Steemit Is A Practical Manifestation Of The Attention Economy
In a previous post, Take Yourself Seriously -- Your Time And Energy Are GOLD, I wrote a little bit about the Attention Economy, which, in a nutshell, is the commoditization of human focus.
Intangibles
As Kevin Kelly points out, the modern attention economy is increasingly one where the consumer product costs nothing to reproduce and the problem facing the supplier of the product lies in adding valuable intangibles that cannot be reproduced at any cost.
In a traditional economy value is based at least partially on tangibility: qualities such as “inherent value” are so ingrained into our racial psyche that it’s difficult for people to even think about the nature of money for too long without suffering cognitive dissonance.
Kelly identifies 8 of these intangible values of the Attention Economy in his work, Better Than Free:
- Immediacy - priority access, immediate delivery
- Personalization - tailored just for you
- Interpretation - support and guidance
- Authenticity - how can you be sure it is the real thing?
- Accessibility - wherever, whenever
- Embodiment - books, live music
- Patronage - "paying simply because it feels good",
- Findability - "When there are millions of books, millions of songs, millions of films, millions of applications, millions of everything requesting our attention — and most of it free
How Steemit fulfils every intangible value
Immediacy
Steemit is a platform that has 0 fee to start up (in fact, you’re given an interest-free loan!) and users are able to generate leads for their content using a native platform and monetization is automatic.
There is no bank to give you permission or review the nature of your income. It is simply there, ready for you to access, because you provided valuable content that people curated.
Personalization
Clearly… Steemit is a social media.
It’s all about YOU.
You create and customize your profile, make whatever content you feel like, and present it to a network of other individuals for consumption.
Step 3: PROFFIT
Interpretation
The Steemit network is one of the most helpful I’ve ever known.
If anyone has a question, there is an inherent incentivization to be helpful, and so people’s questions are answered eagerly and enthusiastically.
Let's not kid ourselves: some of the best performing posts on Steemit are about Steemit; explanations of the latest developments, how to use the system to perform better, how to network and gain a following.
Authenticity
As with any propper blockchain project, transparency and open development are key factors to the very nature of the protocol.
Individually, you can see exactly with every user how much skin they have in the game (wallet) and how well received they are to the broader community (reputation).
Embracing authenticity is a winning strategy.
Embodiment
People are constantly creating different content -- someone from any walk of life can be satisfied with what they find on Steemit.
If you are interested in something, odds are there’s someone making content about it here.
Patronage
On Steemit, patronage is about as painless as anything I’ve ever seen before.
It literally costs you nothing to give your direct financial support to content creators that you like.
Nothing is depleted from your funds for curating content, and it feels great to be able to pay others for work that you support.
It’s a complete win-win-win.
Findability
Steemit SEO is surprisingly good.
There have been many times where I’ve looked up something on google and found a Steemit article as one of the top results.
If you google “how tall is barron trump”, you will see my article, 2 Reasons Why Barron Trump Might Look Awkward as the 5th result.
Currently, this article sits at over 66,000 views, making it the second most successful work that I’ve done.
If you were to compare to an other social media, if you create content for Steemit it probably has a much great chance of being found.
Steemit seems to have been built FOR the Attention Economy
It’s easy for certain innovative technologies to accidentally fall into a particular economic system, but Steemit seems to have been custom-built to maximize all of the intangible qualities of the Attention Economy.
The legacy social media firms have an opposite approach: they understand EXACTLY how valuable your attention is, and they scrape that data and sell for billions of dollars.
Social media of the future, such as Steemit, Gab, and Minds, all understand that in order for them to succeed, they must provide that value BACK to the users -- the content creators -- the very things that make their platforms interesting and their businesses profitable -- in the form of incentivization and cryptocurrency curation systems.
If you are here now, I congratulate you for being an early adopter of the future of money itself.
Tell me what you think
This is one of the most interesting topics of our time. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
I just read your previous post and man you have nailed it! Thanks for sharing such interesting insight. Resteemed and you have gained a follower :)
I could not agree more!
Well, I made it to the end of the post, as I was seriously impressed by the content. What a great topic to explore. The initial analysis of Steemit was spot on. I definitely see Steemit on the rise in the future, but I am more or less afraid that with all the automation (like bots), the nature of the platform for quality content will completely diminish and it will become just a money factory. I already met entrepreneurs who are trying to make money by automating their posts on Steemit, spending as little time as possible, taking it as a "business model". Everytime I hear that, I have to cringe...
