Steemit Basics: Are You a Good Curator of Your OWN Content?

It has been about four months since I started blogging on Steemit, and I can safely say that one of my most favorite aspects of this venue is that there is a true sense of community here.

Even though other social sites claim to be "all about social," much of the time the actual connections we make there tend to be rather flimsy and superficial.

Steemit is different!

But how are Communities CREATED?

Communities are ultimately about connecting. In turn, connections make us feel like we "belong" to something; that we are "part of" something. The "part of" feeling arises because someone interacts with our content on a deeper level than just posting a smiley face or a quick "me too" footprint. Instead, we feel like we have been addressed directly by a real person.

The important thing to remember here is that "connecting" is a two-way experience. And it doesn't stop at me saying "hello" and you saying "hello" back... and then we stand there in awkward silence.

We build on the initial point of contact.

What Does That Have to do With Steemit Content? And Curating?

An original post on Steemit is basically like a "hello" we float out to the community. Subsequently, we get comments and those are like "hellos" floating back to us. 

But to get the most out of the Steemit experience, you are really not done yet.

Some of my most interesting moments on Steemit have come as a result of entire dialogues developing out of a comment... so take the time to come back to your post and respond to the comments people have left. It's just good blogging etiquette and tells potential followers that you're an "active participant" in your content... not just someone who "posts and runs."

Remember you can upvote comments... and replies to comments!

When someone leaves you a particularly insightful or elaborate comment, it's a nice thing to give their comment an upvote. If you have built up some Steem Power, your vote will also mean a few cents in their "tip jar," so to speak. Original posts are not the only thing you can earn a reward for!

Remember: Your Content is "Live" for 7 Days!

Not everybody checks their Steemit feed every day... and sometimes you're going to get new comments several days after you posted something, and perhaps you'll have posted multiple new things since then. It's easy to overlook new comments, especially if you're fairly active and follow a lot of people.

I make a point of revisiting my "older" posts regularly until they have reached the payout time limit, looking for new comments or even "replies to replies." 

Don't Forget Your Comments Left Elsewhere!

As we read and comment on other people's posts, it's easy to forget that we have "active content" in places other than our own posts.

But sometimes some of those interesting "discussions" I mentioned earlier will take place in the comment section of someone else's original content.

At least once a day, I will spend some time scrolling quite deep on the listing under the "replies" tab, even if it doesn't appear there's anything new... I'm often surprised by how many things I have somehow missed. 

Why Curate Your Own Content? Isn't that Just a Lot of WORK?

The following, of course, is just personal opinion. 

However, it is based on some 20 years of blogging across many different platforms... and my "lesson" is that it's preferable to develop a smaller but active and dedicated following than a numerically huge group of followers who really don't much care about-- or engage with-- your content.

I remember having a discussion with a twitter "expert" of some note... who told me he could get me "thousands" of new twitter followers. I asked him how many of his 60,000+ twitter followers would read one of his new articles when he announced it.

As it turned out, I averaged more reads from my 1500 largely hand picked, hand invited followers than he would get from his 60,000+ 

Numbers aren't everything... quality matters!

Apologies to those for whom this post might have seemed very basic... with the large numbers of newcomers arriving on Steemit these days (1000+ new accounts per day!) I thought it might be good to go over some of the basics I wish I'd known more about at the start!

How about YOU? Do you consider yourself a good curator of your own content? Is "community" an important part of what keeps you interested in Steemit? Do you do most of the things listed above? Are there any important things I forgot to list? Leave a comment and share your experience!

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, cretaed expressly for Steemit)