Reflections on my first year here + some advice for people joining.
A week or two ago I passed my 1 year mark here on the Steem blockchain, It has been an overwhelmingly positive experience thus far. Thanks for making it that way!
I bought Steem on a day trade whim only to have it go down from 1$ to 80 cents. Before I sold for a loss, I decided I would finally do my due diligence and research the coin. That is how I found my way to Steemit. Shortly after, I signed up for an account. Instead of selling my coins for a loss I moved them over here and powered them up. I have only powered up more since then.
My first couple months on Steemit were very slow going. I was lucky to make a few dollars a few times. I just kept posting and trying to make new friends here. One year later.. I can make 2$ or 10$ just for sharing my thoughts. Not very much I know, but in the worst post I have put up here I still made more than my best posts on any other social media website. Once people come here, they seem to forget that they never even made a penny from Facebook or Reddit. Coming here expecting to quit your job soon to become a full time Steemian is a mistake I have seen too many people make.
I have been here 1 year, I love blockchain technology and I am at least of almost average intelligence. Yet I am not a full time Steemian. Nor have I found a job in the crypto space which is my dream.. To be able to do something I enjoy for a living. Someday I still hope to find a place in this space for me to make a living. I don't expect it though. Who would want to hire someone that goes by Drpuffnstuff after all lol..
When I first came here the voting algorithm was different. There were bot armies of voters. because the more votes the better payout. After a couple months we had a hardfork and everything changed. The bot armies mostly disappeared. The voting bots, and the projects that pay for delegation showed up. Things have changed quite a bit. Once the next hardfork happens things will change again. Change is guaranteed here. Its just a matter of when, and if the changes are net positive or net negative.
SMT's were announced and I have had many internal struggles ever since. One one hand i feel like the launching of SMTs is like Facebook trying to take Googles job. I bought Steem and joined Steemit because it was a social media blockchain, it made sense. Now with SMT's launching it is no more the social media blockchain. It is a Decentralized application platform just like the other 50 blockchains that are doing the same thing. They went from having Library to compete with, to having Ethereum, EOS, Tron, NEO, Iota, and a plethora of others to compete with. I dont know that Facebook would have been so successful if they were trying to do what they have done, and what google does at the same time. I feel like this is why we have not seen HIVE or Communities show up. the social media aspect has been put on the back burner while they attempt to create a DAPP platform. Like Facebook canceling upgrading their site, because they are working on a search website to compete with google. What would the shareholders say if Facebook did that? As a shareholder of Steem I never had any say or any knowledge of the intent to become a DAPP platform. I would have been more hesitant about powering up. On the other hand, social media is just one market. So maybe SMT's are a good move in order to find other user/investor streams. I am just a firm believer in companies doing something really well, instead of doing everything mediocre. That is my worry about Steem. I feel like they should have focused on what people knew Steem as, the social media blockchain. I hope that I am wrong, and that they focused on the right thing.
Now I want to offer a few pieces of advice to people who are new to this platform. These are things that I learned at some point during my Steem adventure and I hope that they may help make using this platform and being rewarded easier.
Comments are the heart and soul of Steem, so comment often - When I leave a comment. I am introducing myself to the people who read it, I am acknowledging a post that someone else worked on. Often times I can make as much as I would from a long post such as this one, just by a simple comment. Also you shouldnt expect people to interact with you if you are not out interacting with people. the connections you make through comments are connections that will help you out later. Make some friends. Give Steem something it sorely lacks. Good comments.
Find a community - There are many small circles here in Steemit. Information war is a good tag to use if you are posting about news the mainstream media generally ignores. Steemsilvergold is a good tag if you want to talk about precious metals. Go to the discord, introduce yourself and hang out with the people you meet that you like there. Or do the same thing in Steemit chat. If you look back through my posts you will see the same people commenting in post after post. This is my community, these are my friends that i have met over my year here. If I had the choice to make 5$ and get 15 comments, or to make 15$ and get 5 comments.. I chose the comments. That is how much respect I have for the people I interact with here, and the people I will meet soon. It is only because of them that I still post.
