RE: Steem: Is the 'recovery_account' a guide to how engaged a new account is likely to be?
Interesting analysis and all. I don't know the tech-y end of this from a hole in the ground, but I do know some marketing.
Observation number 1: People who pay for something are more likely to use it than people who get something for free. That's automatically going to skew the "Steem" numbers low.
Observation number 2: The Steem numbers will also be lower because of the time frame. It often takes STINC several days to approve accounts. Most web users are used to immediate access. I wonder how many of the inactive "Steem" accounts are actually like "abandoned shopping carts," which are one of the scourges of web sales.
Observation number 3: Now that you've done this, it would be very interesting to run the same analysis again once HF.20 is up (immediate approval) and has been going for 60 days or so.
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Fair points, thanks for making them.
I think (hope) immediate approval improves retention somewhat, but feel that Steem could do with help from us in the way it is marketed. The crazy dollar signs on trending perhaps giving false hope to the majority of new arrivals.
Cheers!
The crazy dollar signs are definitely a problem; so is the excess focus on Steemit ONLY as "a money making place." Marketing 101: "You get EXACTLY what you ask for!"
What do people "ask" for, when they recommend Steemit to friends?
"Come to Steemit and make money!"
What do we GET? Exactly what we asked for: People's whose primary reason for being here is "make money."
"Steemit is a new kind of social peer curated content site for ALL kinds of content creators, free of invasive advertising, data mining and censorship! Content of value is rewarded through the peer curation process."
Sounds like two completely different web sites, no?
"But far more people will respond to the first one!"
Yes, but WHICH people? Are they the people who will help Steemit grow and thrive in the long run? Not likely... "money grabbers" have a notoriously short attention span and almost no loyalty.
"Yes, but Steem/Steemit needs INVESTORS!"
Misnomer. Of course we need investors. Investors, not speculators who are only looking for immediate income. We need investors who go to an exchange and buy 500,000 Steem with the objective (mostly) of holding it till their investment doubles. Or quadruples. And maybe decide they are going to develop some really cool app on the Steem blockchain, as part of their investment.
Again, marketing to the "wrong" crowd; the wrong kind of investor who's not an investor at all. If you look at most start-ups, the "speculators" bail for more volatile shores the moment actual investors come in and focus on actually building a concept.
Sorry, got a bit carried away there!
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Hey, I agree on 1 and 2! Could you give a bit more context on 3:
I didn't follow HF20 developments very closely. I know there will be a discounted account creation option, basically removing account creations with delegation and making regular account creation "cheaper". How does that affect signups via steemit.com? Why would they / how will they approve new accounts immediately?