Steemit Has a Problem that Only You Can Help Fix
Not trying to brag, but my track record of successfully identifying blockchain-based projects poised for success has been pretty remarkable so far. And, my current infatuation is Steemit. Due to its ease of use and social aspects, I think that Steemit might be the first "killer" blockchain-based app. I could not be more enthused about its potential.
However, it currently has a problem. I have introduced several women to the platform so far, some of whom are recognized professional writers, and the response from them to date has generally been: (1) the platform is revolutionary and has amazing potential, but (2) it's awfully male-focused and (3) "nerdy" topics seems to be most rewarded. In short, while they've not felt unwelcome here, they've generally not felt "at home" either.
So, I've done a little research, and these concerns seem to be legit. For example, here's a listing of the top 25 most valuable posts to date:
Although it's hard to say for sure since some posts are essentially anonymous, the vast majority seem to have been posted by males, and the content of these most-rewarded posts is generally highly technical (aka, nerdy).
While the situation does seem to be improving slowly with time (I've noticed an increase in non-technical posts over the last week), non-technical posts still don't seem to get the same "upvote" response even when excellently written.
If Steem is going to succeed it's going to need to reward diversity. This is where you and I come in: Let's go out of our way to reward (with upvotes) well-written posts on a wide diversity of topics, even topics that may not particularly strike our fancy. Let's avoid downvoting posts just because we might disagree with the sentiment. And let's be sure to especially welcome (with upvotes) well written posts from female contributors.
What makes Steemit different from all blockchain projects that came before it is its social aspect. Let's be smart and capitalize on that.
Most of my posts are about pregnancy and parenting and so I was a bit doubtful at first about whether anyone on Steemit would bother reading all the way through them! It did seem like a male dominated platform (and still does). However, I've been pleasantly surprised with some of the comments I've received from men who have read my posts. The whole point of something like Steemit is that people are sharing their personal views or areas of expertise. It doesn't mean they only want to read things similar to what they have shared. It's nice to be exposed to different personalities and view points.
I had a similar experience with a female friend that I showed Steemit too. Her first comment was it looked "extremely male". I said "So what." It offers her the opportunity to capture the market in the field that she writes. She can establish first-mover advantage and attract more women to the site. She still hasn't signed up. I'm sure she'll be kicking herself when someone else locks down her niche before she does!
Also I'd advise people not to get too carried away with the "home run" posts. Think less about writing 100 $10,000 posts and more about writing 10,000 $100 posts. Yes, you'll knock the occasional post 'out-of-the-park' however how much of that is down to chance, randomness and luck as it is to 'skilful writing' is up for debate. What is clear is, the more you post good quality original content, the more you're likely to be consistently rewarded.
There are females on here like @stellabelle and @mummyimperfect that are consistently raking in decent rewards for their efforts, so it can certainly be done. I think it's more an issue of taking that "early adopter leap of faith" than a male or female thing.
This has been discussed before and I myself have tried to promote writers of other topics via my articles on the #heroesofsteem tag.
Basically once the 4th is out of the way, the topics will get more diverse; I think the main reason for the hot topics, is two-fold.
There is a large crypto-community on here
There are a lot of people who have invested more than just time into the platform, these people; maybe more than anyone else, want to see it succeed. So they are much more likely to throw their considerable weight, behind Steem related posts.
Especially, well written, search engine, optimised content, because that will get the attention of Google, which in turn will bring in fresh users.
Ultimately you're right though, but I would just point your female colleagues and friends to people like @stellabelle, @gardeninglady @camilla @sandra and any more you come across, just to show them it's not a complete sausage fest!
:-)
CG
I have never really been voting with thinking about whether the post is written by a male or a female, so I think that it's just genuine good quality content that matters. You have to see the other side of the coin. Once you start supporting one side extra, the other side is going to get angry and start hating. I am anyway failing to see why women should have any better position than men here.
The technical topics are something else, but I guess that will simply get better with time.
Look at the link that @ash posted in the comment above. Women definitely don't "have it any better than men here". So, you can put that concern aside for now.
I am not saying that. I am just saying that any simplistic artificial behaviour probably won't work. On the other hand, it's true that women are somehow at disadvantage here given the topics and given who holds the power, although as shown for example by @stellabelle, everything is doable.
I don't think it has to do with women vs men, that kind of politics doesn't even count with anonymous posts from unidentifiable usernames unless they draw attention to it. The only thing that counts are interesting topics and readability, and right now it is purely a popularity contest for the developers favorite topics. I can see that chasing men, women, and facebookers away.
The main reason so many people leave is probably usability. The editor is still buggy, it requires some kind of code or html, (things which haven't been necessary for regular internet users since the 2000's...), and it still does not look good when you use every option available. Facebook and twitter people don't know or want to know that coding stuff, they want a WYSIWYG editor that makes it easy to add pictures, tweets, videos and emojis. If it's difficult they will just go somewhere more popular that makes it easy.
The focus needs to be on ease of use for regular people, not techies and coders.
Great points! I'm expecting that situation to improve once we get out of beta. Fingers crossed.
I have never seen a bitshares project get out of beta. Not one. In years. If you want these things to happen, you need to be vocal about it. Until lots of people start asking for these basic features directly, they won't happen.
The platform can be successful even though it does appeal mostly to men for now. Reddit is an example of that. But overall, the voting on a diversity of topic will emerge after July 4th after the first "redistribution" and more female friendly topic will start to emerge as time goes on.
What people like so far is the "depth" and "quality" of the articles and I think this is really what should be focused on for now...regardless of the demographic it attracts.
Personally I think some of the women who are complaining are the ones trying to use it as a dating site. Not the intended purpose, or best use, in my opinion. Some of the female writers are doing very well ( see https://steemit.com/@stellabelle and https://steemit.com/@anwenbaumeister )
Have you seen the girl posting a naked selfie every day or two, she's making money probably/hopefully enjoying herself. I make sure to header over there and give her a like every now and then just to show that content that isn't exceptionally intellectual is also supported and can thrive here.
In fact it would be interesting to see porn advance here or on any type of site that is driven and essentially managed by the community. I can only imagine what the "hot topics" would be lol.
These are not the women about whom I speak. And those who have spoken to me are not "complaining". They share our interest in growing Steemit. They are simply sharing their observation (so far) that the "upvote love" tends to concentrate around certain topics that are of interest primarily to men. That's not a bad thing, IMO, but I do think we need to "spread the love around" as much as possible so as to attract more and more users of all types.