Going into my fifth month on Steemit - some thoughts

Wow. Has it been this long. Four months on Steemit. I believe I joined July forth 2017. What a fun ride it has been, and finally the value of Steem seems to be on the rise as well - perhaps thanks to @ned 's announcement of Smart Media Tokens (SMT´s)

https://steemit.com/steem/@ned/smart-media-tokens-why-we-re-doing-it-video

Here are some thoughts on different aspects of Steemit

Sticking to your niche...works out well in some cases, and OK in others..

The most common niche here on Steemit is the "positivity-niche". Spreading mindless positivity and cheering on everyone and everything has never been my thing. I'm enthusiastic when there are real things to be enthusiastic about. But I'm also old and experienced enough to act a little more realistic and controlled than your average milennial.

My niche turns out to have become sort of a mix of reporting on weird liberal ideas in Scandinavia, realism when it comes to gender, race and multiculturalism, and enthusiasm on Crypto Currencies. I haven't been flagged once writing about things like immigration and multiculturalism - so I guess we can draw the conclusion so far that people understand that I'm not a racist but a realist (with a smile) and they know me as a Liberterian/anarcho capitalist. I don't give a SHIT about your skin color or background. Do you share the same values as me - you're my friend.

That's how the Vikings rolled, and that's how I roll. I don't support any nationalist movements and I don't care for the Alt-right. I understand why they are growing in popularity, but to me they are just a different kind of bad.

I think my niche is still small, but there's definitely potential for growth. I've seen people in very different niches from mine doing very well in a short time. One explanation could of course be that they are simple much more talented than me in what they do (a likely explanation) or/and they are in a niche that more people are into. Also a very likely explanation.

But you know, soon 1000 followers and 60 rep. I think that's quite good.

Free speech on Steemit?

Most definitely I would say. I wrote an article earlier about how the Steem-system is much better than for instance YouTube. On YouTube you cry to the owners of YouTube about someone offending your feelings and if the offender holds certain "wrong" political views, that person will get his account suspended.

On Steemit however it is much more intricate. You don't like my stuff. Well, first you have to check out if you really want to start flagging me. How much Steempower do I have. Do I have the support of some whale? Who knows, right? So for you to start a war with me, you will need to have very good reasons and not just because you are offended a little bit. Same goes for me. I can't flag just anyone. I flag a communist, and for all I know some communist-whale starts hunting me down.

So there is an incentive to stay decent, have high level of tolerance towards each other and be a little bit careful. Take responsibility for your actions really. Also another great thing (which could be awesome with SMT's) is that there are almost no trolling. When you can make money posting a good comment, why be an asshole. Why not try to add some value or be funny? This idea could potentially "cure" all comment fields on the entire web.

And may I add that the community is great. Top notch people. Smart people, from every nation of the world. Love it. (See, I can be positive!)

Boosters and Bots

Ok, bear with me. This is my personal experience, so please correct me if I'm wrong somewhere.

When I first started using the voting bots I also started measuring the effect they had.

What I learnt is that it varies a lot. Some bots are more consistent and immediate (like randowhale and minnowbooster), others take longer (unless you wait with the post until it reaches 99,80% voting power or something like that) And some are just awesome, like Whalereward. Bellyrub and Booster are great for their purpose. You won't always get back what you invested. Many times I have barely made back my investment, and sometimes even gone far into the negative. But what they are great at is helping you get exposure. Buying a vote from booster for let's say $10 will most likely get you to the hot section pretty fast. And once you're there I guess it's just your content which stands between a big payout or losing a little bit of money.

Personally I like the voting bots, and I use them..but I have found out that they are not necessarily just a way to make more money. They will help you get more exposure, but unless your content is good enough, you can easily make negative return on your posts. You bet on your content and quality and take a chance. I like that. That's capitalism.

And finally

It looks Steem is about to go nuts. It wants to go higher. I think the entire crypto market is ready for another pull soon, and I think we are going to go into the $200 billion territory for Crypto Currencies after November. I see no problems for Steem to get to $2 short term. It looks like it really want's to get there soon, but is being held back by the constant FUD over Bitcoin and bans on ICO's and what not. I wouldn't worry too much about that.