THE ANOMOLY OF THE $15,000 STEEMIT POST

THE ANOMOLY OF THE $15,000 STEEMIT POST

(Thanks to http://nickersandinkblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/go-for-broke.html for image)

I am getting a bit fed up with hearing Dollarvigilante's achievement being cited every time somebody is trying to describe Steemit to their audience.

You know the sort of thing I mean. Somebody will post a vlog on YouTube, in which the introduction typically runs something like this:

"So I have had many listeners asking my opinion on Steemit. I did some research and, well, basically, Steemit is a social networking site that is a lot like Reddit...but with the unique feature of actually paying users to upload and vote on content. Yes, you make money just by posting content, and pretty serious money too. This guy Dollarvigilante made $15,000 on one post..."

Now I do not want to speak unkindly about his remarkable achievement on the Steemit platform. But we should acknowledge that this level of success is highly unusual and I think it is pretty misleading to cite such extraordinary success as what happens when you start contributing content to the Steemit social network.

Citing Dollarvigilante's success (implying reward of similar magnitude could come your way too) is almost like saying the British Monarch lives in Buckingham palace and you too could live in similar swanky style. 

Ok maybe that's taking things a bit too far. Let me try again. It is like claiming anyone who learns to sing and play a musical instrument can become as rich and famous as Elvis Presley.

Well, guess what? You, dear average reader, are not going to become as rich as Elvis and this sorry news has got nothing to do with your lack of talent. You may be very talented for all I know, it matters not. Fact is, most people who learn to play a musical instrument will never achieve any kind of fame let alone the dizzying heights of success that The King achieved (if you are the exception to the rule and you do become as rich and famous as Elvis through your musical ability, feel free to cite my words as an anecdote about somebody who spectacularly failed to predict your rise to glory). And this sorry news is applicable to any creative pursuit.

You see, the dirty secret of fame is that it is dependent much more on people failing than it is on anyone succeeding. Fame is a complete anomaly from the usual level of recognition a person can expect when engaging in any activity. The typical result from learning to play a musical instrument is a complete lack of recognition of your skill, not the adoration of millions. And the typical result of posting content on Steemit is a negligible monetary reward and a dozen or so upvotes, not $15,000, hundreds of votes per post and your name mentioned by every Tom, Dick and Harry who ever makes a YouTube video about Steemit.

Indeed, were we to all attract as many upvotes for our content, the result would not be one in which our success is equal to Dollarvigilante, it would be one in which in inflationary effects kick in and Dollarvigilante earns substantially less. 

Now, admittedly, the introduction to Steemit which invariably cites Dollarvigilante's success will then add the necessary caveat explaining this level of success is pretty unusual and is to be explained by the huge following this particular poster brought with him. You, the average person, will almost certainly not make that much for your posts.

Ok, but why not start your introduction with that truth? Why not explain what Steemit is for the vast majority: A social networking site in which people are paid a negligible amount of money for posting and curating content, with a very, very small chance of earning meaningful amounts of cryptocurrency?

I know why people promoting Steemit would rather cite the highly unusual Dollarvigilante rather than all those people who get mere pennies for all their hard work. Same reason why universities cite names of people who went on to become Prime Minister or to win the Nobel Prize in literature: It is a good promotion for their institution.

But it arguably has  a negative effect on one's esteem when the harsh reality of how much you actually are rewarded becomes apparent. Quite frankly, for most of us Steemit is the one social network which shows, in cold hard financial figures, just how much our contribution to the platform is not valued. What other conclusion can you draw when you have been told it is possible to make tens of thousands of dollars and your actual reward is one or two cents shy of diddly squat?

It is kind of a pity to feel that way, as Steemit has more going for it than just offering the negligible chance of earning a living from creating and curating content. I may not have been much rewarded in cryptocurrency but I have been very much rewarded by the content others have uploaded. There is no end of fascinating things to make me think, make me smile. And the fact that it is a social network owned by its users and not some corporation out to commodify our personal lives should appeal to the anarchist in us.