SteemClub-UK : how can we boost the number of active steemians in the UK?
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I've been doing some updating of the list of active steemians in the UK.
I thought it would be useful to take a raincheck on the current state of play of Steem in our corner of the world.
I made two posts today to gather information on any new Steemians in the UK...
I hope a few more new people will be identified to pull the numbers up. So far we are down about 30% on the numbers of active steemians in the UK since the last 'census' in December 2018.
Here is the summary of the numbers across the regions...
Region | 01 Dec '18 | 18 Aug '19 | Change |
---|---|---|---|
London & South East | 50 | 37 | -13 |
England - Midlands | 24 | 17 | -7 |
England - South West * | - | 4 | - |
England - North | 29 | 23 | -6 |
Scotland | 9 | 6 | -3 |
Wales * | - | 13 | - |
Northern Ireland | 2 | 1 | -1 |
UK - non-located | 14 | 6 | -8 |
Expats | 7 | 4 | -3 |
TOTAL | 159 | 111 | -48 |
[ * Wales & the South West were counted together on the 1 December 2018 list ]
It certainly looks like we need a bit of a push to get the numbers growing again.
I wonder if we can focus around SteemClub-UK to come up with ideas and maybe some joint initiatives to promote Steem in the UK.
Hopefully there will be some more UK Steem Meetups coming up soon ... London (@redrica), Bedfordshire/Hertfordshire (@steevc), Wales (@pennsif).
In the meantime, and for those who won't be able to get to any of the meetups, does anyone think it would be useful to have another SteemClub-UK Virtual Meetup?
We did a couple last Autumn via my show on @msp-waves on Thursday evenings.
That format could be used again. Maybe we could also somehow put it out via 3Speak - would that be feasible @starkerz ?
Also to help communication among UK steemians witness @c0ff33a is running the Brits Discord server...
Anyone got any immediate ideas on how we could work together to grow the number of steemians and visibility of Steem in the UK?
Current active UK steemians...
@adetorrent, @basilmarples, @bleepcoin, @breadcentric, @chris-the-batman, @cryptogee, @donatello, @dronegraphica, @earthkind, @ezzy, @gillianpearce, @hockney, @hopehuggs, @justyy, @kabir88, @lloyddavis, @maneco64, @markangeltrueman, @mentalhealthguru, @molometer, @nakedverse, @nanzo-scoop, @nickyhavey, @pjau, @rea, @redrica, @rod.crisafulli, @scalextrix, @sergiomendes, @simonjay, @slayerkm, @stav, @steevc, @stimp1024, @teodora, @ultravioletmag, @winkandwoo,@abh12345, @article61, @atomcollector, @cryptofunk, @dickturpin, @howardblott, @knightswood, @martaesperanza, @maxrwolfe, @neopch, @opheliafu, @revisesociology, @rimicane, @shanibeer, @skaarl, @starkerz, @ura-soul, @jimbobbill, @perceptualflaws, @sunsethunter, @ukbitcoinmaster, @anarcotech, @artonmysleeve, @ashtv, @bingbabe, @calluna, @c0ff33a, @cryptocurator, @darrenclaxton, @ebookwriter, @father2b, @gaby-crb, @goblinknackers, @lastravage, @mckeever, @mikefromtheuk, @pcste, @raj808, @slobberchops, @someguy123, @stephenkendal, @stevenwood, @teamhumble, @vibeof100monkeys, @barge, @camuel, @fiftysixnorth, @johnkingwriter, @meesterboom, @screwballpsyche, @cryptocariad, @elizabethharvey, @louisthomas, @pennsif, @pumpkinsandcats, @stevejhuggett, @stevelivingston, @theadmiral0, @theceltictraders, @theturtleproject, @timothyallen, @wales, @welshstacker, @silverstackeruk, @britcoin, @jonathanyoung, @raymondspeaks, @surviveuk, @tremendospercy, @ukprepper, @cryptoandcoffee, @livinguktaiwan, @minismallholding, @seanreilly
[ flag image from pixabay.com ]
I think that real life events are definitely the way forward. I havn't managed to make it along to anything since steemfest2 and without the magic of actually spending time with people in physical space its felt really difficult to drum up any enthusiasm for my activity on the blockchain. In my opinion there has to be a palpable sense of community and belonging outside of the digital environment. Most people just don't have the time/energy/technical affinity or even interest in the grand concept to spend their hours fiddling about with a digital interface in order to scrape together a semblance of community. The blockchain has to aspire to augment 'real' community in order to be relevant enough to grow when the financial rewards arent so attractive. I was initially super excited about earning some money for being creative but it was meeting the people of steemit and making friends and feeling like there was some like-minded people who I could feasibly have a drink with that got me so hooked. Obviously because its so global and everyones spread out, it hasn't been so simple to continue to manifest that feeling and my involvement here has tailed off massively, BUT I know for sure that if I had a local steem community who met for drinks occasionally that I would be very excited to be a part of it and it would inspire me to take more interest and put more energy in to the multifarious mindbending tentacles of this continually mutating revolution. I suppose it would probably be up to me to start that group....... oh crap
Ha! We seem to be thinking along the same lines.
