Some thoughts on Steemit
On the morning of yesterday I was doing a little research on different topics that are not worth mentioning, but as I introduced several questions in the well-known search engine, I found, not once, but twice with links to Steemit content.
That caught my attention, because previously it had not happened to me. Since I use Steemit I had never found a post created on the platform while browsing the internet, to see a Steemit's post I always needed to go directly to the page, however, this time it was different.
I was able to complete part of my research using Steemit as support, and that's when I noticed that most of Steemit's writers wrote for a very closed community. Most of us write knowing more or less what kind of people are going to read our content.
In the first instance are our followers, those who have decided for different reasons to click the follow button, and in whose feed our texts appear within a few seconds of being published. Later we find the Steemit community that visits the tags that we place on our posts. In third place is the rest of the community, anyone who can access our posts either thanks to a resteem, or because our publication came to the section of Trending, Hot, or failing that, was promoted, in this case , the post can be seen by many other people in Steemit, and many of them will not even know how to read the content in the language we have written it. Finally, our post is accessible to those who don't belong to the community and who, like me, accidentally found a link to original Steemit content.
Although a writer is always recommended to know his audience, this does not mean that the writer should restrict or limit its content to a certain audience without there being a possibility that new people can join it.
When you visit the trending section, most of the information you can find refers to Steemit, that is, they are dedicated to talking about Steemit or its characteristics, this of course has no appeal for people outside the community. Although it is also true that anyone who does not belong to Steemit will review the trending section. For people who don't have an account here, the platform will only be useful to the extent that it can provide them with the information they are looking for. That is, the writers of Steemit should, as far as possible, try to write for the most general public possible, including that which is outside the platform.
In this way we will stop attracting exclusively content creators and start bringing content consumers, because until now, in Steemit there are only content creators who produce and consume their own writings.
Unlike this great community, where I joined to share content, in the rest of the pages that I have registered I have done to consume it, and from time to time, when the situation warrants, enter a discussion with other users. That is to say, as far as my experience is concerned, and what the data shows in other social networks, there are always more consumers than producers, and in Steemit the opposite situation seems to be generated.
I have a Google account to access Youtube, but I have never uploaded a single video, however, occasionally I make one or several comments on some videos. There are simply times that we only want to consume content instead of having to create it.
But here in Steemit, it seems that most writers, instead of embracing this type of consumer, are rejecting them. In most cases, users with low reputation suffer a kind of ostracism, are not allowed to participate in contests, are blocked, or their comments are ignored and don't receive an answer, even when they are really assertive. And since in most cases to have a high reputation you have to create content, because for different reasons not everyone decides to buy SP, consumers of content, and I mean the kind of person who only consumes and does not create content, they are almost totally marginalized in our community.
When we go to Wikipedia we do it to read information, not to write information. When we go to YouTube, most of us are just going to watch videos, not upload one. Even when we visit Facebook, Twitter or Instagram most of us will see and read more content than we usually upload to those platforms. So, why think what in Steemit should be different?
In itself, there does not seem to be anything wrong with Steemit; the platform does not avoid interacting with registered people, and allows viewing even those who don't have accounts on the platform, so we could not talk about technical limitations. The problem, then, lies not in the platform but in the culture that has been created in the platform, a culture in which the SP is a determining factor.
The problem, in my opinion, lies in trying to get upvotes, and trying not to receive flags. This problem is not exclusive to the content creators, many of us respond to the comments that are generated in our publication, in fact, this is something that can not boast all the other famous social networks, because not all content creators on those platforms interact with followers, which is understandable when they are too many. However, it is undeniable that in Steemit there is very little or no interaction in the comments section, since people are not willing to discuss, and I assume that the reason for that is because it would jeopardize their reward.
Many might think that the problem in question is that there is the possibility of flagging those who think differently, which affects the reputation. I have already seen in different posts, especially in the tag "politics", where the discussions tend to be somewhat heated, and where the flag is used against the one who thinks differently. Under such circumstances, the likelihood of people refraining from discussing increases.
Personally I try to encourage any type of discussion, especially in an educated way. When I argue with someone here in Steemit, even though we may disagree, I usually give upvotes to their comments, and even though my SP is not very high, this can mean a positive reinforcement for that person to be more open to expose their thoughts without the fear that a war of flags will start.
Personally, I think we should encourage discussion in the comments section, that will greatly enrich each publication we make. I see a Steemit where people can relate through this section, exposing their thoughts freely. And I also see it as necessary to write for a wider audience, and that people who are searching on Google or any other search engine can find Steemit articles with valuable and thoughtful information, serving as a hook to capture new users.
Been awhile Vieira and enjoyed the post. It is a good point and is true that steemit seems to have too many creators relative to people who seek out content like other platforms. I think some of that has to do that this thing is still young and to get the ball rolling there has to be a lot of content on a social site. I agree with some of your other points that discourages casual readers as well. Yah, the comment section is big and often underutilized. I also think that those who gravitate twoards steemit at this stage are those who tend to create. A casual readers time is often better spent of social media sites compared to steemit.....as of now. I hope and do think that will change in the future
very, very good! Yes, totally so!
I am sometimes amazed about the fact and now I got a probable answer that there are more content creators than consumers.
edit: the biggest hurdle to take is that you just cannot comment on an article if you are not a full member of steemit. While elsewhere the hurdles became smaller (as in private blogs) you don't have to register to comment it's a nuisance to read something without being logged in just because to follow the wish to add something to a writers work. Yes, Newbies are not treated very good. What I observed as well is that a recruiting machinery has taken place for them in order to fulfill the "gaining followers" business. Some have real good attitudes but mostly it's business. That's the world we live in.