Stay consistent - This is one part I have been failing at lately. Though when i first came to this platform I was making 2 or 3 posts a day. That output helped me a lot when I was first on this site. Post as much as you can, so long as the output doesn't cost post quality. Even better if you can find a few communities to interact with via posts every day. I have said many times lately that I hope to be posting more soon. I haven't though, I am going through a period of just feeling not interesting, or like my words aren't valuable enough to even post. This post is even a week behind. If i had kept posting as much as I did initially. Surely I would be doing much better here than I am currently. Haejin is one of the only one who makes 10 posts a day, sure they are TA and they suck.. however his consistency has garnered him many followers and whale upvotes. Even though TA sucks, he is probably the most successful Steem user so far. Shitty, but consistent.
Write about what interests you - Do not write about a topic just because it generally does well. Write about what interests you.. because if you are writing interested, your writing will probably be interesting, Where as if you post about something you don't care about, people probably will catch that and not care to read it.
This post is already much longer than I wanted it to be and there are things I surely forgot to cover. I kind of just started typing and lost control. These things happen.
Anyway, thanks to my nearly 3000 followers for allowing my posts onto your feed. Thank you to the people who have resteemed my posts, who have left good comments for me to think about, thank you to the Witnesses, to Dan Larimer for building this, and to Ned for moving it forward. Thank you to all my friends here, you know who you are. Thank you to the people running discord services, challenges, and contests. Thanks to the whole community. You are all appreciated!
Woot woot,
Woot Woot.. I think it's a good move for STEEM to run different apps, but I have no idea what will determine the value of STEEMwhen SMT's come out.
you are one of the first I met on steemit.. so congrats! be well have a great weekend.
This is pretty sound advice @drpuffnstuff
Many new users do come here with a preconceived notion that they will be able to post, and just start making money. Perhaps this has a little bit to do with how Steemit is marketed. Nonetheless, it doesn't take long to figure out the basic dynamics of the platform if you have a general IQ with a basic observation sense.
I recently saw a comment, where a guy was bitching up a storm about not making any money with Steemit, saying it was a scam..ect ect. So I just had to take the liberty of looking at his account. To no surprise, out of 4 months, he had a total post count of 60 posts. I really couldn't help myself, I felt compelled to tell him the error of his ways, and that he should not blame his own deficiencies on the platform if he's not willing to put at least a small amount of work into it. Of course, to no surprise, he did not respond.
I decided to resteem this, because I consider your advice here to be a gem to the new user. You kept it very simple, and to the point. I frequently give this advice to the new user as well, but I insist to them, if you really want to take your success to the next level, read, read, read. There is a wealth of knowledge on Steemit, dedicated to explaining the nuts and bolts, and once the new user has an integral understanding of the dynamics, that is when said user can really maximize efficiency IMO.
Of course this is all contingent with the users ability to write, make creative posts, and keep other users interested in their blog. Even if you are not the best writer, there are creative ways to keep people coming. The sky is the limit with Steemit.
Congrats on your 1 year mark. Keep up the great work. Also, what you said about not being as active as you would like. I understand what it's like to go through those periods as well, but you have established yourself, and have some devout followers. So even if you disappear a little from time to time, your comment box is going to fill up as soon as you post something! People look forward to seeing you!
Thanks for the quality post dude! Keep puffin!!!
Maybe thats the good thing about me not posting that often. Its harder for me to wear out my welcome, or to become boring by being to familiar lol. This is a great comment that should have probably been a post because its good and you took a good chunk of time writing it!
Many of my favorite Steem posters are not the best writers. If I wanted the best writers I would go other places. I want unique perspectives and interesting thoughts more than I want a paper that would get an A in English class.
I also agree that the expectation to make money might have a decent amount to do with the way Steem is marketed. As you point out it is very easy to see the dynamics after a short time here, and I guess having the people who see $$$ signs come and go so quickly is probably a good thing. Then only the better people remain.
