As it's the one that offers your something as a part of it's ecosystem, everyone here knows that Steemit is the best social media app around. It's singlehandedly responsible for me even having the drive to learn about cryptocurrency and blockchain, essentially catapulting me into the 21st century. And while I've only been around a few short months, I can't quantify how much I've learned from simply being in the orbit of Steemit. For this, I shall be forever thankful.
Despite its largely uncontested place at the top of the heap in the social/crypto hybrid world, there are still problems and growing pains as Steemit soldiers on. While, I haven't gotten to post as much over the last few months I been lurking, learning and reading, and I noticed much of what I've seen on the platform has been about various ways Steemit doesn't work, citing an over reliance on whales, a difficulty in building community, and scores of weak content (reposts, content light articles, stolen work) boxing out the good stuff.
A few posts have made it a point to ask the community to be as selective as possibly when voting. This post from @kyriacos connected with me for actually admitting to using a bot to vote and being willing to stop in order build an experience and community worth being a part of. I support this whole heartedly, using my follows and votes in ways that make Steemit a joy to return to every time I login. It's very similar to the approach I used to Twitter when I had to stop following randomly in the hopes of getting popular, and started really focusing on the accounts and personalities that not just resonated with me, but made it a point to create or share relevant content regularly. Rather than hoping the algorithm delivers content I want, a little legwork and elbow grease made for a much more delightful experience and a platform I enjoy coming back to .
What Do You Steam About
What I'm most curious about; however, isn't how we vote so much as what and why we post. There's such a wide variety of topics and personalities here. Sometimes its easy to feel as if you'll get so lost in the shovel that there's not a point to posting at all. Where the idea of being compensated for posting causes issues for me, is by creating a notion that there's something to gain from posting the "right" content. Rather than create and share in a way that's fitting to yourself, it becomes easy to move into the reactive and mercenary thinking of targeting audiences, tailoring content, and shilling out what we think will "sell" rather than what we're interested in or connecting to. How do you choose?
How do you find that balance?
We all want our material to be read, experienced, and shared. That's why we're here and not writing content for our drive accounts. It's fun to create, but it's also fun to connect. What sort of topics rattle around in your brain? What sort of concepts do you want to pontificate on? Moreover, what are the ideas that you feel don't lend themselves to Steemit and why? Is there anything you're afraid to talk about on this platform as opposed to any other? Do you have Steemit specific content you wouldn't share anywhere else? If you challenged yourself to really craft your idea of "better content," would there be any change for you, or would it be business as usual?
I ask, because this is what I sit with every day. At times, it's just debilitating enough for me to not write anything - leaving myself "too busy" to produce for Steemit. Leaving me feeling I'm not a good fit for culture here or thinking that a more narrow niche would help me "perform better." How do you deal with uncertainty of talent and character on a platform where you can see who is and is not important based on their money per post?
Thanks for reading! And a big shout out to @ackza for bringing that energy and helping me move forward with my posting to keep on steeming on.
May as well post pics of my awesome mug!