I ran a Wordpress blog myself for quite some time and I haven't got so much readers but with those I had some long exchanges and really engaged debates in the comment section of my blog. And new ones came along every day. I felt it was much more lively compared with my steemit blogsite. And a lot more user-friendly:)
Probably nowadays I would have more difficulties as times changed and my appearance in the searching machines would be very unlikely on the first page.
Here, I often am faced with emptiness. That is frustrating and I am so happy you mentioned some estimated reasons for that.
My blog was a single theme one and not meeting the taste of the general public. I served a niche topic.
This whole scene is still a tiny one and behind the scenes there is a lot of networking and forming communities. This is, from my observation, much more important than the content itself. It's like in the gold rush times where claims have to be put in the ground first and negotiations with people how to work the land and build cities around the claims is of greater importance.
I guess one has to have a lot of patience before steemit becomes something more closely to a consuming platform. Here, you have entrepreneurs who want to sell their ideas and products to other entrepreneurs. But if all the people are producers and business people they miss those who buy their goods & services. So, yes, I guess you are quite right with your observations!
edit: and yes, you are quite right about newbies who are often treated badly. They are often "welcomed" for the purpose of gaining a followers base, which is a business attempt. It's also a nuisance in wanting to comment an article from the outside because you have to become a full member of the platform to be able to comment. This is a huge hurdle compared to other platforms, in particular private blogs where you don't even have to register anymore to leave a comment.
Well, although I know the platform, I was never a regular Wordpress writer, I think I once wrote a couple of articles for a column belonging to a group of libertarians from Colombia, but I did not have time to write for them, so I did not use the platform much. But the little time I used the platform I liked.
I have also been able to visit other pages where content is published, but with another function different from Steemit. In Argentina, for example, they have a page that allows uploading content to everyone who registers, but some users, who meet certain requirements, are paid in Bitcoin for the articles they write. The great thing is that it was not always like that, the community was created first, and then, over the years, they introduced the reward feature so that some writers could get some money.
But being honest, of the pages I've visited, Steemit is the one that has the greatest growth opportunity, but it's like you say, getting a Steemit account should be somewhat less bureaucratic than it is now, so that more users can join , no one will wait 1 or 2 weeks to receive approval of your account.
Great article. Indeed one of the main flaws is that freshly starting users with low reputation are marginalized and it is getting increasingly difficult to get attention within 7 days without a big follower base.
Steemit has become a money draining machine for some whales and as such it will have a hard time on the long run with the upcoming competitors who have different playing rules (e.g. like everybody has the same voting power, not dependent on steempower).
Often in history the pioneer disappeared from market because he didn´t adopt. I hope Steemit will not go the Nokia way.
Yes, I hope it does not follow the path of Nokia, improvements must be made, I propose that we, the users, can help a lot if we change our interaction with the platform a bit. On the other hand, a few technical changes are also needed. Making the accounts more accessible, would be a good improvement.
You brought up a few good points and I think it's pointing to the source of the issue with steemit. I feel, just as many others here, that steemit (the flagship product of steem blockchain) is no longer evolving. No one is actively working on it to make it better. There is no ad integration, no outside source of revenue, no attempt to capture a wider audience and investor. It exists only because people buy steem so they can collect dividend/payout by lending their steem power to voting bots.
You're right in saying there's hardly any consumers on this site, barely anyone reads, most of them are producers of content. Since there is hardly any content consumer, advertisers won't come to steemit to. It slowly becomes a pyramid scheme as only the people who invest into steemit want to drain its money. It will topple as soon as people stop buying steem because upvote bots don't bring enough returns. I hope it doesn't die then, I think it still has potential, just badly managed.
Just imagine if they can get backing as a blogging website similar to wordpress, maybe even integration with basic attention token so the ecosystem is more complete.
Yes, I am also working on a publication on a possible alternative that the community can have when integrating advertisements, not too many, we do not want this to be YouTube, but it is clear that a change is needed. My opinion is that current content creators should write things that can be of usefulness or interest to other people, that is, when a person searches in google and suddenly find several articles of Steemit and then decide to create an account, not to become content creators, but to participate in the discussions and interact in the comments.
Good reflection. One of the thing I like about steemit is that it puts people in a completely new environment that influences and changes their behaviour. It's like a psychology experiment running live - you introduce a monetary value in the equation and everybody starts behaving in way you did not expect
Yes, Steemit has the ability to generate that.
Steemit is a great platform to earn you passive income.
But like with everything in life you need to invest $ for it to start giving it back to you.
Imagine like you have started a small business you need to invest money in order for it to succeed.
Excellent post! I totally agree with you that freedom of expression can be limited if you "punish" the one who thinks differently by condemning it to ostracism. This can lead to a subtle conformism, denying the real expression of our thoughts or feelings. Thanks for the post!
Good points, good article, thanks!
Thanks!
Great post! I just followed and upvoted you! Follow me back @relsserd.
Hey stop copy and pasting the same spam comment on every post!
You are also flagged for stealing content. Stop it or the whales will be called!
Last warnings @relsserd
Thanks!
This person is spamming and stealing content. Please support steem
By not upvoting a spammer and content thief