The Shakeout of Creators in Steem's Early Phase of Evolution
There is a process going on, in which the least determined and talented writers and creators in Steem are slowly being shaken out. Even the population of whales is gradually changing, and slowly some creators are becoming whale-sized and proving to be more effective curators than the first flush.
Some think that success at writing for Steem is just mainly a matter of luck, and not a viable, or real way of earning a living. I beg to differ. These people who might say such things, already have accomplished something and have established careers.
Their writing is more of a hobby than a serious business.
Others, like me, I think, who are new, and who have not achieved the milestone of establishing their careers, have a different perspective. Especially me, because for me, finding a route towards success as a Steem content creator, is driven by survival instinct. The sense of danger and impending disaster gives you an edge to your work that you cannot get when your survival is already fairly well secured.
If I don't make a success of my work as a Steem content creator, I am back on the street.
For me, finding the path is imperative. In some ways, it is my last chance. I know I am not the only creator in here who is doing this. @charlieshrem in particular is an example. I share in common with him an element in my recent past life history, of spending time in jail, over cryptocurrency related matters.
When your life, at least, maintaining the standard you have got, is at stake, and you could end up falling lower if you don't act, you are not just playing anymore.
Especially if that could mean being in very unpleasant situations in the future. Maybe even taking risks that could land you in serious troubles.
Your eyes become very attuned to what is working, and as you bump into glitches in your strategies of engagement and creation, you more quickly amend them. Sometimes even before a post has been up for long, you are tweaking it, and the more you do, and the more you tap into the veins of value that people in the ecosystem are looking for, the more quickly you become able to 'whip something up' that actually manages to get votes.
But it is not easy work. Simply writing is not enough. You have to find relevant topics, you have to gather relevant media. Some people's work is not so much about the writing at all, but presenting and marketing their work. Not all of it is digital media, either.
The posts that have really won me a lot of rewards, have been based on past work, but now, I am doing a lot of current work, my walking and photo shooting, watching and grabbing appropriate stills for a movie review - the recent one took me pretty much all day to put together.
It is also not just about creating, but engaging with the audience, and other creators, bumping ideas off each other, getting feedback, and networking, finding ways to get the audience interested to follow you outside of just actually making the content. Helping others with their own work. Giving people answers to questions they need answered.
It is a life-changing process, and very much worth the effort.
There is one more thing that I just noticed, that I want to point out. The authors themselves, have a critical role in curating the comment feeds under their posts. Vote counts on comments are much lower than articles. The author can help gain more and more appropriate attention by voting up insightful comments, and ones which the answers illuminate further the topic of the post itself.
...and a prediction:
I think eventually, the biggest population of curating whales in here, will be content creators. Curation is a skill that requires talent as well, and a broad knowledge of a great many areas of interest. There will be specialists as well, where their areas are narrower.
With the new reblog (to be renamed resteem) function, another element of curation comes into play... I think it will be abused by people who are what I would call 'weak hands' in this ecosystem, and they'll watch their follower counts drop as they spam their followers with reblogs. But it does open a new opportunity to become a newshound.
I also noted that it appears you can reblog comments. It will be interesting to see how this is used also. Maybe it will stop people making valueless comments. Or, encourage them to write ones that actually engage the topic.
We can't stop here! This is Whale country!
So are we getting out as much and as fast as we can to survive or going all in for 2 years because we like the platform? Seems a bit of both depending on the day.
Yeah, I think that's the idea, to get people to go all in.
Hello @l0k1, I'm just stopping back to let you know that your post was one of my favourite reads today. I've included it in my Steemit Ramble. You can read what I wrote about your post here
Thankyou for that. Yes, and the new changes in the recent update to the steemit.com website are even going further in this direction, actually, when I got up and spotted new buttons, at first I was a little shocked, and my first thought was, "Oh, now I have to rethink my strategy again!"
But after some consideration, I think it is going to be really good. The ReSteem button (the name it will have in the next update round) gives an opportunity for a new job, one that I have always appreciated other people doing, I remember in particular the admin of an IRC server I used to be a permanent fixture on, was an avid Newshound. It's something in between curator and creator. It will also lead to casual users attempting to spam with it, but their results within a week or two will be curators cut them off their followed list.
Indeed, your post itself, and this category, is in this exact area, just off to the side, so to speak. Compilation posts are a clear way for curators to actually produce original content, but I guess now you have two promotion avenues - you can still make these compilations, but also ReSteem the posts as well.
Having been here for only 6 weeks, I think also we may start to see soon, thanks to the ReSteeming of somewhat older content, an increase of second round rewards, 4 weeks after posts are up.
Lots of great new changes, and again, thanks for your promotion of my post :)
it is going to be interesting to see how this shakes out. I saw someone suggest in chat that the sort of curating I do will lose value. At first blush, I disagree. I think there will always be a spot for curation that gives the reader a chance at knowing what they are about to look at without telling all. The resteeming will just add headlines to busy feeds. I think it has it's value, just doesn't get rid of another value.
