Is Good Content Enough?
One thing I’m fascinated by is value creation. More specifically, how value creation weaves into the fabric of the Steem ecosystem.
I think we can all agree that earning money and gaining wealth are largely dependent upon how much value you can provide to the world - if you make money as an electrical engineer, your value proposition is to help people with their electrical problems.
If you make money as barista, your value proposition is to help people get their caffeine fix. If you make money as an uber driver, then your value proposition is to help people get from A to B.
If however, your desired job is to make money on the Steem blockchain, then what is your value proposition to the world? Is it good content? Is it the creation of a Dapp like Steem Monsters? Is it development on the blockchain itself?
I think creating a Dapp or otherwise developing on the blockchain has a very clear value proposition - you’re building a Dapp that will provide people with some sort of entertainment (like how Steem Monsters provides people with entertainment) or some other form of value.
If you’re developing on the blockchain, then you’re literally responsible for the blockchain operating smoothly, inventing new features, bug fixes, etc.
It’s the creating content and looking for wages that’s the tricky part.
What value are you adding exactly? You could say entertainment, but we’ve all seen that being super entertaining isn’t necessarily going to lead to a big pay day on the Steem blockchain.
You could say sharing advice, knowledge, etc. is your value prop, but then again, we’ve all seen first hand that sharing knowledge isn’t always going to lead to a big pay day - no matter how knowledgable you are.
So you see, good content is only a part of the Steem equation. If you want to make a living on the blockchain, you can’t simply make posts and hope that the whales will recognize you and throw money your way.
You have to take some other forms of action in addition to your content. At least, this is how the blockchain operates right now.
The Future of Content on the Blockchain
I still see a huge market opportunity for content on the blockchain, but I see it as being incredibly profitable in the future. Right now, people profiting on the blockchain will be whales, developers, investors, etc. Content creators are at the bottom of the earning curve.
When hive mind and SMTs and similar features come out for the Steem blockchain, I see a much greater opportunity for making money as a content creator, here’s why:
In it’s current state, there is little incentive for anyone else to upvote your content. Now, there are of course some outliers and manual curators who, out of the good of their heart, wish to upvote other great content on the blockchain.
BUT you’re kind of playing the lottery if you’re hoping that some fantastic manual curator will begin to pick up your posts and start upvoting you regularly.
With such little incentive to upvote others (curators are averaging less than a 20% return on the value of their upvotes), there is little external voting going on. And thus, people who don’t invest in the blockchain have trouble making a profit as a standalone content creator.
I definitely think that the Steemit, inc. team is not only aware of this, but they are actively trying to come up with a good solution for it.
I would imagine that they think a mixture of SMTs, hive mind and communities (and possibly 1A1V) are the keys to our multi-million dollar problem. This at least is the “vibe” if you will, that I get when I read the update posts on the steemitblog.
I tend to agree with them. These features - IF implemented properly - will likely evolve into something that is beneficial for everyone looking for an opportunity to make money on the blockchain, whether you’re a content creator, a content curator, a developer, an entrepreneur and so on.
Honestly, I do not think good content is enough.
You can have great content but the issue is the same here on Steemit as well as in the physical world; consumers. You can have great content/products all day long, but if there is not a consumer for your product, you are not going anywhere.
A great product/content is only have of the equation. If you don’t have a large following (large market), or a large follower(whale/distributor) then you won’t make much in the way of profits/up votes, and even good feedback/conversation about your product.
The “successful” equation in my opinion is a good product combined with a good follower base (market), where either one can fluctuate based on the other. So for instance, you can have ok content but have a huge following and you will be just as successful, if not more than someone who has outstanding content but no followers (market).
That is my personal observations thus far, the follower base size and the quality of those followers is what will determine you success rate. That is if you are going for profits as quickly as possible.
This opinion is excluding the use of bots; which I see you already have started experimenting with that market base.
I totally agree with you. I even you that an additional item to the equation: having good luck.
True, luck can also be a major factor.
The time of day when you post has been shown to matter... a lot... as another example. It's part of the luck.
If all the other things are being done (expert at something people want to know more about, good writer, etc.), you still need a decent amount of followers too.
Pennies add up. I've seen people who couldn't write well at all and that didn't have much expertise still do well by marketing themselves. When they do that, they end up with 5K followers. Those small upvotes add up.
I don't recommend people depend on finding whales to support them. Work on marketing, your expertise, and your writing ability instead. If a whale supports you, that's a wonderful thing indeed. Just don't depend on them. That's a recipe for disaster.
Yes, exactly. This explains why gaming videos on dlive do so well as one example, or how people talking about liberty do so well (on here at least).
It isn't just how well someone writes or the formatting of their post. They have to have a product that is desired by the market. If someone is posting about something that a thousand other people are also posting about, they had better be in the top 1-5% of that market. Otherwise they will not do well.
Gaming videos is another good way to explain that issue. I could post gaming videos, but I suck at them. Therefore, no one would support me no matter how well they were produced. Someone who's very good at a game however can easily profit from it. People will learn from them and be highly entertained by their content.
Being able to write well helps though no matter what your expertise is. Everyone can benefit from becoming a better writer. I write about private investigation and residential security. Those are my two primary passions in life, and I don't write about them to profit. I'm sharing my wisdom to help people instead.
Good contant is not enough and better. And I think a content one who gives and learn something is best.
I think it's like anything else. It sure as hell isn't "if you build it, they will come" the real issue is rising above the noise. I see a whole lot of posts that consist of one photo and a couple lines of text, with no effort put into them at all...
Somebody is upvoting those "posts" which results in even more of them. So, you can't just write the article and sit back, you've got to get the word out.
I've slimmed down my word count during this rough patch. No use writing 2,000 words that aren't going to be seen. Those not getting traction may surface every now and then with a post while riding out the storm. I see much better days ahead.
I've actually been debating what to do 'bout that problem on both sides of the coin. I want my content to be noticed, but I also want to try to upvote new, high-quality users with my near-valueless upvote, while ignoring the junk.
So far the best I've come up with is to mute those low-quality posters (so,so time-consuming!), look around for good ones, and on my own end just persevere - I know I'm trying, doing my best with what I have, and that has to be enough to satisfy me.
Your title certainly got my attention and the content made me think as well. I have a system where I do a little promotion after each post. It may be tough right now, but I can't shake the feeling that the best is yet to come for Steemit. :) Hang in there folks!
You got a 35.81% upvote from @upme thanks to @triptolemus! Send at least 3 SBD or 3 STEEM to get upvote for next round. Delegate STEEM POWER and start earning 100% daily payouts ( no commission ).
No. The network effect will always win and its why I see bitcoin being the crypto to take us to mass adoption. Another coin may take over after but bitcoin will push is to mass adoption and eventually be replaced by a superior concept.
To the question in your title, my Magic 8-Ball says:
Hi! I'm a bot, and this answer was posted automatically. Check this post out for more information.
wow great post
I’d say a mix of it all is going to lead to success. Creating a DAPP is something completely different that brings crazy value. Even if you create good content you need to get people’s attention :).
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Content creators are at the bottom of the earning curve.
So sad. Huhu