My content is good and I post frequently. I think I deserve more attention from the whales in this ecosystem!
[proceeds to obnoxiously tag all whales] (at) Blocktrades, (at)TheyCallmeDan, (at)Rancho, (at)Traf, and so on.
Have you ever had these thoughts? Have you ever written to a large stakeholder asking for votes? Have you witnessed someone rage quit because "the only people who make any money on HIVE are the VIP club of already rich whales and there's nothing you can do about it"?
Well, I'm sorry to say but that's not the way it works, scooter. You might think you deserve attention because you've put in a huge amount of effort into your 2000 word post, but those around you might not find your content valuable, interesting or entertaining. The same goes for if you're a musician, comedian, designer, restaurant owner... and a long etcetera.
Are you a musician?
You might have written that song Smelly Cat for your favorite family pet, Pocahontas. but if your song doesn't connect with your audience, you won't get applause, tips and you definitely won't get "record sales" whatever that means in 2025.
image source: screenrant.com
Comedian?
Not if you can't make funny jokes your audience can relate to. Many a-funny man has bombed a standup show because they thought their jokes were good, but didn't have the same effect on their audience. I've even seen at least ONE cringe-worthy meltdown that has cost a comedian his career.
In case you don't know what happened to Michael Richards at the Laugh Factory comedy club in 2006, check this video out:
Content creator?
Same difference.
What makes you think that because you make content people are going to like it, let alone give you money for it?
The sooner we figure this out, the sooner we'll start having fun on social media (including decentralized, monetizable social media like HIVE-based platforms) and making new friends you can have engaging conversations with. Heck! in doing so, you might even figure out that sharing a particular skill that you've been honing for years, like the ancient art of basketweaving, is actually useful to a group of citizens of the interwebs and they might even start liking, upvoting, tipping and sharing your pearls of wisdom on basketweaving.
In any place where people gather, but particularly those built on value-for-value philosophy, focus on providing value.
Focus on providing tons of value!
Do it selflessly, do it frequently.
Share your knowledge, share your time and share your lessons.
And you know something? providing value on Hive also means having skin in the game, so do that too. Show folks around you you mean business. Power up some HIVE and use it to vote on what you consider high-quality content made by others. Downvote spam bots and abusers and vote on the witnesses you think are doing their best to secure the network.
You know what happens next?
you get paid for the value you bring to the marketplace
-- Jim Rohn
By the way, this advice is mostly for me. If you find any of it useful, please feel free to use it in your own journey.
Images created using Mid Journey and edited in Canva. Credits provided where this is not the case.
