Quality Content, Quality Content... NO! Networking is where it is at!
Quality Content was a mantra when I first logged into SteemIt in August of 2016. It seemed like a bad idea then and it still does. Yet, I see many are giving that advice again. I've written about it many times and when I made this comment on a post last night, I thought I would bring it up again.
Many people miss the point that social networks are more about friends and attention then they are about "Content".Think about typical Internet interactions... You like to see your friends' kids, but you probably don't surf pictures of "Stranger's Kids". Well, because that would be hella creepy. People who know you or know who you are ... Are interested in what you have to say. People who don't... They likely will never notice your perfectly punctuated, neatly formatted post.
MAKE Friends. I don't care who tells you to do to make quality content... Make friends.
Be interesting...
Have I mentioned that you should make friends? :)
If you buy into the idea that traffic and engagement equals investors, then stop making people feel like they have to be Shakespeare to make a post, we need to find a balance. I don't "Grade" your post, I read it and engage with what you wrote about. Recently someone was advocating that is was a positive thing to spend a lot of time editing a picture (two-weeks) I have thought back to that post several times and just wondered who the OP is trying to appeal to.
Three days into my Steem experience, I was already baffled by the idea that end-users were being coached to write perfect little essays with formatted pictures. At the time of this post, I hadn't even learned to add photos yet.
https://steemit.com/currency/@whatsup/my-arrogant-marketing-advice
I have been reading articles on how to write good articles, how to get noticed and how to earn. That is not what made Social Media a hit. Social Media is a hit, because you can find people to connect with on several levels. Friends, Family, people who live in your city, people who like to debate a specific topic, etc. So, you aren't just roaming through random content, you are reading and reacting to those with whom you have a connection.
Another time I brought up this confusing idea
https://steemit.com/steemit/@whatsup/quality-content-that-is-just-silly-and-would
I find all of the focus on quality content confusing. Want to be big? Make it interesting (which isn't always the same as Quality) Make it easy, make it friendly, and allow people to receive feedback. (such as likes or votes more often) Nobody wants to write in a quiet abyss, hoping for a whale. I know people want to make money, but at the expense of not gainning as many new users seems to limit the potential of this unbelievably awesome idea.
Here are my impressions on my first day:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@whatsup/review-of-my-first-day-of-steemit
... but how the mission I had read about "Free Speech" and "Social Media" wasn't reflected in the posts I read, and in my opinion, the odd obsession with writing talent. Something I have never before seen when referencing Social Media.
There are Author guildes out there and pure blogging sites as well. Most people do not know the name of these sites. During this time while we wait for Communities and SMTs if you are new and struggling.. Struggling is normal even when the site and user-base were much smaller we struggled with getting attention. If I don't know something about you, why do I want to read your article? Make excellent content, but more importantly make friends. Social Media is not about getting an excellent grade in English 101 it is about a Social Network. Networking is the key. We should stop giving new-users bad advice that frustrates them.
If you doubt me, read how many posts talk about Circle Jerks and Whales only upvoting their friends. A lot of it is true, but it isn't an evil plot, it is human nature and the way humans do business.
Create Engagement, Join the Discussion, Make Friends and Support them.
I remember when I first join Steemit about two months ago. I spend 13 hours a day throwing in some thoughtful comments here and there. I had to delete my Whatsapp at some point and focus most of my time on discord since that's like Steemit coffee shop. And it worked for me. My usual advice for people is to find what whats for them. If after three months, you don't know what works for you, I guess it's time to pack up and wave goodbye to Steemit.
I think both are important.
Because if a person only makes shitposts, even if he were my friend I would hardly upvote it and engage with the shitpost
So being social and making good posts are the most important things.
That’s my opinion.
Yes, there has to be a balance. If I am interested in what you have to say, I am going to overlook a comma issue or poor formatting, unless it becomes a distraction.
I second this!
I think we need both. Agreed. Wrote a post about organization being of utmost importance a few weeks back.
The issue is that the token is secured by proof of brain, by content, and not by mining.
The network maintains itself by communications being printed on valuable tokens, which nobody throws away because they are money. They're only money if they are secure. In the long run (a year) this is the crux of the issue.
A typical social network archives its communications by paying for servers by selling user data, which is thankfully not the case here. But that means typical content must increase to at least Youtube level. Right now I can see there will not be many full time content creators here. That will unfortunately prevent this from becoming a Youtube or Facebook replacement, without algorithm changes, and lead to collapse of token value and therefore long run viability of the token as just means for networking and short messaging.
people are banning, flagging the writers of shitposts, so I don't see any plus in that
Between the title image and the introduction to the post, you already had me agreeing. Seeing as it's social media, it's all about who you know and interact with.
