Dear Steemit, it does pay to vote on "hidden gems"!
Hello everyone, we all know that certain popular users routinely get their material voted up by whales, and it often seems like other good content goes unnoticed, and while this is true, I'd like to show you that the system, in fact, does reward you for voting on a "hidden gem".
The numbers I'm about to show apply to me. Curation awards depend on how much Steem power you wield.
When I vote on a typical popular user (we all know who they are), I usually have to vote at around the 15 minute mark at the latest, sometimes as early as 12 or 10 to front run the whale votes. You'll remember that the earlier you vote, the less curation award you get and the more of it is given to the poster.
My curation award for popular content is usually between 0.2 SP to 1 SP, for an average of about 0.5 SP. It's nice and reliable income.
A hidden gem, on the other hand, it is safer to vote later, between 20 and 30 minutes or even later if you can spot it. Voting later on a post can give you a much better award. If this post gets picked up by whales afterwards, I can make between 1 SP to as high as 15 SP! (15 is my all time best so far). I'll say the average is probably about 4 SP for these.
A good example of this is @vlad 's post, https://steemit.com/foodchallenge/@vlad/desserts-to-die-for-delicious-jelly-watermelon-grapefruit-orange-all-topped-with-a-smidgen-of-grated-coconut . When I saw this post, I thought it was really good, it hadn't made much yet and I voted it at about 20 minutes, and it went on to make $275!
Curation reward of 5.040 STEEM POWER for vlad/desserts-to-die-for-delicious-jelly-watermelon-grapefruit-orange-all-topped-with-a-smidgen-of-grated-coconut
Not bad at all, so to me clicking on @vlad 's post was worth voting on about 10 popular posts!
Of course, it's a risk to vote on a hidden gem, often they don't make it, and then your curation award is tiny, but if you can get good at picking hidden gems, you'll do much better than just voting on the popular stuff!
So, do take a chance on these hidden gems, it can be well worth it.
My curation rewards have been around .001 or .002 if I'm super lucky. My SP is still pretty low, but I'm working on it.
That's very normal. Same here
From time to time I get 0.001 sp good to look around for good articles.
so how much is thins vote gonna make me?
Sadly, my posts usually don't do very well, but your vote is appreciated.
Well I appreciate your appreciation.
I hope more whales would realise this.
I stop upvoting wasting my time , not much curation points.
I makes more in my replies/ comments than I submitted a post. Hardly anyone see my posts. Only my Followers see thru the FEED.
Eventhough , I have 160+ Followers , only 5% UPVOTES me.
Sorry for the rant , @neoxian
But is true , can't get much from upvoting.
I'll agree that if you are a minnow, it's better for you to write a hidden gem then to vote on them.
Is good for your Followers commenting on your posts.
BUMP = Bring up your post
The more people replies it keep your posts active.
Good in a way.
👍
The biggest reward I have ever gotten from curation was 0.6 SP, you're quite fortunate to have a larger SP starting base to be able to get 15 SP rewards sometimes! That's awesome.
I've done pretty well voting on your gems, so thanks!
You have 34k SP. it pays for YOU to turn a post into a hidden gem. Only 198 users have more SP than you. For the rest of us? Not so much.
Well write me a hidden gem and it could pay for you too.
I keep writing gems -- just forget to post them!
Thanks for these insights on curation. Given my time constraints that is my primary utilization of Steemit. I've done ok by being consistent in checking my feed and by finding a few trending posts after the 15 min mark. There are still quite a few great posts that go unrewarded.
Nice yes hidden gems definitely give the most rewards! I just wish the power was more spread out between all users and not just 10 or 15 people control 90% of all the rewards power. Your vote doesn't count unless you have 1,500 SP or more.
I think it will spread out more over time.
Think less about the money for curation, and more about how to encourage community. Most hidden gems are from artists/content creators that are good at their craft, but arent getting noticed. If an artist goes long enough without ever being noticed, they're going to move to a new platform.
Ya know what makes me feel like I should keep going? Partially it is my own drive to succeed and share the things I enjoy making, the other is seeing others enjoy it. Comments and upvotes are how we tell each other what we appreciate about our community. It's how we keep good content here and how we all help each other improve. It's the literal lifeblood of this site.
So next time you're questioning whether you should upvote someone just for a curation reward, hoping a big whale will come and share the wealth, maybe you should think if that upvote might make a difference to the content creator, a small dopamine hit that's worth far more than the weight of your upvote itself. Maybe a comment to show your appreciation, to show that you're there for more than just the chance at a couple of bucks from a curation reward. The more you do that, the better your eye will become for users who may TRULY make it, becoming dolphins and whales themselves, who will remember your contributions, follows, and votes, and return the favor back to you.
Why can't I have my cake and eat it too? I look for hidden gems and vote on them which has all the positive benefits you just mentioned, and plus I might get paid for it too. The system should incentivize good behavior, and I was just pointing out that it does so in this case.
I'm not saying you cant have both, sorry if I misunderstood your post. I merely was commenting that the sole reason for upvoting shouldnt be curation rewards, but to incentivise those creating the content as well. And often, a comment can go a lot further than an upvote, so for those that only want curation rewards they can incentivise a creator to continue making good content even if there isnt much of a curation reward to be had.