RE: The key to promoting Steem is NOT promoting Steem
Hmmm. Thought provoking stuff. One of the things I’ve noticed that seems to have dropped off is new arrivals used to show up and the engagement side was fun. Don’t get me wrong I still have fun here. But many felt like it stopped. We do have a solid committed community on this block chain, and it’s probably one of our greatest strengths. But not everyone who shows up wants to be part of a community. For many the big draw was use of the space as a product to publish themselves on and potentially earn a little crypto. Basically once a normal day to day person gets their head wrapped around setting up keys, log ins, management of accounts, exchanging, etc. They then would have to battle uphill to get recognition. Now today there are more people than ever working hard to help new users here and that’s great. But the fun buzz I used to see around 2017 kinda dried up a bit. I think that people need to feel like they can use the Steem blockchain like a day to day free to use product, and be able to flit in and out. There needs to be focus on community, but also on folks having fun. When engaging with a platform looks more like a chore than an enjoyable experience most throw in the towel. It’s a problem I’ve had selling the idea to people in my life who are award winning published authors and professional musicians. They take one look and decide it looks like hard work. The same goes for normal friends of mine as well. Add to that the fact that one common complaint I get is that they worry about flagging and it’s just an overall give up. Even once I explain why we need flagging for a healthy ecosystem. Now what is great is there are awesome people who work hard at creating communities, as well as dapps here that will be helpful if ever we get more people coming back through the doors. We definitely have some some true talent that easily could grow out of this space that could be eye catching. But onboarding and keeping new people I think will be down to making the place simple and fun to use. Great write up, I definitely enjoyed reading it and agree with pretty much all of it. Happily upvoted.
Maybe an award winning author isn’t the right person to bring more attention to steem right now.
I think some of those in the steemit community need to become award winning authors or successful at whatever they are doing and not ditch steem in the process.
Like I said, the awards are a really important part of the platform, it’s important that we try to make it a fair and dynamic place for reward distribution, but I don’t really think anyone who comes for the money will really appreciate this place enough to help it grow long term. The people who love it for what it already is are what will allow it to grow.
Rather than selling the idea to people, I’ve kept it rather quiet, and now I mention all these friends in India and Portugal and Nigeria and they are like “where did I meet them?” So I explain.
Well said, and couldn't agree more. Pitching it as a place to those in my social circle and getting them to take a look is easy. Selling them on playing around on the platform long enough to develop a love of it? Well, nigh on impossible. We definitely have some remarkable folks here though which is why I enjoy being here so much. What has been established in the bear market is an excellent core group of users though. I think things like fair reward distribution is important... But the main point I've found that's a switch off for normal people is ease of use. But hey, the space is in early stages so maybe that will be solved someday. Fingers crossed. :)
A bear market definitely has its advantages too :>)