Read read read indeed. I should have mentioned that. I myself read much more posts than I comment on. Often times I read something and have nothing worthy to add even if I enjoyed it. There are also lots of posts that will give you insight into the platform and how to make it work for you. Or about how certain aspects of it work. Those posts will definitely help in navigating this experiment we are all taking part in.
Thanks for the comment, the resteem, and thank you for being a part of the experiment with us. You are appreciated FutureMind!
Thanks for the compliment bro, I just feel it's important (as you do) for people to understand what Steemit is all about :)
Me too bro! Sometime's I read something that is so good, or so technically involved, I'm just like "damn, I don't even know what to say"...
It's always a pleasure talking with you friend. You, as well, are appreciated!
Best advice anyone can give. You make tons of friends though those communities who will support you and not only that, you find people with similar interests. You learn a ton more. Steemit might not be the right frontend for you. Tons of others to chose from to suit your niche. Like photos try steepshot. Like developing, check out utopian. Steemhunt is a new cool one that I'm definitely going to be in a lot.
Wow 3000 followers?! Nice. I’m slowly approaching 1000. We look at this platform similarly. I was getting paid ZERO for my thoughts before. At least now I’m getting paid something. We’ll both keep growing though.
Hey, 1000 is really good for joining at the end of January yo! Its good to have people with your mindset. The others who after one week post the 'Steem is a scam i get no upvote for upvote" posts really take their toll on me.. Thanks for the response.
I like that you actually reply to real comments. I think that keeps you relevant and engaging. Keep it up.
Simple advice, and I'm glad you put the disclaimer "Post as much as you can, so long as the output doesn't cost post quality." I feel like so much advice to newer people is just to post post post and I see lots of "Hey I didn't know if I would post but i am now" or '5th grade report on garlic' kind of stuff... I get less mad about funny shitposts because humour has value at least lol. The rest sort of gives me the feeling of everyone yelling at me for my attention,and makes it hard to find the reason I followed people in the first place.
Hey, shitposting requires actual thought haha! And actual thought it really what I am looking for in posts! I also feel the 'yelling at me for my attention' feeling. This is not unique to Steem though. This is basically all social media lol
I think I'm officially five months, today, though I didn't do much until January 1. Spot on with the advice. I would probably amend the part about "whales voting for Haejin" to one whale, unless you're also counting the flags he's getting, which I suppose would only be fair. :)
You've seen plenty then, in your time here, around half of Steemit's total history, and you were here prior to HF 19, so you have some idea what it was like before that. It sounds like for you HF 19 was a net positive.
I'm glad you're still here. We've had some good discussions. I look forward to more. :)
5 months already? Nice! thank you for coming, and thank you for staying! Ya there are other whales who vote for him I think. Just one mega whale, and the whale that is himself are the largest of his votes. I actually blocked him so I don't know anymore. I know hes bad for this platform, but I cant do anything with my power. So I have moved on to supporting good content only.
I actually think in the long run HF 19 was probably a bad thing for me. Maybe for everyone. I cannot prove or disprove that though. Just my feeling. bot voting armies to powerful voting bots.. It used to be that if 100 low power people voted on your post, it did decent.. Now a post can't do well without the help of people who hold a decent amount of Steem. Curating used to be more important and worth it, now selling your VP is worth too much to make curation rewards appealing. Who knows though really. It was funny, the week it switched everyone went from getting 20 100% votes day to 10.. and peoples posts sky rocketed in value, everyone's voting power got hammered and sent shooting downwards during the switch because our normal voting habits were not good for new voting algorithm.
I have enjoyed our discussions, Im glad you have and I look forward to more as well. I hope things have been good for you and yours yo!
Oh, we're all plugging along. Some days are pretty good, others not so much, but we keep keeping on.
Okay, well, then I misread where you were going with HF 19. I've heard others say it hasn't been so good for them, either, citing most of what you just did. Bot armies to bid bots. It just seems to me there are people who are not going to be interested in the social aspect of this site, but only the investing and ROI aspects. I guess that's fine, but there's no way to really educate the new users in an effective fashion as to what they're getting themselves into with the bidbots, so they jump right in because they see how it's working for the big users on the trending pages.
