Original Content
Over the past few months we've been testing content in an attempt to find out what would be upvoted here on Steemit. One thing we've noticed is that "original content" has a different meaning for different people.
What does "Original Content" mean to Steemians?
For some "original content" means that the author of the post created the content that is being posted on Steem. That content could have been created 10 years ago, posted on several other social media sites and will still be considered "original content" by the voters.
For others "original content" means that the content the author posted here on Steem is the first iteration of said content (it does not exist anywhere else on the Internet). To me personally, this is my definition of "original content" when it comes time to vote on Steem.
CrossPosting ≠ Original Content for Steem
Crossposting content from other social media sites does nothing to help the search engine rankings for Steem and some would argue it hurts Steem, especially when large quantities of duplicate content exist. Some content creators take the time to create an entirely new piece of work here on Steem and I feel that they should be rewarded more than crossposters who simply copypasta year(s) old work. These crosspost should also include a disclaimer alerting voters to the fact that the material is not original to Steem and provide a link to the original version.
Search engines love original content and hate duplicate content. A website's ranking and reputation is lowered if it contains duplicate content, especially in large quantities. Currently Steem voters appear to be rewarding anyone that can copypasta years old work from one website over to Steem. We found this out early when we posted a three year old blog post here and no one called us out ... well one person almost did by pointing out how it did not seem to fit with the times. When we explained how old the post actually was it made sense to them, but we still got the upvotes.
Crossposting Bonanza = Less Rewards for OC
Does this mean we can go back and copy every article we've ever published off of our blogs here to Steem and they will be upvoted thousands of dollars? The short answer to that question is apparently ... yes. There are people doing exactly that right now and they are being rewarded handsomely for their duplicate content that took no more effort than to copypasta from one site over to Steem and do a little reformatting.
At the same time we have content creators providing truly original content to Steem that exist nowhere else on the Internet that receive little to no upvotes. Personally I find this troublesome from a search engine optimization standpoint and for the future of Steem. Will Steem simply become the place where people come to dump their old content that received no compensation in the past to make a quick buck here on Steem? Is that what the Steem Community wants to happen? Is this truly "original content" by the Steem Communities definition?