Push vs Pull: The power of the Pull Model
There are two main models in content distribution. One is push, the other is pull.
Push, is the classic and near obsolete model used in TV, radio or newspaper. The editors would decide which news you should see or hear, in which order, etc etc.
The Internet revolutionized content delivery allowing users to browse specifically what they were interested at. Instead of purchasing an entire newspaper they could now click on a specific article. Instead of viewing a TV program at the hours that the TV station had programmed, one could watch what they wanted, when they wanted, even skipping the ads altogether.
Obviously the pull model was so much superior that naturally the push-model mediums quickly started to fade. Why take a package of wanted+unwanted information that is being pushed to you, when you can only pull the relevant information that you desire?
Steemit, as an Internet medium, obviously employs a pull-model. You click what you want. However the full potency of the pull model has not yet been exploited to the maximum.
The recent change where the categorization of interests is now based on a "Select Topic" drop down list, instead of tags, is a good user-interface improvement towards that direction. But it may require a more user-tailored experience as we move along to fully maximize the benefits of the Pull-model.
The more the user is able to customize his experience to his needs, or get the more relevant content to what he wants, the higher the success of Steem will be for readers.
Related article: https://steemit.com/steemit/@alexgr/if-you-think-about-it-it-s-not-quality-that-matters-but-relevance
Another good post @alexgr. But I bet you'd agree one important disadvantage of the "pull" model is that it can serve to reinforce our biases. Fox News and MSNBC both serve as obvious examples in the US. Sadly, when we choose our content, we humans tend to choose only content that reinforces what we already believe - which puts critical thinking in ever more danger.
In general I'm also a fan of pulling content, though, and I'm not sure how to mitigate this kind of trouble.
Indeed... I actually noticed exactly what you describe due to the way steemit was structured early on - where I was browsing through a lot of unrelated-to-my-interests content and I actually liked some of it, which obviously triggered an "aha" moment that I'm missing stuff due to my own bias: https://steemit.com/steemit/@alexgr/steemit-remind-us-that-there-is-more-content-out-there-