Steemit has evolved, but now it needs to be refined - with groups
The explosion of popularity of Steemit comes with pros and cons. Unfortunately, there are many people who will try to make a quick buck with as little effort as possible, and while it may not appear as "spam" per se because they are not promoting any particular product, instead we get high a very high volume of click bait, shock articles, sob stories, and titillation, most of which could only very generously be described as "curated".
At times the "new" section looks like one of those "article" websites where spammers and "internet marketers" just throw a load of pasted articles up. Please also keep in mind that some articles will be "respun" to evade Googles duplicate content penalties so a bot might classify them as original by accident. Anyone familiar with Warrior Forum will have heard of article spinner software, and even Fiverr gigs where people will respin content to make it appear original.
We need to discourage this kind of content, from the start. The Steemit system should be refined to encourage "spam vigilance" by all genuine users. It already does this to some degree, but that can still be fine tuned so that spam and bullshit is not only pointless, but harmful to the user who posts it. I don't think we should rely solely on automated processes to vet the content, but that could certainly help matters too.
There should be so much more to Steemit than simply "entertaining or informative articles and news items".
I look forward to the emergence of a "groups" feature -- communities of hobbyists, ideologues, educators, hackers, philanthropists, etc. Users within these groups will build relationships, create "thought leaders", and spam in these spaces will be weeded out unceremoniously. Steemit is ready to take the next step, away from spam, and towards real relationships and communities.
OOohhh, you just hit the nail squarely right on the head. YES!!
I feel like it has too much of a 2D navigation. I look for a 3D.. a little more multi-dimensional, much like a forum. The "tags" should be replaced with "group category" which has it's own sub-categories.
We don't need to reinvent the wheel. We have plenty of workable examples that are already being used.
Thanks man. I'm actually really looking forward to making new friends with people with similar interests. Hopefully the devs see this, though i imagine some sort of groups feature is almost inevitable.
Thanks to your article, it inspired me to write this one and linked to yours too!
https://steemit.com/steemit/@intelliguy/this-is-how-steemit-looks-today-steemit-will-change-it-s-look-and-feel-soon
I like the idea of creating a group of enthusiast to build a better community with steemit. It will not only create new relationships but it can be good source of learning as well.
Absolutely true. Creating groups, making friends and establishing of professional communities where newbies can get help is not only effective for development of Steemit, but also spam-filtering and bot-destructive environment. How can we make it work?
Yes, imagine the mutually beneficial aspect of an expert Q+A in a niche community such as Photoshop, healthcare, dog keeping or whatever.. The expert would get tips for responding to questions, while the community would have a number of experts on hand to get fast answers, creative feedback, and second opinions.
I believe as we move, we learn and adjust! Yep, groups feature will surely bring more value to community. I see Steemit as an experimental project and they are so many things going on here.
Tags are fine, there just needs to be incentive to moderate the content. Right now the quality of the content is indeed very low and moderators can't really do anything about it because downvotes actually HURT them instead of reward them.
I think tags are a good start, but are not cohesive enough to aid the formation of micro communities within the Steemit ecosystem. Regardless, I was talking about groups in the context of improving content and there's clearly many ways to skin that cat. The downvoting system does indeed need some refinement too.
I follow you man!! Great insight.
tyvm
I couldn't agree more. Groups with "subscriptions"/memberships and moderation (similar to reddits) isn't an overcomplication, but a natural way of delegating quality control and motivating domain experts aka group moderators. Has there been any initiative in that direction lately?
Yes. This post was made 11 months ago. Since then, Ned has said there will be some new functionality built into Steemit to form communities. I imagine it's happening within a couple of months. It will shake things up majorly.
Thanks, brillant!
"a couple of months" later... Any update on the groups topic? Thx!
Steemit groups would be great way to increase the popularity among the non steemit. Can't wait😎