How to Promote Steemit without Attracting Freeloaders.
Helicopter Money or Rewards Driven is the Question?
I keep seeing posts on Steemit where people believe that the community should be throwing Steem at new users of the platform to get them to stick around. This idea makes me cringe! So you are telling me that we should literally be bribing people to use the platform? How does that work out in the real world? What kind of community would Steemit be if we set this precedent?
Quality VS. Quantity is the Name of the Game.
The meme above shows us in detail what society looks like if we just add justice to the equation. We have all seen what happens to society if we are just fair. The person on the left got the same boost but it was no real benefit to them.
Then in the second example we favor equality. This is where I think folks are dropping the ball. Do you really think a blogger that has been writing for 20 years should be on the same level as someone who started today? If you literally tax your top performers in order to subsidize the low quality posts guess what happens? Quality follows the money folks, there is no way around it. Just ask our friends from any communist country.
In the third example I think we have what Steemit has designed. We have all been give an equal opportunity and the means to be successful on Steemit but it is up to the user to write their way to success. This also means being part of the community, engaging and not being a jerk.
Magic Internet Money Still Needs to Be Earned Through Proof of Work.
This is not the Federal Reserve. Steem is not a hyperinflationary currency run by a few psychopaths who support destruction, inequality, injustice and war. We literally are making our own economy here.
Why Would You Want to Bribe People With Zero Loyalty to Stay?
We have all seen the poor schmucks who have had girlfriends we knew only stuck around because of the money. Well Steemit is the equivalent of those guys. The perfect example was in the movie, "The Wolf of Wall Street". He left his loyal wife for the other woman who only wanted his money. If Steemit allows itself to be used, the leeches will show up en masse and drain the rewards pool. Then they will move on to the next target as soon as they are not getting what they want.
We have been given something spectacular. Steemit can literally be the platform for the world to have an equal voice. If we can avoid censorship of ideas I believe people will flock to our community. The great thing is that if a person is loyal and they show up and participate in the community they can literally make a decent living. Now imagine writers who don't have to kiss the ass of large media corporations or beg for donations. This is what Steemit offers the world.
I know my friends in some countries don't feel that the rewards are high enough to sustain a living but those of us who live in places where the cost of living is quite low know the possibilities. I live in Panama and know the average salary in this country is $450 USD. If a person made $3 USD a day on Steemit by blogging imagine what a 20% raise would do for their quality of life. The great part is that over time this person grows a following and their rewards continue to increase gradually. The key is consistency and quality. Over time we all improve if we do something repeatedly.
Let's Promote The Benefits of Steemit Rather Than Just the Money.
Only a small percentage of people will come to Steemit and stay if they were told they can earn money. A person has to have vision in order to see the possibilities. Once again, do you want people here solely because they can earn some money?
Excellent post. Resteemed!
I love this:
That's so true, and it goes along nicely with the vision of many great cryptocurrency advocates: meet the needs of the poor and unbanked peoples throughout the world.
It's so challenging to really embrace the "it's not about the money" mentality. I've written many posts on this topic (here, here, and here are probably my favorites), and I think we just need to keep repeating this message. The true value here long term is the community and providing value to your followers. The rewards will come to us all if we can increase that value.
Yup... we just have to keep moving forward on the "it's not about the money" philosophy. Along with which, Steemit must continue to add new features within the UI of the platform to make the community even more "sticky" to those who come here and check things out: "Oh look... they have this... and this, and this... and, oh look, THIS! Cool site! Oh... we we get rewards, too? Awesome!"
Couldn't agree more
This right here. You know its funny because im a "whale" people downvote my content. But what they dont know is that most all the money i earn is used to try to build further things of valur for our community. I worked for approx 3 years actually not making much of anything for funding before steem.
I showed the whales here over YEARS that if they give me funding at the very least i will use it to help and not just for my own direct benefit. So they upvote me.
They also know that at time when i COULD have gone out and promoted the next hot thing (even though i didnt believe in it) and get paid for selling out our tech. Never happened...
But when i get downvoted by whales and get frustrated new people like to say "this entitlement mentality is going to kill steemit!"
But the crazy thing is there are many people here who do deserve what they are getting if only to keep them from having to pay out of pocket to work on things.