A big part of my SteemClub idea is develop the more local connection element of Steem.
Ideally we will get to a point where we could operate at least at a county or large city level so it would make local connections feasible.
Having some sort of more localised presence for Steem I am sure would drive recruitment and retention...
brilliant. Is this a franchise? Maybe I could start steemclub Norfolk?
Most certainly. Definitely keen to see more SteemClubs.
The million dollar question is; how do we effectively recruit then retain new users?
I think 9/10 of the people I brought here used it for a month then gave up.
I’m not sure what to suggest to effectively promote other than I can make some snappy promo videos that paint a real picture of what it’s like to be part of this community.
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Hi @ashtv - I used your SteemCampUK moments and your own introductory videos when I was talking to someone the other day (a filmmaker) just to give an idea of the sorts of people and things that go on here. He signed up although he hasn't started posting yet (moving house and holidays).
Ah wow! That’s great to learn that the videos are being shared still 👍🏻
This is a great undiscovered place for filmmakers and video makers
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They're great because they're short - it was a real balance between showing the potential and completely overwhelming someone!
Yes recruitment is a critical issue for Steem.
The majority of people I have introduced here have likewise faded away after a few months at most.
I do wonder if the 'Club' type model might help retention a bit - connecting in virtual meetups, real life meetups if possible, voting support etc...
That is still a work in progress though.
I wonder if we could bring together a UK Steem promo video at some point? It was talked about at one of the virtual meetups last year if I recall. I know @basilmarples is keen.
Yeah the club aspect is valuable, and a promo video could work depending on the subjects involved.
I think we use Steem because we see its potential - but others don’t see that. The majority want quick fixes and super super easy UI experiences that STEEM can’t yet compete with (yet) sadly
I think we might have to wait for STEEM to grow out of infancy and develop more before we try a big marketing push.
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Big marketing pushes can wait for sure. But little marketing pushes along the way would be very useful.
I'm just off on holiday for a few days but I have a plan for the Autumn and I'll be writing about it when I get back. I wrote SteemCampUK; The Aftermath earlier in the year, which had some thoughts and ideas; @ashtv did a lovely video of SteemCampUK moments.
I look forward to reading about your Autumn plan! The SteemCamp meet up was really useful
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Oh, I'm glad to hear that :)
I will look forward to hearing about the new plan.
Have a good holiday.
The problem I have is just keeping up with people - there are so many worldwide I follow as well it’s just impossible to keep up just with the UK based people. But now I have got my head around Tribes I think this has real potential to bring our Brit users together and also help others wanting to start out. If you look at creativecoin.xyz for example - it only shows posts using the #creativecoin tag - so people can vote only on the posts using that. Plus you get curation not only in Steem but in the tribe token.
This to me presents an opportunity for us to have a British token and tribe to go with it - so new users on boarded are given a clear window to display their work - we can easily see the posts and support them.
If as a community we could come
up with a token name and tribe site name I would pay for and set the whole thing up - I can even run the distribubot to allow the token to given away such as !BRITISH
Also I think the msp waves shows would be good to get us all talking again if you can do it.
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I am learning more about Tribes for my forthcoming new MSP show - Tribe.Talk.
They do present some interesting new potentials.
Do you think SteemClub-UK could morph into a Tribe?
