Steemit is in big trouble.
"Houston, we have a problem." - famous phrase which dates back to 1970, NASA Appolo 13 mission. Let me rephrase it for this post: "Steemit, we have a problem"... As a community and as a platform.
Let's start with pure numbers because they don't lie. Specifically, the latest data from Steemle. As you can see, Steemit adds 1000-2000 new users every single day. You can stumble upon posts and comments full of optimism, ramblings that Steemit will take over Reddit and eventually Facebook.
If the userbase is growing, why the heck you're complaining, @saulius? Where is the problem then?
User growth is an important metric in the startup's world. Although stats show that Steemit is getting bigger, in reality, it's not. You see, user engagement and retention are metrics that are as vital as user growth. They basically show how sticky is a product, how active are its users. And these two graphs below perfectly sum up Steemit's problem.
Meanwhile, the number of Steemians is growing, its user engagement is decreasing. Imagine yourself driving across the country. You pass a sign that says "Steemtown, Population of 60 000, 10 miles left". When you finally reach the town, you notice a number of abandoned houses, empty commercial properties and 30 000 Steemtown residents at best. That illustrates Steemit current situation. Users are abandoning the site and I could only think of two reasons for such behaviour.
#1 Constant, daily circle jerking. I'm guilty. You're guilty. Everyone is guilty of it. But let's face it - we're just players that play by rules... Set by curators cough Whales. Compare Reddit and Medium front pages to Steemit trending posts. We're like that Instagram girl who is so fucking full of herself. Steemit content is simply not compelling enough for newcomers.
#2 Over-promises. When people read posts like this or this, they come here with too high expectations. The truth is that for every trending post, there are hundreds that make pennies. For every top rated Steemit author, whose posts receive 100 upvotes in the first 30 minutes, there are a number of users who seek for attention like puppies from your local animal shelter. That's the true reality of Steemit and when it finally hits new users, they leave.
We have a problem. We need more compelling content, better curation and rewards distribution or Steemit will end up like that app on your iPhone, last time opened in January.
So true. Even if you buy $100.000 worth of STEEM your influence will be 0. Who are the buyers? We are heading below $1 in no time.
missed your post by 4 days, Upvoted ANYWAY ! Lot of truth in your post, and HELL yes i read it ALL ... and every comment. (as I do on every post I read)
I came here to learn, NOT to make money.. But see, I'm an old guy, so I look at things a little differently than others. ie: Come to a Blockchain based cryptocurrency generating paid blogging social site? WTF have i got to lose ? and what can i learn ?, well, MAYBE a LOT ! People are blogging there asses off and I'm learning more & more everyday about the Blockchain construct, uses, restrictions, cryptocurrency EDUCATION here ! I don't have to research all over the net , so MUCH info here ! AND NOW, the sharpest minds in crypto and Blockchain are joining and bringing their smart friends. Being an Anarchist for most of my 55 yrs, I love that so many people here are at least talking about it, so many disillusioned wannabees i know, but still, the CONVERSATION is ON ! and there are SOO MANY smart people posting great articles that i am just really getting into steemit so much. Of course i can see the potential of the Steemit Blockchain coupled with the anarchist mentality and crypto $ as a freedom portal that is just not even been thought of in HISTORY ! So, I'm NOT a writer, but i AM a learner, and what I am learning, is probably what will make me a lot of money in the long run, After all, what is an education SUPPOSED to be for ? so fuck the retards coming and then leaving, they came on false pretenses anyway, have no value to offer, so why care. Steemit is drawing very smart people, it IS a little slow atm, but it WILL change ! FakeBook haters like me will start coming in droves, be patient ... "Build it, and they WILL come" .. There are some very creative people here, they are building this place a brick at a time, but it is being built !!!
"YEAH, WELL, THAT'S JUST, LIKE, MY OPINION, MAN."
+1 for you! I as well am an ex-fb of course. Closed my account and deleted the app. Stupid to stay there. So tired of all the shit posts. I see problems with steem but I also see hope, it may take a while but it's here now.
I'm giving you the +1 because I can relate, actually reading posts entirely and comments. This is great place to learn. And that what I've been doing. I'm not here to get rich. I'm here to be a part of a community.
