Continuing from part 1, the $ amount ('headline figure') on Steemit has been another source of confusion to the people I speak to. These are Steemit UX questions that are important to get right given payouts is the usp.

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Here is why,

1. EASY TO THINK ALL $ GOES TO THE AUTHOR [ see e.g. the comments section]: When I explain to people that "this is a site where people can get paid for submitting posts and people can get rewards for voting post." People automatically assume the headline figure is what the author gets. I then get into conversations about 50/50 splits (between author and curators), what's fair, unfair and the conversation moves away from the key concept. Regular people can get paid for posting on Steemit, elsewhere they don't.

2. EASY TO THINK IT'S ALL USD: People automatically assume the money in USD and they can put it in their bank account. Why? Because there is a big fat $ sign staring in their face. When they find out it's Steem Dollars and they need to exchange it at markets that don't exist yet, but they will do in the future. They go blank.

3. STEEM POWER IS NOT SEEN AS MONEY: When I go on to explain that half of the headline figure is "Steem power" and encourage that they don't take it out and it's difficult to take out (see further part 1) they feel slighty decieved. Steem Power to an author should be seen as more of a bonus.

4. EASY TO BE PUT OFF BY PRICE FLUCTATIONS: When people see a dollar figure. They expect the amount to only go down if someone downvotes. When people see $1000 against one of my posts one day and the next day it's $960 they query what's happening. I explain "I think it's down to the Steem exchange rate... blah blah blah... I'll only know on the 4th July..." They think I've been duped. The Steem power element price fluctuations give the impression something nefarious is going on.

5. BIG POT/ SMALL REWARD DOES NOT COMPUTE WELL: When I talk about voting and they see a post that has $7000. They say so "$3500 goes to the voters right? If I was one of the first voters, I'm loaded right?" When I explain they may only see a few $ they feel deflated because they are thinking in terms of hundreds of bucks, especially if there are only a few voters. When you explain it's because of Steem power they think it's a trick to seduce them into purchasing more Steem power.

We have to understand that when people hear about Steemit they are looking for a 'catch.' Having the headline figure in the way it is and then leaving it to proponents to explain away the nuances, feeds into the feeling that they are being baited into something dodgy.

Proposal

I have a simple suggestion. Just show the authors Steem Dollar earnings as the headline figure. Then have a link to a 'full payouts' for the post page where they can see a breakdown of all ancillary payouts. The full payouts page should clearly differentiate between the authors rewards and the curators rewards. It should differentiate between Steem dollar payouts and Steam power earnings. It should give individual curators earnings and the order in which they voted.

It should all be clean, clear and transparent.

There could also be a 'Your curation rewards' figure that shows only the logged in users earnings on posts they have upvoted for.

Conclusion

Having the massive "all in" headline figure comes across a bit like click bait. Especially when people realise no one person is earning that, and it's not all in dollars (as they would understand it). That could back fire and court negative publicity.

Showing the authors Steem dollar earning is more in line with what people would naturally expect to see when they see a $ amount against a post. It goes from disappointment that theyre getting a small part of the pie to pleasant surprise that there is more value around the post than they first thought.

Just a thought

PS - What happens after July 4th? Does this figure reset daily? Or 24 hrs after it was posted or not at all? Will people be able to view a breakdown of stats (that could be useful when analysing how successful their publicising/ campaigns have been?)