RE: Hey Followers! Why So Quiet? Marking 600 Followers (and a quick tip for higher payouts)
The platform is changing wildly. I've noticed the same thing - I would often pass 100 votes, myself. One thing is that, because of the way things are on Steemit, leaving for any length of time is punished hard. That's because you need to be gaining followers and new readers faster than the atrophy (retention) rate in order to grow on the platform. As you know, it can be a real uphill battle.
The 50% retention rate guess may not be wrong. Remember that these are early days for the platform and not everyone is 'all in' yet. In other words, I'll bet anything that the same was true of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram when they first got started.
Also, Steemit is inherently bloggy. That takes more brainpower, a big no-no for social networks that want high engagement. This is why apps like Zappl are really good for the Steem blockchain and, at the end of the day, for Steemit.
If you don't mind my asking: how did you figure out that 50% of the accounts voting for you before are now inactive (Did you go through all of them and look at their curation rewards, for example)?
I suck with numbers, so it was a guess. It's at least 50%. I have 620 followers and only 40-50 upvotes including bots. That doesn't make any sense.
From what I can see, having under 1000 followers is not much and I would not expect a lot of upvotes. Having participated in earlier days, I'm guessing the overall participation rate of 100K users, was much higher than it is now, at 350K users (most are not active).
Leaving for a year is punished hard, then, Steemit not having it's act together, has it's own effects as well. It's difficult to take seriously, when they don't take it seriously.