed in the past but there's no info around to say how.
You did? Wow, that's no small feat I think.
Do you know if mentioning a user (like curie) in a comment or post in hope of getting noticed is something frowned upon by the community?
'post in hope of getting noticed is something frowned upon by the community?'
I don't think so, that was not my intention. I just attended a Steemfest in Birmingham, UK and asked this very question but it seemed nobody could really answer it.
Oh I was not referring to your mention in the comment, I did that too several times, but more in general would it be bad to just put a mention at the end of a post. Sort of like a "hey there, what do you think".
I wish we had a Fine Gentlemen's Code of Conduct post or something ;-)
It's really anything goes here, you make up your own rules but there can be repercussions. If its good enough it will be picked up I guess. This article is already getting quite mammoth with the responses and comments. That is what I was looking for, a healthy debate.