Steemit Truly IS Changing the World... and How it Has Changed Mine
When I joined Steemit-- four months ago-- I didn't have many expectations. If anything, I thought it was going to be "yet another content platform with rewards... that will go under within a few months." I even expressed my skepticism in my opening post...
I am glad (and somewhat humbled) to be able to look back and say that I was very wrong about that.
Northern Sunset
I'm Basically a Skeptical Idealist
By "idealist," I mean I believe that we can create a better world through cooperation and having the freedom to create our lives in our own ways. We don't have to "give in to the system" and just hope we make it. If we all do our best, everyone wins.
Sadly, I have been burned repeatedly by that kind of belief; watching otherwise great projects get torn apart by the greed of a small number of people who have forcefully "out-muscled" those working towards general betterment.
Truth be known, I had some doubts about Steemit, especially as we watched the price of Steem this Spring... slowly spiraling downwards towards what appeared to be complete valuelessness.
I am also somewhat of a supporter of UBI-- Universal Basic Income. Maybe not in its "pure" form, but I believe we at least need to be able to offer people some kind of minimal income for some kind of useful contribution.
Steemit Success Stories of Change-- Little and Large
Blooming calendula
Whereas I have read much about UBI programs elsewhere (VivaCoin and Grantcoin come to mind), it never occurred to me-- until fairly recently-- that Steemit actually has the perfect "ecosystem" for being that first snowball rolling down the mountain, creating an eventual avalanche of betterment for all.
I have been reading more and more stories of people whose lives have been changed by Steemit. There's @fisteganos in Nigeria whose world is now completely different, thanks to the Steemit community. Elsewhere, I have read about community members from politically troubled Venezuela, getting a much needed hand-up, thanks to being part of the Steemit community. Some like @aneblueberry are using Steemit to help raise funds to leave the country.
At the other end of the spectrum, some Steemians have had considerable success... recently @hilarski and @AnaHilarski bought a new car-- funded entirely by Steemit-- proof that it's not "Monopoly Money" we're playing with, here!
Purple irises
And there's real community here!
Several times, I have seen members of the community experience tragedies and loss... and the community rallies with donations and help, in ways I have never seen elsewhere.
I must admit that I thought the Steemit slogan "Come for the rewards, stay for the community" was really pretty cheesy. Strangely enough... it holds remarkably true!
I even see people who join Steemit with the intent of "making a quick buck" abandon their spamming ways and become active community members.
Little things like that make me believe that Steemit really can change the world. Maybe not all of it... but as much of it as we can get our hands on.
Meanwhile, Closer to Home...
Yesterday was June 1st.
Purple Morning Glory
That also meant that an ongoing annuity payment my wife had inherited from her late father came to the end of its monthly payments. $400.00 in monthly income, erased from our already very tight budgets.
Self employment offers a great deal of freedom and flexibility, but it does not offer much financial security... at least not for us.
As we contemplated the implications, I found a great deal of gratitude... because I realized that Steemit has the ongoing potential to change OUR lives, as well.
Steemit has Changed MY Life!
Whether I'll be able to make $400 a month from blogging, or not... Steemit has already changed my life!
You see, I have returned to being an active blogger again, over the last four months. I say that, even though I have been blogging for over 20 years... but I had lost my "mojo," you might say.
And I can't really put a monetary value on the enjoyment I get from being back in the writing habit. I also can't put a monetary value on being part of the Steemit community... and the inherent "good feels" I-- and thousands and others-- get as a result of helping others, purely through creating content and curating their content.
Buttercup with dewdrops
And helping others makes us feel good!
The other "big thing" for me-- which is something that hasn't happened in my life in some 25 years-- anything I earn through my efforts on Steemit represents an "in addition to" income source, rather than an "instead of" income source.
Previously, I have always had to give up one line of work in order to have the time and energy to pick up another. Not so, here.
And I am very grateful for that.
Well, this is an "unexpected" post. I actually started writing a post about how the crypto markets seem to have settled down again. Then I noticed the price of Steem is currently "spiking," so my post made itself irrelevant... so here I am.
Thank you Steemit, and all the wonderful occupants of SteemWorld!