I agree. More options is always better, and as userbase grows, the best ways to use it will be discovered.
I wish you tonnes of success, I know you will get everything that you need in life. Have a great day :) PS I laugh every time I get to the end of one of your posts hahaaaa such a great photo and quote.
Your post is inspiring and encourages in me a new faith in Steemit. I doubt you can make a living on Steemit but I really hope you prove me wrong!
Interesting post. Easy upvote. Just posted something about STEEMIT and BLOCKCHAIN that you might be interested to see. STEEMIT hasn't even scratched the surface. Happy to follow. Cheers. stephen
Right point. From one side i take STEEMIT relatively relaxed, because I have a main job "outside". But on the other hand, I spend a lot of time and effort (not as much as you), to became a part of it and make a good content. Why am I doing this? Because I think that this is a serious project with a great future, It really provides a unique opportunity. STEEMIT changes lives, staying for somebody just a hobby, but for someone serious source of living and dreams.
@l0k1 you make a good point about observation. You have to be attune to what the results are telling you.
Currently I am pondering this as the goal is to be the standard for financial education and money tips, but I find my creative and story telling posts do much better.
This is just a factor of good creators writing such things, and the presence of numbers of interested readers. You should not neglect this area if you have something to contribute, but find the areas where you can get more attention that is somewhat to the edge of your area of specialisation, like I have just discovered with my first movie review. My favourite subjects are distributed systems and physics, and I am starting to make a pretty good footprint in that subject area.
I think it would be very helpful, in niche areas, especially technical subjects, to have writers writing dumbed-down articles. Stuff for the fans who have very little skill but a great deal of enthusiasm. To some extent, my recent article about gravity, is exactly this. I used a lot of pretty pictures and explained with a minimal use of technical terms, concepts involved in my hypothesis. As you can see, it did very well.
We do have to feed the up-coming minnow creators with hints and clues about how we moved forward, and ultimately, maybe I make my first big wad of capital, and then mostly move away from being a creator here, and new creators will have gaps to fill and further niches to find.
So keep up the self-help stuff about writing and money stuff. Don't stop looking for other things you might be able to make a splash with. Not every article has to be killer, just, enough. Your immediate network also may not have big bux but they will appreciate it and as they rise up they may become a lot more influential in your success as well.
Exactly, that is one of the goals of financial posts. Simple easy to understand information for someone that is not well versed in that area.
I think luck can play a part but most of the time, it is up to our hard work. I spend a lot of my free time writing articles, posting comments and curating.
Well like the saying goes "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity" so that is why we work hard, right.
Yes, work is important, but to reference another great article: https://steemit.com/life/@natord/hard-work-vs-genius - luck is vitally important. Specifically, outlier level intelligence.
Motivation is key, to doing hard work, but you can work all day on rubbish, for years, and it will never go anywhere. My motivation comes from never wanting to go backwards ever again in my life.
Yes, one should not just practice something. They should practice it perfectly. So for a contributor that would be the practice of writing value add posts.
Once again... 'value add posts' are subjective to the individual. A vegetarian for instance would derive no value from a great "Beef Wellington" recipe post. I believe, which I think @l0k1 alluded to, is to have a definite strategy and/or target market. Alas alack, I confess to having no defined strategy at present but will refine my creativity some where along the line ....... I hope {smile}
Good points. Got me thinking. But I don't know, I try not to over think it too much. Good content it hard to find but seems to concentrate on Steemit and that's what I like abut it, plus there's a very interactive community here which I like a lot. I'm learning and sharing what I'm passionate about. Money is just the cherry on top.
I wish you well and believe your survival instincts will serve you well here. Being hungry has spawned some of my best work in life. Don't ever lose that, even if you become a whale.
Like my father used to say, "If you're going through hell, whatever you do; don't stop there! Keep going."
Besides, We can't stop here! This is Whale country!
hah! 'overthinking'. that one makes me yawn. if you are overthinking, it's probably because you still haven't got a satisfying answer. But having said that, this sense of overworking the thinking, if you are alert to it, it is usually a clue it's time to eat, go to bed, fuck, and generally, just quit thinking for a bit. The answers will come after a sleep, or two.
Nah, I'm not gonna quit escalating my efforts in here until I have a years basic expenses covered, and, ideally, my two big dream projects (Agora and the Impulse/Scavenger Coil), have got patronage. The genius of this place is precisely that you can present your speculative ideas, and directly be paid for presenting them, and be exposed to potential investors. But, sometimes you have to try things that are a bit outside of your personal interests to get a following that pays off. At least until the userbase grows this will be the case, anyway.
Don't forget to have fun all along the way. Learn new ideas and meet new people. Great article Upvoted!