But I suppose trial and error is going to be the best teacher anyway, because then you're not basing it on someone's opinions. In the meantime, the bidbot owners, for the most part, are making some profit, if not a lot, and the even though things have changed, the status quo is maintained.
I've avoided the flag war for the same reason, I have less SP than would be required to really do anything, while exposing myself to immediate reprisal. However, the main reason I avoid it is because I've yet to really see the good it does. With as many folks that throw downvotes at haejin, he's still taking more out of the rewards pool a week than most of us will see in a year, at least.
I'm not really saying he should be left alone (although under normal circumstances i would say, let the market decide—in this case the market says his stuff is worth less than $20 on average if you discount the big whale vote and his own and remove the downvotes). I'm saying that flagging is not an effective tool as constituted, and I'm not sure how to make it better.
Some days are good, some are not so much huh lol.. That sounds like an apt description of life!
Well hopefully Steemit find a better way to do.. Or some other platform. I feel like it is holding Steem back. If for no other reason but Haejin gets to sell 1000's of Steem a week.
You are correct about new usersnot quite understanding what they are getting themselves into as well. In one sense its good because the people only here for the money will more than likely leave once they are dissatisfied, and it will leave only the people we really want here anyways.
That does seem to be the upside to all of this, doesn't it? Weeding out those who would be more inclined to maximize short term gains at the expense of the long term health and viability/sustainability of the platform? However, the newbies that fall off so quickly aren't the ones affecting the reward pool now, so how do we go about changing hearts of the larger and older SP causing all the consternation now or making them all move on? :)
Age old Steemit question, I guess.
this is cool, you popped up on my feed through a resteem from @futuremind and I usually am not a big resteem fan but this caught my attention since I am also close to my first steemday myself. My main account is @felander.
It is nice to see how people that have lasted a year feel about this whole ecosystem.
I also stumbled into this whole thing myself and this was my first crypto experience in a sense, I did not even go through BTC to get here. I got into crypto through steem.
I have the luck to live near Zug, the Crypto Valley in Switzerland and in this year we have set up a successful meetup, are organizing a congress (12/13 of June). All after hours. So in a way steem has changed my life and I am powering up as well.
I also hope this will turn into a fulltime job some how
I really had not thought about losing the meaning of steemit and blogging through SMT that way. I just figured it would stay but become a project on the background and would help social media in the crypto direction.
You have stayed through a lot of changes and as you say, there will be more. Only time will tell if the choice was the good one. But IMO, not choosing anything is the bad one.
I saw you thanked the witnesses at the bottom of your post. I am part of a witness project and I can see that you are still voting for @idnit even thoug this witness has been offline for 6000+ hours (8+ months)
Any chance you would consider swapping those out for @swisswitness? we would appreciate the vote
You have my vote for @swisswitness, @felander
I added you some weeks back after we spoke on one of my posts. Just speaking for myself, I really appreciate your dedication to Steemit, and I've seen with your interactions with others, that you indeed take it seriously. That is commendable in my humble opinion. Keep up the great work my friend.
P.S. I'm not the biggest fan of resteems either, so when I do resteem, I try to make sure it's something valuable to the community, and/or very interesting. I also think any user who resteems, should resteem less than they post. That's just another opinion, cause who likes a compulsive resteemer?? Not me lol.
In two weeks will be my year. It has been a wild ride for sure. I love the platform amd hope the forks bring positive changes.
And cheers to you drpuffstuff - to 3000 more and hopefully change that is good.
Thanks Artwatch. Thank you for being alive, and here. I am doing fine really, but even if I'm fine good change is good. So I hope so too lol. I hope all has been well for you yo, and that you get some change that is good yourself!
I might have some surprises up my sleeve that may interest people in the next couple months. Things are always changing gotta roll with the punches worth rolling with. I am good man. I am an antisocial on a social website, it was bound to sound down.