The Influence of Money: Some Reflections on Steemit

People care too much about money. Or maybe I care too much about money and I'm just generalizing to appease my ego. I don't really know. But when money's on the line, it changes the way you think about things. Its because of money that I choose to perform certain actions. I went to school because of money. There are certain activities that I don't engage in because of money. In my opinion, money has too much of an impact on my life. Steemit is unique as a social media platform in the way in it engages its creators and audience with money. And it has changed our behavior for better or worse.

I would do almost anything for the right price...

Changes in Style

If you look at the content at Steemit, it feels different than any other social media website. There are two key types of content that are produced and although they are vastly different, these styles are influenced by the possibility of cashing in. A large majority of the content on the site appears to be short descriptions with a picture and maybe a link. The goal of these pieces of content is not to create a great piece of content, but to produce quick and easy tidbits of information and hope to receive a lot of small, but substantive amounts of Steem and SBD to earn money. However, due to the way the community tends to distribute rewards, this method proves to be more labor intensive as such content typically gets a few upvotes at the most.

The other style, is the more developed article. Perhaps somewhere between a five paragraph and a few page essay. The amount of thought and detail in these articles is much higher than you would find on other social media sites, except for those few overachievers that take pride in the work they do for free. This is less of the case on Steemit. There are articles that I have read that have seemed rather shallow in the way they build and articulate the idea. They take the time, but had they spent more time developing their ideas, they would have produced a more polished product. I know that at times, I have been guilty of writing for the sake of getting something written, and at times, its obvious and not very interesting to read. These longer articles appear to be the result of giving the consumer some bang for the buck. Hopefully the reader, takes a moment to appreciate the extra time and effort spent on sharing some information or an interesting thought.

Changes in Communication

If you have ever read or used Reddit or any other forum, almost every comment of the conversation is focused on two things. The first is your reaction to the topic or someone's else comment. The second is that you make a new insight based on the topic or someone's else comment. Making jokes can fall into either category. What you do not see is a bunch of attention whores whining for attention. I am not saying attention whores do not exist on these platforms. They certainly do. But they at least put the effort into integrating the topic of conversation into their plea for attention. But on Steemit, they straight up ask for upvotes or follows. Why? Money. The exact reason is unsure to me, however. They could be extremely lazy or they have little experience with how to engage in internet conversations because they don't use the other platforms. In either case, money has influenced them into fishing for upvotes and follows in hopes of making a quick buck.

On the other side of the spectrum, you get these really well thought out comments. Some of them are paragraphs long and actually try to develop intricate thoughts in regards to the topic at hand. In the typical forum, such extra effort would just not be worth the effort. But the upvotes tempt. And instead of writing the first thought that comes to your head, several users take the time to digest the content and produce valuable insights. In this way, money has created discussions where new and complex ideas are more incentivized. Which in my opinion is a good thing, regardless of the added incentive or not.

People Care Too Much

I will raise my hand and admit that at times I have gotten a little carried away with the relationship between a post that I've authored and its worth. There are times when I think that a specific post is undervalued and become annoyed that I spent the last few hours developing and writing out that specific idea. If I was posting to Reddit, I really think I could have cared less how the article performed. Sure, it would be nice to be up voted to the top, but at the end of the day, there is no monetary value to such action. I also care too much about what others are doing and what others are earning, when at the end of the day, that simply doesn't matter. In the pursuit of money, however, we look to others to estimate market value, and at times, such comparisons add unnecessary stress and discourage us from sharing what interests us. Some may quit the site altogether because the activity of posting has turned into work. And people don't like working for free.

Last Thoughts

My experience with Steemit has been an interesting experience and a fun one even though at times it can be frustrating when you get ignored. I recognize that this post may only be read by one or two people and may be swallowed into the abyss and lost in the reaches of the Steem blockchain. But I think its important to recognize that money changes our behavior, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. We don't have to pretend that money doesn't affect us, but we should find paths that are rewarding to us regardless of whether money is a factor or not.

TLDR: The free market has sneaky ways of changing our behavior.

Sources:
Image