The Churn Problem
As reported by @furion in this Steem Analysis it seems we have a churn problem. Personally I was getting my own sense that the user interaction was down and even felt a little less inclined to use the website myself in the last while. There are a number of issues that I have personally witnessed from people I encouraged to check out the website.
The first of these problems is registering. I don’t really have a solution to this problem as I understand that there needs to be a way to verify users. People I have spoken to who tried registering on the website, decide against it when faced with having to log-in through Facebook. I can try to assure them that Steemit doesn’t use any of your details from Facebook but that doesn’t change their minds.
The second problem arises immediately after registering, when facing the log-in page. I didn’t have a problem myself with this because I registered before the new 32 character generated password came along, but I did come across it when helping my mother register. I have a lot of friends who tell me that they registered an account but they simply cannot log in.
To a techy, this seems like they shouldn’t be having a problem. You should simply just save your password somewhere and copy and paste it in. What’s the issue? The issue is, this isn’t user friendly. People are used to using their not-so-secure passwords. But of course, when money is involved it needs to be secure.
So how do we combine extra high security with user friendliness?
I suggest we use keys. And I mean physical keys that you hold in your hand!
The third problem we have is content. As I write this here is the front page of steemit and the first thing we see when we successfully log in.
Put yourself in the shoes of a newbie for a moment. You just heard about this platform where people are making money to blog. You’ve been writing your own blog for some time, and you decide to check out this website to see if it would be worth using as a platform. You get onto the homepage and you’re faced with the words ‘SteemMag’, ‘SteemDrive’ and ‘Crypto Currencies’.
What language is this?!
Depending on the type of person you are, you could respond in 2 ways.
You could:
- Spend a couple days researching bitcoin, cryptocurrency, steem and all that jazz
- Assume that the userbase of this community wouldn’t be interested in your blog
“I knew it was too good to be true!”
Perhaps if this newbie just happens to write their blog on one of the following tags we can still hold their interest.
I try to focus my votes on some of the less popular tags because I think they will attract more users if they do well, but I’m a minnow. My vote isn’t worth much. I would personally like to think that a fitness blogger would come to see steemit as a great place to share their knowledge, but alas, this isn’t looking so promising.
I haven’t even mentioned the fact that if your tag doesn’t exist in the search bar, you’re even less likely to be seen.
Conclusion
The solution to this I would assume is on its way. I presume Ned and Dan are working on filters for our tags. There is still a problem with tag abuse which could be solved with a better tagging system.
Filters should be a priority
If I were able to filter content, instead of looking at one particular tag, I could simply filter out #steemit related content and get a much better user experience. I personally only read the steemit posts for research purposes. I think that the current visual impact of the steemit homepage is turning users away from steemit, as it makes it look like we are a ‘clique’ community. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more non-steemit related content on the homepage if people had the option to filter them out.
@beanz - you nailed it. These are definitely three big issues with the mass adoption of Steemit.
I've thought it would be pretty cool instead of if going by dollar value the trending page went on quantity up votes. However, what if it also took them from different tags intentionally? So instead of taking them all from crypto-currency and steemit related tags, perhaps have the top one from those, and the top from travel, food, etc. Can still use the highest number of votes and just pick through the tags based upon that. That should result in a very varied landing page.
The hot page shows content in order of the number of votes instead of monetary value. But it does have a problem with spam votes.
As for your other idea I'm pretty sure Google news does this and that would work brilliantly here!! Have you done a post on that idea?
No but I might go ahead and do that. I needed something to post about today.
I went and wrote a Post explaining my thoughts. Feel free to challenge it, destroy it, add to it, or run with it.
Never thought about the landing page issue, but yeah all crypto and steemit titles at first blush does not engage the average end user.
I actually consider it cringe worthy... I've noticed that the bigger whales are using around half their vote weight which is probably a good thing, but now and then when I've seen the same whales use the full power of their vote, it happens to be a #steemit related post.
This is understandable and I do think they deserve the rewards and the whales can vote whatever way they like,...
BUT
There would probably be less people voting on content about steemit if we had the option to filter them out. I think we need to incentivise seeking out content of unpopular tags and new users now that the feed is pulling us all away from the New page.
Thing is - as much as I want to believe in the "right" thing occurring, people are always going to game a system that can be gamed. On the flipside, with changes to the platform it can put us in a situation where folks are motivated to explore what they like instead of chasing what is popular. Sadly, I do not have any ideas for that though.
These three together could very well explain the slow down in registrations and churn. I do have confidence that @dan and @ned are on the job though.
I just hope the filters are a priority.
I'm new here, and I just saw this discussion thread. It seems to me that, without knowing as much at the time, I touched upon exactly what is said in these comments when I posted my short intro a couple of days ago. Now, I have some specific points, and I have a question. I'm used to absorbing new info, but the whole vote mechanism is still unclear to me. I do read a lot of documentation, but as with most people, there are time constraints. And as regards growth: there is a threshold, and I don't think that one can expect anyone to easily and fully grasp the unique Steemit in a short while. I like it, absolutely - new territory though - and I also would like the 'curation' bit.
My question: It's intuitive to simply upvote a post or comment that you like, and show appreciation, but here - at the outset - it's not very clear what is meaningful to do. (I upvoted your post, by the way). Perhaps you could give a brief answer, or give a good link. What I at this point need to know is this: Is it meaningful to upvote posts/comments that are two days, a week, or more old?
What do you mean by "meaningful"? If it's meaningful to you, then yes. It can still have an impact on payouts up to four weeks. I've had topics which only got popular after the initial payout and I'm sure many others have too.
Thanks a lot for the quick reply! By 'meaningful' I mean 'show appreciation/like' - that's what is important to me, the other aspects come second.
I have a learning curve here - I find all I read about Steemit fascinating, but it's also a new way of thinking. I've got the impression (maybe wrongly) that most actions should be within the first day/24h (and the first 30 minutes). I'm glad to hear, as you say, that what you write can have a long life. So, I'll just upvote what I like - and keep on reading tutorials. Steemit is huge, and I believe in it. Your "yes" is enough to get this off my mind. Thanks again! (+1)