Thanks for the +1, wish my vote had more weight ... it will come !, hang in there bro, keep reading/learning !
Read More, Reason More ... JTS
Good analysis, but early days. Platform is still evolving. I agree with what you're saying but I tend to spend a lot of time here when I never did other social media.
It's like cancer. The earlier you discover it, the higher chances to survive (alright, maybe this example is too extreme).
I get it, bro! Maybe because other social media apps didn't pay you and Steemit does? haha
It's funny how fast people's perspective change. Before Steemit people where not getting paid anything for posting on social media sites. A few weeks later they are complaining that they are not getting paid enough to post. Where were all those complaints when you getting paid nothing for posting?????? It just amazing how fast people take things for granted.
You don't get it, @pheonike. It's not about getting paid, but about distributing Steem currency, building a strong community and product. It's all about making Steem valuable and driving demand.
Let me ask you one thing, how much your post reward would be worth if Steem value were 0.0001USD?
I agree with you both @pheonike & @saulius , It's this sense of entitlement that leads to the problems that saulius is describing. If people were truly to treat this like reddit with the bonus of earning a few dollars then it would be so much better. But money is very important in life unfortunately. wherever it turns up, it takes centre stage.
There's a fair bit of noise in those charts due to the activity of bots. An individual bot account can post and vote as many times as it has the bandwidth to do so, where a human is limited by attention. Many of those bots were shut down in recent weeks, after changes which made them less viable. It would be great if we could have "bot adjusted" charts, but I'm not sure how that would be possible.
I believe, you can see the shutdown effect in Votes chart (huge spike and drop). Still, it doesn't justify the stagnation of Steemians engagement.
Indeed, I keep running into these re-distribution posts. I am in total agreement that there are problems. My experience has been the same. Come in with high hopes, then see the problems and cracks in the foundation.
I know I'm late to this post, but just wanted to let you know that I read it.
From my own experience I have been reading much more on steem than I have anywhere else and commenting is much more friendly than on Reddit
Much of the lure to join Steemit is the ability to post and make money. When a new user spends time making posts only to see a couple cents, it gets discouraging for them. The average person that joins probably has no idea what crypto-currency is but yet many of those posts make bank so they feel like they will never get anywhere here.
Steemit is still pretty new, so I don't think we can say it's doomed just yet. The site is evolving fast and it needs to gain features that will make it attractive to more people. For now it's mostly early adopters and there is a bit of a dash for cash. It does need quality content to attract people, but if everyone is just trying to game it then that won't happen. They need to attract people who will bring in others.
I've seen a similar progression with Tsu. They had a good business model, but still couldn't attract good content creators. A few people did well from it, but most made pennies. Of course it can never be that everyone makes a lot, but people need to see a fair return for their efforts.
Does Steemit have investor funding? They can only survive if they actually make enough to cover costs.
What I want to know is, why don't people upvote comments? does everyone just read them and move on wether they agree or not? I'm used to Discuss where my comments usually get 5-10 upvotes each time. Unless I vote early on a whales post, I never see that here.
I guess it's because a lot of people here, at least at the moment, are kind of obsessed with their voting-value and how much every click may be worth to them and others.
Hi !, although your comment is 3 days old right now, i wanted you to know. I read every comment on every post i read, and i DO upvote on quite a lot actually, if it is NOT over 24 hours ... actually I usually upvote on the comments I reply to, but sometimes I vote on comments that I don't reply to if i believe they are of value to ME !
"YEAH, WELL, THAT'S JUST, LIKE, MY OPINION, MAN."
The money part of steemit is not the beauty of this startup the draws me in, I don`t have a clue as to how it works or will be changed or even perfected in the future. What I am looking at is the place to go when I start my browser as opposed to right now. 1st tab is email. 2nd is Facebook, (which I despise but that is where friends, family and customers are). 3rd tab is Craigslist, (customers in three states). 4th tab is locale swap shop. (locale customers). 5th is locale weather. After checking for anything new in those areas I check my favorite news sites, PM prices. By this time I have already looked down a few rabbit holes and time is getting precious. There are some very smart people here willing to keep building the platform. I expect to see growing pains, (watching them will make me smarter no doubt). But the potential I see here simply amazes me.