The Minnow Problem - Why is the trending page almost always filled with well-known authors?

Everyday I open my internet browser, and fire up Steemit. Click on the trending button which takes me to a page which is filled with articles, poems, life experiences, and stories. I glance at their authors name and I realize something. This is a pretty well-known person in the community. In fact, he has had a top post in the trending section many times in the past week or so. The content is top-notch, this must be why his post is trending. But wait. What about the posts on the "new" section? The posts that more than often go unnoticed, despite being so well written, to the point, detailed, and constructive: what about them? Are they not worthy of getting their chance in the spotlight?

Now, hear me out here.

I have absolutely nothing against the whales and the people whose posts often trend. Their content is pretty good, there's no doubt about that. Nor am I jealous that my posts aren't trending. It's just simply, totally, and completely. Not. About. That. I have had my fair share of posts that have earned quite a bit, so it's definitely not about me not earning any money.

There is nothing wrong in the posts of well-known authors being on the trending section. After all, they are well-known for some reason, right? They produce awesome writing. They deserve to be on the top. But does that mean that the little fish can't or shouldn't get the chance to have their time in the spotlight? Of course not. Isn't it possible that the content of minnows that goes unheard of might be better than what that well-known author has posted? The posts of minnows get dropped into a pile which consists of hundreds of other posts by other minnows, whether they are good or bad, awesome or awful, it doesn't matter. They end up in the same pile and go unnoticed. This is what bothers me. I mean think about it. What do you think will happen when the minnow realizes that no one is reading his no matter how well written stories and articles? Let me tell you. He will start to lose faith in this platform.

This is about that regular user, that minnow, who just discovered this site. Who believes that Steemit is really something. Who believes that Steemit is that platform where his fictional or non-fictional stories could find success, where his research, journalism, and analyses could capture the attention of the readers. It is about that minnow who believes in Steemit.

That minnow who spends hours upon hours writing, rewriting, honing, and perfecting his articles and stories. And in the end guess what happens? The post goes unnoticed. I don't know about others, but to me, that would be very disappointing. It would be heart-breaking and frustrating for me to see that all my effort and hard-work has amounted to almost nothing. No one has commented on my post. I don't even know if anyone has seen my post. I'd start to ask myself questions like: What happened to all the effort I put into this post? Did it go to waste? No matter how pure, original, and incredible that post is, chances are that it will go unnoticed. Believe it or not, that is the sad reality of being a minnow, a small fish in this ocean of users.

Make no mistake: minnows can produce just as good, if not better, content than what you see on the trending page.

But unfortunately, no one learns about it.

Featuring is something that minnows resort to when they see that most of their posts go unnoticed, and very few catch on.

Some users like @gavvet, @dragonslayer109, and @jacor, not only promote diverse content but also promote those hidden minnows that have been waiting for their big break. They introduce them to user-base of Steemit due to which their content gets noticed and it earns a sum of SBD too.

I think that such a system should be adopted that results in the small fish in the ocean getting some recognition which will improve Steemit a lot. Content is what Steemit was made for, and not only the content related to crypto-currency but content related to... well, pretty much everything. In the current state of Steemit, the smaller fish hardly get any attention at all which I believe to be not good for this platform. It is common that people here forget the value of minnows. Minnows are just as important as the whales or dolphins. Steemit needs minnows. The whales cannot last on their own forever, they need minnows.

The smaller fish in this ocean of Steemit also contain those who want to abuse the system, of course. It's not all well and good. Nothing's perfect. But it isn't fair to those who just want to post their writings and stories to Steemit to go unnoticed and not cared for because of a few bad fishes.

I am no developer but I do know that curating needs an overhaul. It is outright unfair that the content of minnows, however good it may be, goes unnoticed. Of course, the whales and dolphins post great content, but that doesn't mean minnows produce anything less than that.

There are a few groups of people out there that are doing everything they can to get the unnoticed minnows noticed for example Project Curie, Robinhood Whale, and so on. I appreciate what these guys are doing whole-heartedly. Because not only it helps the minnows get their content out there, it helps the minnows to introduce themselves to the masses on Steemit. Once that's done, the minnow's content starts getting more and more attention if it maintains its quality. These groups bring spotlight to those hidden minnows, they know that it is indeed high time that the minnows got their fifteen minutes of fame.