RE: Vlog 434: HF21, it's going to be interesting.
When the community becomes starstruck, it has always been a big mistake. A big name coming here brings no value unless their following buys into the platform as well. I've written about this on many occasions. There's far more money to be made in embracing and rewarding paying consumers of content than there is in depending on a handful of investors watching tokens rise and fall.
As for what you said about content having "no value" outside of this place. For one, in the arts and entertainment industry, the biggest unwritten rule is never sell yourself short. What we do here is quite similar to busking. A busker would never set a limit on how much change people drop in their guitar case as they play for the public. If someone produced their first recording and it went platinum, they probably didn't expect to make millions, and they certainly won't say they earned too much. You're devaluing your product as well as many others here when you say it's worthless. We've created a new economy here and these values are accurate according to us. There's no such thing as getting paid too much in this industry.
Also, when you say it has no value, and I look at my blog. I see hundreds of images, thousands of hours worth of work, all of which can easily be converted into sales. There's creative content that could easily be published onto paper and converted into sales. If I had a large enough market here, a market I've been waiting for for nearly three years, and a means of distribution, it wouldn't be hard for me to accept tokens as payment. So yeah, it's a tough pill to swallow, hearing someone as popular as you are here, a top earner and respected personality downplaying the efforts of the contributors here, like me. My blog is one of the most active here on the platform, consistently, and that means I have the ability to draw in those valuable eyes. And to be honest, if that's where you place the value, I can already tell you I don't earn very much for going the extra mile.
I'm not trying to be confrontational here today. I just like to speak my mind and offer a perspective that's not represented nearly enough. I do agree, shit posts and many of the social media like posts have no outside value. But at the same time, I see you using appics and that is their entire market. I should also remind you that not having a large outside following does not make me an amateur by default. I could show you a somewhat famous personality on facebook right now who has published a few books and shows off his art around the New York art scene, with less followers than I have here using this entity.
You can always say whatever you want to me, speak your mind. I'm easy going enough. And I don't mind admitting I'm wrong when I am.
You made my vlog personal. I didn't want to go that route. Just from a basic point of view, I was stating that the content I made would be tough to sell anywhere else. I made it work on Steem but a lot of that has to do with the SP I bought and the connections I made and well all the time invested and researching steem. I've been more consistent then you posting too.
I just still don't see myself as a big content creator more like an early miner. Maybe that's my flaw. I am that guy that stumbled onto a platform and rolled with it. Not in a million years could you have told me 3 years ago I would be vlogging in my garden. When I compare myself to content creators on Youtube with millions of followers I don't come close.
When it comes to content creations on Steem it can't just be about relying on the reward pool. There must be a better value proposition than that. Even for you. If you could sell art for FIAT through Steem and buy STEEM with the sales or accept STEEM straight up for sales that your buyers have to acquire on the market that would be amazing. Blogging and sales would strengthen each other. That's the Steem I want to see.
Same for big content creators. You say they bring no value I disagree. The last time they came around they couldn't monetize their content outside of the reward pool. Now they could start their own community on Steem and Steemit inc. would also love to see some more eyes on their site now that they have revenue models in place for themselves. Again they can strengthen each other.
I use Appics like I use every app on the blockchain. They will get there own token and as soon as they can I am assuming they will use an SMT. Then content made through Appics will no longer appear on Steemit.com and rewards will be in SMT. Appics has recruited big influencers to curate content in their respective categories. I will continue to use Appics because it's an amazing app but will I be rewarded in the SMT, I don't know. It's not up to me.
I'm not downplaying your efforts one bit. I hope you can make steem work for you and sell lot's of art with the help of Steem and keep creating content here.
They all started with one video, and one follower. You're too hard on yourself. No need to compare yourself. If you enjoy doing it, just continue to grow. As an artist and writer plus being a bit of an entertainer here, I can easily say there's a ton of people out there doing better than me, yet my work is still seen all over the world. If someone bigger comes along, their fans will see my stuff and maybe I'll become bigger. It's kind of like how the opening band goes on stage before the main band. Nobody heard of that opening band, but they like it, and now the opening band has new fans because of the big band.
And I know you weren't targeting anyone specifically with your words. I just like to stand up for folks. There's a lot of solid entertainment here, and some has left because for some strange reason, people were supporting junk instead of musical performances, for instance. That entertainment stuff is valuable. There's nothing wrong with embracing the talent we have here, to help bring eyes and ears to this place. A big name can bring lots of people, and those people will want to browse around. All big names started out as little names and it would be huge for this blockchain to turn small names into big names on our own. Big names are established, making money. Some make millions and don't need a few bucks worth of crypto. But like what happened with Youtube, once big names saw virtual nobodies becoming wealthy on Youtube, they flocked to the place for a piece of that pie.
I do embrace all of these changes happening. I know what you mean about STEEM basically becoming the gold standard token, and folks will have to settle with earning other tokens. Now, hopefully those businesses learn to embrace local talent instant of wishing for a star to fall from the sky.
A big name should be able to attract enough investors in their own content that no existing hodlers would be required to use their stake to support that big name, in a perfect world.
In many ways, I agree with you and see exactly what you see. I've written about it.
I made what sounded like some bold predictions, a long time ago. Wasn't really a prediction though, more like an educated guess.