Indeed! I was thinking this myself last night. For the first several weeks after joining Steemit i thought I had found writers heaven... a place where I could produce quality posts that actually had meaning and purpose and fulfilled a yearning I have within to share my thoughts and myself, while at the same time creating an income. The last week or two I've come to see that indeed it is a business here, and that if I want to be successful both in sharing my thoughts and in creating an income then I must treat it like a business. Why else am I scrolling down my feed this morning searching for opportunities to comment and make connections and develop relationships? I assure you if the possibility of future income were not an incentive I'd be out walking the dogs instead. (God! I hate being so blunt.) But for me at least it is true. Sure I do enjoy the relationships I've developed, and I treasure the opportunity to write and share, but still, were it not for the promise of future financial benefit I'd be doing something else. The proof of all this is the simple fact that those who post information on how to succeed here on Steemit are the most likely to prosper. I am not alone. Even the title of this post demonstrates this. It caught my attention. It was pertinent.
So, this is what I've decided: be myself. Create good content. Serve others because that is a good thing I enjoy. Continue to develop relationships. Treat this as a business. Be practical and see it for what it is: a fascinating new venture into the "Attention economy". I'm retired because of age and health challenges. Frankly this is a very good option for me. Perhaps I can serve both masters... My heart and my wallet.
@mistermercury first of all, thanks for your contribution, I really enjoyed your point of view on this whole Steemit debacle. Your bluntness is in place because, of course, this platform wouldn't be nearly as successful without the financial incentives - it would be just another blogging platform.
It's good when people can admit that they are in for the money but at least they try to earn it from good content - I can absolutely appreciate that. And why not? Writing good stuff, interacting, reading...Steemit is almost like a second job! So why not have some perks from it?
I have been blogging for years and never earned any money from that, I never even imagined that I could earn anything (aside from a few insults now and then ;)) with my pointless ranting about mortal coil, blah, blah, blah...so I just blogged for fun. I have changed platforms several times, and now I am very new on Steemit. The difference is immense! I can constantly feel the pressure at the back of my mind (one that I never felt on the other blog platforms), that evil little goblin that keeps whispering "Post, comment, post, read, comment, post..." I keep resisting it but maybe Steemit isn't for me - I am not mentally balanced enough to treat this as a business and live with this constant anxiety :D
Anyway, I am already writing too much bullshit, great convo though :)
You and I have a similar experience.
And I too have felt that anxiety. I don't feel it any more, though. Experience on the platform and an established network have helped.
And now I am able to upkeep an awesome part-time blogging gig writing about 1-2 hours every weekday morning.
It's a dream 🤗
Keep at it.
Glad to hear that it's not just me :D Thanks for the advice, I am not too worried, I am sure it will pass soon and I will be more comfortable here :)
In your conclusion you hit a very pertinent point: serve your heart and your wallet.
I kind of treat steemit like a business in the sense that I am interested in trending metrics, I try to design content for appeal, vitality, and relatability, and I am always "networking" to expand an ever-growing list of personal contacts. That's my wallet.
In my heart: I simply enjoy making this content. I write about what is interesting to me, and if others like it that's great, if they don't that's also great. My history has shown that I will write for free to no audience simply because I need a place to put my thoughts. And when it comes to "networking", I actually am very curious about the people I reach out to, and they have taught me so many valuable and interesting things. Most of the people I follow here are people I know pretty well. We chat, joke around privately -- they are simply my friends who also happen to have a stake in this community.
I have made my contribution on another reply but just wanted to say thanks for the post, extremely valuable to those who like me (new as I am) have the interests of the platform, as well as of self, at heart. Sounds almost as though Steemit should split into two, those who think our way and those who see it purely as a potential cash cow. Or maybe we should just form a big subgroup with the motto: "Think not what Steemit can do for you, think what you can do for Steemit!" Following you, keep up the great contribution.
It's a hot topic right now, and one I intended to cover more in future.
Spot on @vendee!
See my comment for some explanation! Yep another elevator this time!
Whoa, Mr. Elevator here! :D ok, lemme check your comment..
