Vlog 232: Steempower or the value you add to the blockchain is your mining tool.
I often make the comparison to Bitcoin mining when it comes to earning rewards on Steemit.
If you look at earning rewards as mining a lot becomes clear.
With Bitcoin, you can basically mine more bitcoin when you add more computer power to the network.
Now, after 9 years of bitcoin mining, you will have to compete with huge mining farms in China as an individual. Impossible.
It's also complex to set up a miner as a normal human being because you need technical knowledge.
This is where the Steem blockchain made a genius move. Instead of mining with computer power, you can mine by creating content.
Anyone can make an account on the blockchain and start mining. It's super simple to start.
Now, if you use this platform as a place to share your stories with others and keep them on the blockchain forever you are done. You found your place. You will build connections and friends here. It happened to me. It will happen to you. And that's cool because we have a great community here.
But it's not simple to mine (get rewards). This is a huge difference with the above.
Why?
Because you need Steempower to mine and at the start, and you don't have any.
So you need to get the attention of people that have steempower to direct their mining effort onto you.
You can create the best content in the world, but if nobody knows it exists, that's a problem.
It takes a lot of effort to get yourself known.
This is the process I call the 'the grind' and it gets harder the older the blockchain gets.
The fact that you can still earn Steem with blogging today should tell you are still early.
I talk about it more in my vlog.
I am a witness with our developer group @blockbrothers for the Steem blockchain. If you want to support us I would appreciate your vote here.
We build Steemify a notification app for your Steemit account for iOS.
Get it Here:
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You make a lot of interesting points here. There are definitely people who come to Steemit and expect an audience to just be waiting for them but that is not the case. These people criticise the platform but the truth is it would exactly the same for them on YouTube or any other site. Building a following takes time, persistence and patience. A lot of people would be happier if they just accepted this role IMO.
I don't put a lot of effort into my posts because there is no particular subject I'm interested in blogging about, but I'm happy to just curate and comment for the most part. You're right about people seeing the trending page and wanting to be making the big bucks right away but not everybody is going to be a successful creator. Steemit needs content CONSUMERS just as much if not more, and people can earn whilst curating without having to put in all the time and effort that is required to make posts consistently and build a large following.
We agree, buddy! Everyone believes that when they get to Steemit and post quality, they will receive excellent votes. But it turns out it's not that easy. You have to be persistent and already have a vision of what you want to do with your blog. It is also very important to join communities to make you known and establish relationships, such as PAL, Steemians, Cervantes, Trail Hispano, among others that are in the Discord platform...
In my case I like to comment on posts from other people and be part of the conversations between bloggers.
STEEMIT is just like the real world, we all have our desires and roles to fulfilll within our community and I agree with your statement about needing content consumers as much as creators or more; moreover, the site would be useless without the people that digest other's material.
This is part nobody gets about steem.
Expectation to start earning rewards from the first post or the first few months with NO STEEM POWER.
I started 8 months ago and see it already. I didn't have the knowledge when Steem was 0.1. But now with a price of 3 it's harder to collect some SP by only creating content.
exyle, your posts are so poignant and perfectly timed for this newbie!!!!! in fact, i just doubled down on my steem and powered UP....so i can "mine" more efficiently! my first post of my 10 year old food forest garden coming soon and many after that. learning so dang much from just curating and re steeming others work for now. very used to the process of building an audience. we've been posting on YT since 2008 and i've shared to all my other social networks about steem and steemit....and dozens of my friends are waiting to be approved. over two weeks now!!! they are patiently and excitedly awaiting the opportunity to start mining and investing also. if steem keeps dropping in price, i'm going to just keep buying more...and powering UP! please keep it coming exyle! you are an anchor in these shifting times!
Wow over two weeks!? I had no idea the sign ups were taking so long
yes...it's crazy...but perhaps a good sign of growth! this account i signed up with "rawutah" took about 2 weeks also. exyle nailed it...IMO. so many people are coming over from YT....and will be mining here soon! i enjoyed watching the explanation about the account approval wait time....... at the 8:20 mark of this video. https://steemit.com/steemit/@ruwan/i-filmed-this-video-of-ned-pkattera-and-sneak-talking-about-the-smts-and-the-future-of-steemit
Yes I saw that video and enjoyed watching it. It's interesting to hear that there's been such an explosion in new users wanting to join recently but it's a shame they are having to wait so long to be approved...still, it's a good problem to have.
i hear you about the let down....to new users waiting for approval. i've continued to post videos like the one above...and many of exyle's posts...to my social pages...to update as many people as i can. it's creating a fervor....but how to retain users once here...is another story. i've had quite the learning curve so far....but i'm enjoying it! so grateful for those posting/mining... about it all. please keep it coming exyle and steemians!!! you all INSPIRE!
@adamkokesh just posted this on youtube...and soon here on steemit i'm sure. more YouTubers head this way! way to bring it adam!!!!!
