Always content and the 'chew and spit'

Steemit is full of content and every day more pours in but how much of it would you be willing to read a year from now?

There is a continual flood of crypto news, trending news, latest 'somethingorothergate' news which rarely brings anything new to the table and can be found from a myriad other sites. It is not that there is no value in this but, there is limited longevity as it really only feeds the very moment it is created.

It is often mentioned that the payout period should be longer than 7 days so that decent content can accrue higher rewards but, what kind of content is likely to do that? Do you want to read an article on what Bitcoin is going to do last week or last month other than for laughs?

Always content

But, there are posts from some authors that are likely to still be valuable in the mid- to long-term range and this could prove very valuable later, as with various UI changes that will be introduced over time, this content may be dredged up again or, will be shareable again.

Using myself as an example (but I am far from the only one), much of my content is not time based as they are works that can generally be read at any point and still be enjoyed or have something of value found within. I have close to 1000 articles which I estimate has about 800 'Always Content' pieces that could be read at sometime in the future.

There are people who write books here chapter by chapter or short series. There are the artists who step through their processes and those who write quality articles on philosophy, psychology or social issues. There is a lot of content that seems that it will be lost and become valueless very quickly through the current system.

Future usage

But, this is the blockchain and even though this is not the current order of business, things could change at almost anytime. For example, it may be possible that a new interface arrives that pulls short story fiction from the chain and opens it back up for curation. Perhaps it will even have a dedicated pool for it though an SMT. Who knows?

My point is that most people seem to be creating content that is likely to get chewed up and spat out within the news cycle and will never again be useful. This is a very shortsighted position in my view as even though it has value now, it has no chance of creating any future value ever.

Even if Steemit fails (which I am really doing what I can for it to not), there are some content providers who can take their work and repost at one of the other 'pay for content' sites. Some do it already from what I hear.

Competition on the horizon

As Steemit and the associated platforms grow, there will be an increasing amount of people flooding in from the more 'traditional' sites and some of them are going to be carrying a very heavy backlog of content at a time when user numbers are high. If the content providers aren't thinking carefully now, these people will swamp the platform with high-quality content through potentially hundreds of interfaces and quickly take stake.

The current posters who are Disposable providers will still have a place but, they will be competing daily with many more disposable authors and news services who may be much better at it and have teams working behind them. This means that if content does not get traction immediately, it is valueless.

Trickles, Streams, Rivers

The Forever writer may not get initial traction but has the potential for an ongoing royalty type situation where income trickles in on the old and can be occasionally brought up to the top through a repost, or an edited edition.

With enough trickles on content, that could become quite an income stream in the future whereas in the same scenario, the disposable content dies within hours, never to be heard from again.

What I am also hoping is that when people split some of their time between Disposable and Forever content so they will be hedging their bets that Steemit will progress into the future. This means they are likely to become more engaged with what makes Steemit a great place to be rather than just chasing instant gratification rewards in the 'chew and spit' categories.

The last few days, I have been writing a few more Steemit based articles as I think there are so many issues and potentials within the system that I feel I must think about them and get them out. Much of the content is disposable as once there is a solution, no one ever need read it again but, the solutions must be found first. I do really enjoy playing around in this area from time to time as it helps me engage and adjust my behaviours also.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]