Much of my upvotes from whales...i guarantee you...are seen as reimbursement for taking one hell of a risk and taking a loss for a long time to help us get where we are today.
There are many people like me...they just have to prove it.
Thank you for sticking by the platform even through some dark times. I know it isn't easy to do.
Oh dang. Bitshares hard times were the dark times. People who complain on steem have seen nothing! But now we have amazing things going on there too!
Steem is one of the first times we actually got to benefit from the tech we supported for so long. But many of us know we need to use the resources we earn to make more tools thst the community(s) need. So we do!
Thank u for appreciating. 😄
hello fuzzy, recently I hope to learn more about bts and ethereum, if you have time and don't feel bothered, could you point out some good sources, especially those comparing the two? ignore me if it is not convenient for you. thanks again for what you have done for Steem!!
Its difficult to find sources that are accurate on this one.
The reason is pretty simple to me: ethereum is like the Microsoft of crypto...while graphene is like the unix/linux.
Makes it really tough because one has the funding and larggelu ignores us because it would be harmful for them to ever compare themselves (it would only advertise us). And we have very little funding to document such things. But if u join the bts community you can ask away :)
Thanks! :)
I have some detractors here now too man, for the stance I have taken at times, but then again, I am not a suck up to those in power to get somewhere LOL...
All i can say barry...is we will get where we are going. Steem is still very young and is already considered one of the best techs out there by those "in the know".
I always appreciate your backing and your posts of appreciation :)
You are a huge value to this community and I am not sure anyone, incl. myself says this enough.
Getting Steem to minds who live in poor countries would be a big thing considering long term effects.
This definitely something big and we think steemit is working on that. The Aceh community is growing on steemit and there are few other countries as well. You're right, there are great long term effects if steem is brought to the mainstream in every nation. Keep up the conversation. Happy commenting!
good job and good luck.!!
I think we should earn rewards based on our upvotes. I see lots of what I think are pretty crappy posts, many more articles are worthy, but the viewers vote on what they like. Many people have a sweet tooth. Let the market decide the rewards!
I built my up my account with a few
free
steem dollars and a lot of elbow grease. That's the kind of equality I trust! Everyone can get in but they have to put in the work.
Well said, indeed! I cannot overstate the important of having the patience for organic discerning growth.
On my hard drive, I have a "writing" folder, in which I keep backup copies of every single piece of "article" writing I have ever done. These tens of thousands of pieces over 20+ years sit in subfolders by venue to which they were posted.
As of this moment, I have moved 61 subfolders to a folder named "Obsolete." ALL 61 were sites that compensated-- in some way-- contributors for content. And (mind you, this is just my OPINION!) all 61 failed because they chose to emphasize "get PAID to write!" over building sustainable communities.
Yes, Steemit is unique...but let's not fool ourselves that we are somehow exempt from the darker sides of human nature... specifically greed. Let's stick to carefully telling people we know that this is a great social blogging/content venue... and that through contributions, community members can slowly become stake holders in the community.
In the meantime, we need to continue to build in more social features to make Steemit "sticky" for reasons other than just rewards...
It's great to have your background and experience together with your balanced view. 61 obsolete....wow!
I would say the first equal amount of boxes is equality, not justice. The second is justice, because everyone has a a just and fair ability to view the background.
As for Steemit, a concentration of power is not how the 2nd or 3rd box comes about lol. Given that there is a flawed concentration of power, when some power players decide to implement something, but others don't follow suit, and then continue to engage in fascistic policies, there is no justice or equality across the board in the "community". Plenty of people get voted on and have higher rewards that others, with no whale votes, and don't get flagged. Then others, who also don't get whale votes, get flagged regardless when they approach the payouts of others who don't get whale votes and don't get flagged... that's not justice or equality, that's injustice.
We have all been give an equal opportunity and the means to be successful on Steemit but it is up to the user to write their way to success. This also means being part of the community, engaging and not being a jerk.
Great advice!
When all the good people are here and it's the only game in town we won't be able to keep the hordes away ;) No bribes...if you can't comprehend the value of Steemit yet, you are not ready for freedom and the rest!
Well said!