You and @vendee have sparked a meaningful conversation/comments. I appreciate that. You've both helped me clarify some issues I've had in my own mind. Thanks.
No problem. You offered us a platform to interact and we just did grab it to interact with each other.
I consider this one of the ultimo appreciations for an article!
So thx for the platform!
The first place I go in the morning when I open my Steem blog is "replies". One of my favorite things to do is get into meaningful discussion. I appreciate your comments.
It looks like that we have lots in common. Will add you to my follow list. Hoping that we can have lots of meaningful discussion!
Yeah, following you too. Look forward to it.
Front page guys with quotes "I Use Bots... Long Live Capitalism" ... ugh.
Looking forward ;)
Another excellent article. We really are bombarded with messages all the time. That's why I love getting out into nature very often, turn my phone off and just unwind. Regardless, it will be interesting to see how the "attention economy" manifests on Steemit over the coming weeks and months.
Thanks for sharing all your stats. This is a tremendous shift we are going to see. When it comes to Steemit just wait and see, soon the big players will discover the value of Steemit and new type of investors are coming into the community. What surprised me most is that Amazon is going to setup local bookstore, so I wonder how much virtual people really want live....
Yes! These have been my observations as well, being from the tail end of Gen-x. It's been my ongoing assertion since youth that the baby boomers kind of sold everyone out and should be considered the "old guard". All of this progress is what I wished for in 1994, when I finally got a pc in the home.
It's absolutely up to us to expand upon it, I agree. If there were a digital advertising operations team, I would immediately apply to help support this project. I'm glad there are dedicated developers in the community who can help shape the next step.
The dream of the 90s is alive on Steemit
Your post has been selected by Connect to the World FR
@cw-fr
We promote English posts in the French community!!
We are writing a post with our selection that we share within the French community
you can see the post by clicking on the image below
Thanks for the great content!!
Boy! This makes me feel uneasy and uncomfortable. Less than an hour in, your post which has been seen and upvotd by 342 people, doesn't have anyone talking about this important topic.
Knowledge is power, but only when you share it or do something with it. That's where I think Steemit, as a social media platform can make a difference.
I learn and increase my knowledge base everyday by reading about what my fellow Steemians are interested in and physically doing. I then take that knowledge and find ways to practically apply it. Sometimes this means a change to how I would normally do or not do something or it may mean that I try something new, outside of my comfort zone. Occasionally, what I learn on Steemit prompts me to make a retail purchase, that I wouldn't normally.
The thing is, I am making the choice because I see value in doing so and I'm not afraid to talk about and discuss it, in an effort to bring value to someone else. We must discuss, if attention is to be held on a topic for more than 10 seconds.
Good read! There's just so many factors that affect the way economy moves in certain area. I guess it could really depend on what kind of people are living in a place.
The problem do forsee is that the attention span of people is decreasing. I do see it with my kids!
Steem really does have all the points you were referring to. I do hope that a lot of the Steemians, who are registering, will write about the most diverse topics! The more the better! It does gives everybody a platform to spread their ideas and to interact with each other!
While the technology is great, we the users will decide how it will be used! We just need to make sure that we cast our witness votes correctly! Cause they will need to adjust some things in the near future, otherwise a great platform could be lost by the greed of some users!
Yeah, totally, attention span of an average person is pretty ridiculous nowadays. I cannot pay attention for longer than 5 minutes before I start fidgeting....
Hmm, I am too new to this platform to know about the exact role of Witnesses, I guess I'll need to do some research on that
It took my also some time to find out why there were important! Discover what they do and cast your votes to the one which are really supporting the community. If you want a few suggestions, let me know!
Thanks for that, I will do some checking :)
w/(h) i/t (0) n e s/s t ass k t (u) b Lack t ass k (r) ew/e (a)d i/t (h)rue w/e i.d.
This bodes well for the future of Steemit in particular and the Steem blockchain in general. Will similar things happen with D.Tube or will Google tweak their algorithm to reduce visibility for that YouTube competitor?
Hard to say.
There's more of an incentive to block video content, imo, so I wouldn't be surprised if google tried to block the likes of DTube. DTube is also going through some massive growing pains right now. I hope it is able to take on the task that it has set for itself, because if it did I believe it will become the "killer app" that blockchain has been waiting for.