How about YOU? Has Steemit changed YOUR life? Has the experience turned out to be something quite different from what you expected? Did you originally "come for the rewards" and end up "staying for the community?" Have you seen Steemit change people's lives? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- start the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Congratulations; glad it's worked out for you -- I hope to have a similar experience 4 months from now as well (today is my first day)
Today is my first day as well! Welcome!
Welcome to you too @ceobarbie! You will enjoy our community!
Welcome to steemit @topnetworkeral! Enjoy this wonderful community :)
thank you muchly!
Welcome to Steemit, @topnetworkeral and @ceobarbie-- I hope you both find the community as welcoming and rewarding as I (and many others) have!
thank you for that welcome!
Its a possibility.
I believe that we are only just beginning to see the tip of the iceberg. Steemit has got the potential to be massive and we don't have to wait too far into the future before we can start to see this manifest.
Indeed! For example, you are a visible example to your friends and colleagues that Steemit can make a difference. So then some of those people give it a try... and hopefully tell their friends... and so on, and so forth. If we all work together, we have an opportunity to make a real change in many people's lives!
I imagine it is hard for us to truly fathom the profound change it would make to those in the poorest nations. I'm glad to be part of it. Sadly I haven't had a great success of bringing more people over. I'm at a dozen or so, but have been declined by so many.
It's amazing, isn't it? It seems like it would be so easy to get people to sign up, doesn't it? After ten months and around 13,000 or 14,000 Steem earned, my wife still isn't interested. Yet, everyday, without fail, she's on Facebook and Instagram. I just don't get it.
My experience here as been so much more satisfying than any other platform, and mostly because Steemit inspires me to create. That's what I love about it. These past ten months have been the most productive writing period of my life. My interest in photography has also been reawakened. Those are rewards enough and, yet, on top of that, I've been able to make money, investments, and interact with great people.
It's remarkable how people respond. I did manage to talk my wife into resuming blogging here... and even though she's not all that active, at least she's giving it a try. But she spends more time on Farcebook and twitter.
I spent many years in sales and one of the things that typically holds true is that people value something about as much as they pay for it... conversely, people are also more likely to contribute with about the intent and quality they get rewarded. The fairly consistently high quality of content (compared to the papp of FB or other social media) is perhaps testament to the fact that people DO care more when they are compensated for their efforts.
This is how I see it as well. It has a huge opportunity as a platform to bring a lot of third world people a lot closer to the western "standard" to be honest. So the value may not be seen by a lot of average western people. It will snowball though because it actually pays.
It's definitely "bigger" for people who live in economies where they have nearly nothing. Imagine what a $50 post means to someone where the monthly income is $100! As a western person, I see this as a chance to give people various levels of a helping hand.
I hear you-- that's a strange and interesting dynamic... and it puzzles me. The *heart" of the mystery is that some people believe this is a "scam," evidently because we get rewarded. I'm really not sure how to interpret that. Have we really (as a collective) been trained so well that we believe the only "right" way is to give away our valuable content for FREE? To companies that profit from our efforts?
Apparently they are all drinking the Zuckerberg Kool Aid because they all seem perfectly happy to trade away their time and content for the "pleasure" of using the platform. These are the very people that I always hear complaining about how broke they are and how they could really use some extra money. It is beyond frustrating to me.
I guess their dopamine receptors are already too dependent on getting little jet of juice from Farcebook likes and smileys to consider giving them up for some more tangible rewards. And yes, it's frustrating to watch people doing the "I'm so broke" song and dance 24/7/365 and yet be completely unwilling to take even a minimal chance to break out of that cycle.
I am self-employed in South Africa and I reluctantly had to power down to cover a difficult period. I can honestly say Steemit has saved me from despair.
And a few people have had to do that, for one reason or another... but isn't it a blessing that this resource actually exists, and offers us that opportunity! I have read about people who powered down being able to cover things from car repairs to mortgage payments to medical expenses...
Interesting read @denmarkguy - I enjoyed it
I can't speak from much experience as this is only my 8th day here but this is what I feel: initially I too was skeptical, after all who in their right mind would pay for you posting a story or a few pictures? However yesterday I had my most rewarded post and I was staggered. Here I am, posting about a hobby I enjoy, and 200 people upvoted it, many great comments were made, I was on the trending page for a while and I made quite a pretty packet into the bargain! As a bonus in the 24 hours since then my number of followers has shot up.