Maybe we could have another SteemClub-UK virtual meetup to discuss this idea?
I’m sure steem club UK could have a tribe, all it needs is a token !STEEMCLUBUK would work and then a Scot site setting up for it steemclub.uk that tracks posts with the tag #STEEMCLUBUK
A virtual meet up would be a great idea, do it Tuesday night because nothing else will be happening then 😋
Give them some !COFFEEA 15 - that will make them active ☕️
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Ah yes, SteemClubs could do Coffee Mornings 😊
Team Australia used to do a weekly post welcoming new users which I found very interesting. Perhaps we can do something similar, starting off with introducing existing members as not everyone knows everyone.
That may help with a sense of belonging, like hey, you're part of the club now! We can get everyone to write their own self intro and do a compilation. Happy to help with the latter if needed.
Hi all, I found the promo days that @starkers worked to get interest, this was when he went around the uni's introducing other like minded people to the blockchain.
The only problem was the promo day we did was the people we introduced to the blockchain where the ones who said they would join but we never saw them again.
I put banners up on main roads, I flyer'd cars and even told people by word of mouth but still it didn't get any attention.
I think that here in the UK we need a massive media drive, either through TV or radio, because everyone watches and listens, you can even hear people singing stupid jingles that are from adverts. it sticks in peoples minds.
But again it would cost thousands to do a marketing like that.
I have told people via other social media, this got no where, my mate @wrongjohn came on here, he even invested his BC in to steem, then lost interest after a few months. He still asks me if I am posting I tell him yes.
What can I do to help, if someone could point me in the right direction then I would jump at getting more people here.
We definitely need a plan in the UK. But I am not what is best and what is manageable with the resources we have at present.
Do you think if we manage to make steem more attractive through projects like SteemClub-UK @wrongjohn might come back?
Would you be interesting in setting up some sort of small social Steem meetup round your way to start?
@pennsif, @wrongjohn popped over to mine tonight and we had a chat about steem, he told me that a few days he logged on just to see what his account value was and was put off. this guy when he first came to steem invested in steem by using bitcoin that he had. to see that the amount he had spent just vanish made him think twice about posting.
I would be interested about setting up a social steem meetup that would be an idea to put together. I just wouldn't know where to start to get this kind of thing running.
When I joined steem 2 years ago I had loads of ideas running though my head like free join steem groups at carboots/markets, the only thing that was a problem was I didn't have enough steem to buy more account.
If I was more flush then I would offer out free accounts to people who joined there and then. introduce them to some of the tags that they could post in and take things from there. I would like to say that I think I would like to have a group of people and I could act like tech support for them and point them in the right direction but, like I was saying with my account been as low as it is I can't really do any of the ideas that I was wanting to do.
We definitely need a promotion event, something mid country a big meet with music or something ? 💯🐒
Good plan. I think with our current numbers and resources we might have to try something fairly modest to start.
I think so @redrica said she was up for assisting so we have a starting block there I think 💯🐒
I think Birmingham or Manchester is sort of mid? Or not?
Yer I'd go with that 👍🏽 . 💯🐒
I wonder if somewhere like Shrewsbury or Worcester would make a change from the big cities?
Shrewsbury is a really good one as it's one of the only station that connects North to South Wales. And is close to other cities.
Never been Worcester so can't comment on their trains =D
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We loved Leicester last time we had Steemcampuk there, even found a shop on the high street that accepted crypto!
Pretty sure we'd be happy to go there again if there's another meetup there :)
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Would you go as far as somewhere like Shrewsbury?
Hoping to get somewhere over the western half of the country.
Been following UK Steemians I havent followed already =D
Excellent.
Greetings appreciated @pennsif.
I see that you have many brilliant ideas to promote the incorporation of new users.
The meetings of steemians both real and virtual allow interaction and stimulate that sense of community that is so necessary for already registered users. But the use of centralized social networks cannot be overlooked as a tool to bring new users.
I was very interested in how you can have your user registry organized by region.
Maybe you can share with us the method you use for your "censuses"?
All best, Piotr.
I started by making lists of steemians I knew in the UK, and then others I found through UK related tags (particularly using GINAbot).
People commented / added to those posts.
Then I kept on repeating the posts periodically until I believe the lists are pretty accurate.