There's no point in writing the the most epic post in history, if you know nobody who will read it and upvote it (expecting and hoping on the off chance someone with power will read and upvote it is like waiting for lightning to strike you 3 times when you're in an atomic bomb shelter)
Though I do believe that 'quality' could play a factor alongside consistency. But that is in the way, way long run ... with a big if ...
True. I used to put hours into my stuff. Now, I still take care to make good posts, but I don't sink half a day into them. Maybe an hour. Two hours TOPS. Occasionally more if it's something I care deeply about. But all in all, the content creation is only half the battle. The rest of my time goes into reading my feed and connecting with awesome people and their awesome posts, like this one!
I think this is good advice that I'm going to take into consideration.
I came to the same conclusion recently. It doesn't matter how subjectively good a post is if nobody's gonna read it. Engaging and being around is the most important!
Good shit.
I (pretty much) agree with you, that networking and interacting with the community is the primary objective... but I also think it's super-important to present original content. If I want to look at memes, I can go to a meme site.
When I first came to steemit (which was 16 days ago), after doing a couple of posts, I thought, 'Now what?' And started checking out what others were doing. It actually worked in my favor that my upvote counted for nothing; I just upvoted and commented willy-nilly on anything that caught my eye or engaged me. That's one element I don't like about steemit, is that we're actually restricted on the number of upvotes we can give, and there has to be a strategy around when/how many upvotes.
But as I'm getting deeper into steemit, I'm finding great people here!
Memes are not a problem. You can upvote them or not. Some of them take a lot of work to create. The problem is that it isn't easy to filter out the memes. My opinion of course. I don't want to hear or read a lot of things that get posted here. That is why we have votes, to reward the content that we like. We also have flags or downvotes to combat things we don't think ad value. (Use with care)
oops, I wasn't clear. I think memes are sometimes hilarious, and I also create my own. (Hopefully at least funny.) I guess I was disappointed in the "funny" feed, to find almost nothing but memes that were (as far as I could tell) found on the internet, posted on DMania, then reposted here.
But I found the solution(s): One, as you implied, ignore them. And two, I switched to the "humor" feed, which I've found to have lots more humorous, original content. :-)
Thanks for the upvote, @whatsup!
Honestly this is one of the most honest and real post I’ve read on Steemit in a while! I feel like this is one of the biggest obstacles and misnomers new steemians run across! Feeling like they need to post great articles day in and day out just to be noticed instead of interacting with one another! Led a hand or upvote to one another just to say high ... it’s will bring more attention to you and your blog than any one article ever could :)
I love your posts. There is always a great active discussion in the comments, and while i totally get and agree with what you are saying about interaction, this very post is proof that content does matter!
Your content is always interesting and deserves an interactive comment every time.
Thanks for always making me think
Maybe we could settle for Interesting Content and more importantly... Engage with people.
Funny thing is there are only a few of the people left here that were minnows when I was a minnow. We ran around together complaining about dolphins and whales, but now we are growing up and our influence matters more. That network is becoming my most valuable asset on Steem.
So true! I think you have been here about a year now? I’m on nine months. So many people I started with Are gone. It is exactly I told my husband, we just need to be good steemians, interact and make friends, but most importantly stick to the platform and be consistent , and soon we will be dolphins too! Almost there 🌸
I think perserverence is another good quality to have on this platform.
Great and valuable post.
I completely agree with you.
This is a valuable information.
I think we need both.
Nice article!!
Thanks @whatsup for sharing this post.
Upvoted + resteemed your post.
I totally get your point, but the problem I see here is, that when you say "make friends" there is no concrete definition of "friendship". I know one successfull steemian who merely lives only of his curations, who is actually meeting the people he is connected with on steemit.
BUT I know another EVEN MORE SUCCESSFULL steemian who is one of these if-you-upvote-me-I-upvote-you-guys.
The thing is: On social media everything and nothing does look and feel a bit like a true friendship. This is very problematically for me personally. I start to really get confused about what I am here for. For upvotes? For followers? Isn't steemit than just like any other social media plattform such as facebook?
If someone who works with upvote-for-upvotes is even more successfull than someone making real friends, why should I try to make real friends here?
Don't get me wrong, I really like some of the people I met here and did also already meet them in real life. But the point is: It doesn't make you a successfull steemian. This is a very important lesson.
If you want to be a financially successfell steemian: Forget friendship.
If you want to make real friends: Forget the financial success.
You are VERY lucky if you achieve both. But it's VERY unlikely. This is what my 4 months here thaught me so far.
And yet, you ALWAYS post quality content. :0)
Sure, a lot of it is all about who you know. But that is not sustainable if your stuff is crap. You and I both know it.