We are going to have more content creators than ever before

In the history, creating content was only for the few chosen who had the ability to write, not on keyboard, but on hand, and I'm pretty sure that in itself was a skill taking years to master – writing with ink on paper – not to even mention you needed to have the knowledge of the language, potentially several of.

But with the raise of Internet, essentially everyone who uploaded videos on YouTube became a content creator. Uploading a single video doesn't make one anywhere near "pro" though, but with the option to monetize one's videos with adds has created thousands of pros who are able to live off of their YouTube earnings alone.

However, YouTube still has the "barrier of entry" of needing to monetize your videos, which doesn't happen by itself.

Here Steemit enters the arena.

Steem(it) enables content creation and the ability to earn with it with the smallest barrier of entry there's ever been. The only thing you really need to do is to create an account (which ironically enough might be the hardest task, should be fixed on Hard Fork 20 though so they say) and everything is setup by the system. Of course that doesn't immediately make you a pro, like uploading random clips into YouTube doesn't, but it has the potential, which is quite hassle free (if you don't count having to deal with taxes, AARGGHHH!). But in principle you just do your thing and you may or may not create enough traction to potentially live off of it.

But the same way as not all YouTubers won't be able to make into pro status, or all the writers in Medium (you need to get into some Subscription model, right?), so won't all the Steemians either, and probably shouldn't. Or do you want professional spammers to appear? Thought so.

Now, with Steem(it) there seems to be the problem that the principle of "content is king" is thrown out the window and instead it's more about upvoting the people. You could be a stellar content creator but not be seen because you don't have any connections here. Well, this is social media after all and not a library for the best content – it's about dealing with people, and a popularity contest in some sense like on the other medias too. Here we just have alternative criteria where attention seeking and comment self-upvoting, for example, isn't mostly looked good upon.

Though I still consider it vital that there are curation groups such as @OCD and @curie to reward quality content. I would be crazy not to as @curie has had massive boost for some of my own posts and therefore for my stake also.

Even though people don't care about quality as much as we'd hope for (yeah, why don't you, it's we who make this place, right?) it's the place that got me into content creation, something I might've never taken upon for the complicated nature of it, or rather the earning part of it. We all are here because we want to earn, and I consider it a good thing – we recognize that we might be able to offer some value, or maybe we're all just greedy (I guess it's a fine line like with insanity and brilliancy). Though sometimes our estimations about ourselves get little over the top when comparing ourselves with the trending page (which is actually mostly just bidbot boosted posts, so don't worry). It's the "Steemit crash" from the high you are expecting to experience from looking at the dollar signs on those posts. We've all been there, me too, so don't worry about the misery of going way below your expectations, you'll get over it. If you don't, well, you can always just leave and try to make it on Medium or YouTube, or on a blog of your own domain. I can guarantee it won't be much easier there either. Or leave content creation altogether – that's fine too, this definitely isn't for everybody.

When more and more mediums like Steemit appear, enabling easier earning than ever before, it'll lure more and more people. It will create more content creators which, furthermore, will create more emerging pros too who will be able to do whatever they do for a living. But with more people having the chance to create content, it'll also create competition, and that means not all won't make it into pro status – it is going to be only the small minority who will make it. Simply, because not all would even want to, but also because some lose their faith into the system that doesn't reward them enough, or so they feel. Might be true or might be not, depends on the criteria by which it is examined. Maybe they didn't find the right people, maybe they considered this just a job like any other, hence thinking it's not worth it when their hourly rate is 10 cents per hour. If this would be a job, it would be a fucking terrible one for most of us, indeed.

Yes, user retention is low, but when it comes to content creation and earning, it has never been as easy as is here, according to my personal experience at least. This is the only place that succeeded to suck me in, where I could find my own potential for writing. It's not easy to live off of, but it's damn easy to be "semi-pro" – earning, but not relying on it. In a sense, if you have earned anything here, you're a semi-pro, unlike the massive majority uploading videos on YouTube or writing trolly comments on them.

Congratulations.