I hope Alex joins! I don't particularly like him but he has a huge audience and generates a lot of funny memes!
Excellent viewpoint. I feel I am late to the Steemit world but I agree with you that opportunity is still very much in reach.
As the powerhouses arrive, the competition for attention will become harder and harder, so it’s best to start building your foundation and brand now. I am not looking to earn a living from creating content, but I believe by attributing value to the content it has caused people to put more time and effort to share higher quality content. So as a content consumer I find I enjoy the content better on this platform. it has also forced me to rethink how I want to present my own content in an attempt to reach that higher quality bar.
I have made my rewards mostly from curation and authoring of comments, but just last night I published my first d.tube video. Instead of just recording my screen I ended up putting some post production effort into it to amp up the quality to meet the culture of the platform which I enjoyed. It may feel late to the party, but it is early days.
Steem On! thank you for posting this.
Yeah, buddy! Due to the high level of competition, it is very difficult to stand out from the rest, even publishing content of the highest quality, as everything is taken by trend and the first options (the oldest ones). People are also accustomed to the fact that if they need content on a specific topic, they are looking for a writer who has a good reputation. I particularly like to sit a couple of hours a day looking for quality content from people who are not yet known. In fact I have found better quality content and editing in some people of low reputation, compared to content from people with many votes and high reputation...
But it's never too late to start... I'm already eight months old in Steemit. I've learned a lot about the platform and I'd say I've done pretty well. It only takes a good promotion in the posts, as well as being in communities to build relationships and get support from bigger ones.
Once again you have helped this old bald bugger understand better the blockchain and how it works. The “mining” item always confused me here but now I get it. There are different ways to mine and creating content is just one of them. Thanks for clearing it all up for me :) ...again!
Mark this is Great you put it all into perspective even for the Newbies. @exyle has done "The Grind", he knows what it takes and now he is fairly successful here. If I can share two things that I think will make anybody successful on STEEMIT, it would be Consistency and Persistence. If you want a Third item I would tell you to start investing in yourself. Buy some Steem as you can afford to do so and keep Powering it UP !
People want instant results and the truth is that no matter which platform you use that is never going to happen. I'm sure a lot of people make YouTube channels and give up after they've made 5 videos with a total of 10 views, a similar thing applies to Steemit. A lot of people would be happier if they accepted a role as a content consumer rather than a creator. At least here you can earn curation rewards unlike on Reddit, Facebook etc...
This is brilliant though from you @stokjockey. For me the newbieb to adopt and i still need ur upvote to keep me update. Thanks a lot
Welcome to STEEMIT Prince; You will do well here just put your heart into it everyday. You may be a Leader for your community where you live and you may not even be aware of it yet. There are people here on Steemit that are doing wonderful things all across the Earth to help others become self-sufficient on there own. You may want to look at some of the postings that people like @surfyogi and @ackza are doing to make the World a Better Place for people who are looking to improve their lives. I wish you all the Best.......
Thanks a million my boss and my mentor, and i will love to be in ur discord link, for those two u have drop, i have key in and promise u to be one of ur proud candidate u will always love to use as sample too. @stockjockey. I love u to visit my link one of this day. Ur support to me put more smile and strength to be honest to u. Thanks once again and keep ur good work boss
That's right, buddy! Persistence and consistency is the key to success at Steemit.
Investing in Steem Power is vitally important, and now it's easier because it's lowering the price.
Exactly!!!
Steem power or credible content is the mining tool in Steemit.
Unfortunately, the cryptocurrency and blockchain news came late in Africa.
Fortunately, it is really amazing seeing how far we can achieve in Crypto and blockchain from this part of the world by creating good content on Steemit.
The Brain is the greatest money making instrument and this is made very feasible with Steemit.
My brainpower earns me Steempower
Maybe a little later in Africa than in the West for example but we are still in the early days of blockchain!
Very good information and useful @exyle .. I really agree with what you say .. But frankly raise the steam power is not an easy job, especially for very small fish like me .. I hope you continue to educate about the development of blockchainc and the effect for us is this little steemian .. Thanks @exyle
Keep trying and you will get there, the more SP you have the easier it is to earn more. Patience pays.
You brought up a good analogy that a lot of newcomers should understand. When you tell some people about Steem, they say things like, "what? you can vote for yourself and give yourself money?" It sounds strange to give yourself money, but that is what mining is. In other words, if you own stocks in a company and you earn dividends, suppose you could give those dividends to someone else. If you choose to give the dividends to yourself, would people say, "that's absurd!"? Not really, it is how it works!
With Steem, you have the option of giving your dividends (upvotes) to yourself (just a like a owning stocks would or mining) or you can give it to somebody else. It just seems strange to some people because there is a choice. But if the only choice is to give it to yourself, then it doesn't sound far-fetched to noobs.