Minnow voting power from the record $30 000 "makeup post" perspective.

This Week-end we saw a record payout for… wait for it… of all things.... a vlog about makeup.

This was not actually the highest $ value post by a long shot.

That title goes to the first ever post on steemit that was something ridiculous like $140 000. That one was never paid out though, because it was during the non-payout phase of steemit’s evolution. It was diluted down to size by the other posts and votes that came after it.

If you have just joined steemit recently and are wondering how on earth posts are earning so much?

Here is a simple explanation.

The price of steem rose 2000% since the 4th of July

From about 20 cents to around $4.

The pricing of posts is calculated in STEEM but displayed in STEEM dollars. The STEEM to STEEM dollar display rate uses a 7 day smoothed average. So basically the massive rise last week is only visibly apparent now… that’s why we more commonly have posts with values in the thousands and tens of thousands of dollars lately.

But…

The rise in $ values of posts is not only due to the increase in market capitalization.
Believe it or not it has to do with the minnows, shrimps and krill of steemit ecosystem.

All those votes that some new users are complaining about as being useless are not that useless after all.

They just need to be used more wisely.

Many new users are piling onto any post they see with a dollar value beneath it. As a minnow, that is one of the worst ways to use you vote.

I will discuss a better voting strategy for new users at the end of the post…. but for now back to the makeup to explain a few more details of how things work.

Steemit is male dominated by a ratio of roughly 9 males for every 1 female visitor.
-- So some of the voting is just based on testosterone voting for a pretty face, body or what have you.

Whales (heavily invested accounts) know that in order for steemit to truly grow this gender imbalance needs to be rectified.
-- Some whales will vote for female contributors to encourage more female participation and spread STEEM power to create female dolphins.

Steemit is dominated by a few categories that earn much more than others (the circlejerk)
-- Some whales will vote for contributors that have the power to popularize new categories and diversify steemit content.

Some new users are internet celebrities, have many followers or are highly respected in their respective communities.
-- Some whales will vote for celebrity contributors to encourage more celebrity participation and spread STEEM power to create celebrity dolphins.
-- The new dolphins are now invested and are more likely to bring their followers to this platform.

Essentially what you are witnessing with very high payouts is a demographic differentiation, category expansion or sometimes marketing share drop to influential or necessary new users.

This is not the space for minnows to spend their votes.

Once a whale or dolphin has voted a minnow vote only adds to the payout value of the post but does nothing for the minnow.

If the post is really good, by all means vote for it…. But if it already has a very high value that is not necessary but actually defeats the ideals of the platform.

For steemit to grow optimally all users of the system need to be rewarded based on the value they bring to the platform. Everybody pilling in on already valuable posts (bandwagon voting) concentrates the rewards in small areas and excessively high payouts is just one of the consequences.

A new user's votes rewards them the most when they are not pilling in late but finding good content early.

Minnows should look, not at the trending tab, but at the new and active tabs to find good content that has $0.00 or very low values. Finding and voting for good content that has not been discovered by a dolphin or whale will earn minnows much higher rewards if they vote before the big votes come in.

The really big secret for minnows

When we first get to the platform we often think we need to write the best post and get it seen… we see this in the record number of posts being uploaded every day.

However… the real value a minnow can add and be rewarded for is to be found in the comments section.

1. Comments get author rewards too
2. You can also be the first to vote up your own comment
3. That will give you curation rewards for that comment
4. If the comment is meaningful, insightful, adds value and is not spam, you are likely to be upvoted by others, even dolphins and whales
5. If you write good comments, it is easier to get them seen in popular posts than to write your own popular post and get it seen.
6. This will help you to build reputation and be more likely to have a viral post one day.

Good commenting proves you have engaged with the content and are adding to the conversation, not spamming. Spamming will only get you downvoted and result in reputation loss.

This worked for me... I have had some comments earn $500 and its a great strategy for those starting out small. I usually only vote for the already popular posts if they are exceptionally good or the consistently popular authors if I find their stuff early.
I always vote up good comments whenever I find them, and I make sure I look for them in my own posts too. I know other dolphins, whales and super whales do too.

You will also be spreading the love and rewards more evenly to posts that need it more than the already discovered popular ones