While this is a hobby I am writing about, it would be awesome if I could make some regular income from it - however small - as being disabled I cannot go out to work and I am on a fixed income - I won't lie about that. However I know that success will not come overnight, yesterday was a happy fluke. I know that to succeed I must build my following, engage with my audience and support the wider community. We are all in this together and we must be prepared to help, advise where we can and nurture this beautiful place.
Thank you for your post
The thing is, pretty much everybody has something interesting to talk about. Combine getting rewarded for it and its unstoppable. Most people don't understand cryptos even a bit, so its just fake "internet points" to them still.
Upon receiving my first rewards in the community, I was also thinking if could really cash it out. So I went on around asking questions and finally was able to cash it out. Amazing. That moment mysel this going to be fun and indeed is fun. Started to gain friend and build connections with fellow steemians.
@gmuxx, thanks for the thoughtful comment... and congrats on having a post make it to "trending!" It's exciting when that happens. I actually had a vaguely similar experience when my intro post unexpectedly was picked up by one of the "Guilds" and I was their "author of the day." Talk about a welcome!
Every post is its own challenge, and I remind myself that this is not a job and I was not hired here by someone who "owes" me a salary. What I get to do is try my best every time and then it's up to our peers to determine whether the content is "good," "bad" or indifferent. For me, the reward is both a privilege and a bonus... none of my other blogs reward me with more than a pittance in Google AdSense revenue.
In a sense, we are all "gardeners" here, tasked with keeping this amazing ecosystem healthy.
That's such a great analogy
True, steemit is a life changing platform. I admit when I join the platform 11 months ago with the intention of earning money since most of the time I'm running around looking for something that I could use to buy basic neccessities of my family.
Given that desire, I started to enjoy the platform and learned that its not all about money but relationships. The platform is a community of building relationships establishing connections and have fun talking with each other.
Steemit had open a lot of opportunities for me, one of it is cryptocurrency. I have grown so much interest to it because I know it will our lives.
That is exactly true-- the relationships and connections here are quite amazing. It is almost like the Internet used to be, back before it reached mass adoption... a lot of content venues were more like an extended family than just a characterless mass market like Farcebook.
Of course the rewards are nice... but even if there were none and I had a choice between blogging here and somewhere like Blogger or WordPress, I'd probably still choose here.
I can feel the positivity and enthusiasm in your writing and I really appreciate it! Thank you! Also, a great point on UBI. Steemit really could be a platform that for that type of a social security net. Great thinking! :)
Steemit may not be able to "save the world," but even if what we end up with is a bunch of people getting a little bit in their "tip jar" every month... that's still very encouraging, and a step in the right direction.
judging from the $77 + you have on this post already...I'd say $400 a month is not unrealistic.
Not going to sacrifice just my straight enjoyment of participating here... just "for money," and even if I only get part way there, that's cool... just enough that one of us doesn't have to go out and get a part-time gig working for some soulless organization.
what sacrifice?
I've been doing this for many years.
except I was on FaceBook
on Steemit I get paid.
it's not a sacrifice it's a bonus.
Yeah, you're right.
I guess what I meant to say was that I am not going to start posting "crap content" just to make money.
Even withOUT the rewards, this is a way better community and gig than Farcebook.
I'm sick of looking at pictures of someone's lunch.
yup...we have mute.
do what you wanna do...
if you happen to get paid for it..
that's a feature not a bug
Steemit has brought me to an understanding and appreciation of digital currencies. It's a fascinating technology. And it's my first experience of feeling like I'm involved in the first wave of something.
Then there's that! Before I started here, I didn't even realize there were "virtual currencies" besides Bitcoin which a friend had pitched to me five years ago. MUCH to learn, still.
Congratulations @denmarkguy on your change of heart and also for being the first post I've read (and upvoted!) I'm glad I clicked on your post because it reassures me that I'm going to like this social platform. I hope a year from now you've replaced your wife's annuity 10 fold! Cheers - Chef Mickey
You wont have any regrets here.:) Everything is possible
@chefmickey, welcome to Steemit! It'll take a bit of time and diligence to get established and gain a following, but definitely worth the effort. Thanks for the comment and the kind words!
You're welcome- Cheers!