STEEMZINE #29 - Is It Time To Move On From Steemit?
We have been asking ourselves whether we should continue to contribute to the platform, it is something of a difficult question which we are divided on.
We entered the arena full of enthusiasm, full of confidence this had the potential to be a wonderful platform. So, we threw ourselves into creating some fun content (well we like to think so) then the reality set in....
Just a small fish in a big sea.
We are just like everyone else, trying to see if there was an opportunity to make something cool out of it and be awarded for the effort.
The problem is we are all humans and humans want and like results. No one wants to be putting in effort and it not being rewarded or acknowledged, or feel like it is a worth while endeavour. Thats when we realised that we were just in a game and we were not winning. That is because we believe game is not constructed fairly.
The game works on idealism not realism.
It is an idealistic view, create an eco system where people can be rewarded for their time/efforts. The thing is though, its an idealistic view. The award is only for few and far between, and shared across the 1%.
Steemit mimics life. The 1% still exists and will always exist.
I don't believe this is sustainable how the platform is, it is sold to people under false precedent and it is much like any game of chance, you write and spin the wheel.
Writing on Steemit is basically gambling.
But, the thing is...you are gambling away your time, which is worth something. How many of you have seen a bad iphone photo be awarded a stack of cash with one hashtag. Took 2 mins.
The perception that value is what is awarded again is an idealistic view point. Value is not rewarded.
What are your thoughts?
That's how we are currently thinking. We don't believe we will be sticking around much longer as I just believe our time is better spent elsewhere! But, maybe we can be swayed. We will see.
I would wait for some time. Everything is still new and I believe that developers trying hard to improve platform every day. Steemit is like live organism and will need constant changes. I hope I'm not wrong.
I am waiting I want to see what this will turn into as well. Looks like they are going to go more eBay Craig's list then come back to tie in media to the market.
I am using this as opposed to facebook which is worth less than noting for the user in my opinion. Value and worth are all based on time, set a bit of time here and write your mind and heart, even if it only makes to feel better. This is not a career... it is just a fun platform.
Don't give up after just a month, give it some more time and maybe, just maybe you will be lucky or things will finally start to get better for the people that actually make something different, new and interesting and are not popular early adopters with high reputation that get a lot of attention regardless what they actually post.
Don't look at your time spent on Steemit as a lost time, but consider it as an experience gained... :)
I think you are correct that the platform is heavily rigged in favor of the early adopters. I think it may be even more rigged in favor of the already rich (speaking in terms of Steem Power) than even the real world is. The issue with setting it up to be more egalitarian in distribution is that it would then open itself up wide to fraud. Since you actually have to work to earn anything substantial here, the fraudsters are going to move on pretty quickly to greener pastures.
The way I see it is that if you're willing to do the work and the networking on this platform, that effort will eventually pay off, not in the sense of getting quick riches, but in the sense of gradually earning more consistent payouts for articles, having a reliable following of readers who consistently upvote (and whose SP is itself growing). I still think there is a lot of early adopter advantage to be had.
My advice would be to stay involved, but maybe limit the amount of time spent here to something that seems acceptable, and then also pursue other opportunities. Perhaps a more casual approach would take away the pressure to make it worthwhile by paying off, and maybe that will give room for more organic growth.
That's the approach I'm taking. I'm posting content when I can, and I try to make a little bit of time several times a week to read a few articles in my feed, plus a few in the Active tag, add a few more authors to follow, and post some thoughtful comments. It seems that I'm at least gaining a few followers a week and my articles are gradually starting to draw more comments. I'm thinking eventually it might work out well. If it doesn't, well, I haven't invested too much time into it and I keep my other crypto-interests going as well. Diversification is important in this industry.
A wise(!) approach. There are issues, but too many view the platform as a get rich quick scheme. Invesst time and money that you can afford!
I think if the platform is unsettling to you and you see no hope that it will get better, you should leave.
I see it a bit differently. I see steemit as an opportunity to see a lot of different content and make contact with some great people. It is much like the pioneering days in America. Bear with me.
1: you stake your claim on here. Nobody competes for your spot.
2: you work your claim to make it more liveable and fertile through content posting
3: you continue to grow your stake and people start to notice and follow your work
4: reach out to your neighbors. Reaching out to others and following those whose content you enjoy will pay back dividends and increase your bandwidth.
5: keep plugging If you give up on working your stake, it will surely put out a bad crop, stay positive and post on. Find your niche and work it out. If you thought you could just plant a few seeds and get a huge crop, without any weeding or digging , try to grow something real with no attention paid.
6: yes there are bigger stakes being worked, yes, sometimes your neighbor will get a better crop even though it appears that he didn't till has land as well as you. Blaming them for your lack of success is not going to make you successful.
So, yes, if you do not wish to do the work to make your stake into a mega farm, you should leave steemit. I am in it for the long haul and I think I can succeed here. Maybe I am wrong, but, I rarely see successful people telling Forbes how little work they did to get to the top.
Those of us who choose to stay and work our stakes will not suffer if the lower vibration crowd just disappears. And you will not be missed.
Generally, I look at everything from an investment perspective. There is X amount of time and duration in something to see if it is worth continuing in. I have my parameters for steemit just like anything else.
However, the time and duration has to be long enough to give a realistic chance of return on that sweat equity. I'm not even halfway to that time frame yet.
I have that kind of feeling when I started posting content in the platform and even posted an article asking if this community is also for ordinary people like me but even so I did not stop. I continue to write and submit original content and started to earn few rewards. If you check on my blog, there are only few rewards, that means that since the time I started posting, there was a development, there was a growth.
Its alright to express how you felt because its not easy to create a content and post it and after 24 hours no rewards. I've been there and this is what I'm going to tell you, DON'T GIVE UP, NEVER GIVE UP.
Maybe you could think about your time here as sort of "planting seeds".
If you do plant a seed, you don't expect a fruit tree to grow overnight from it.
I am not here too long so this is only my suggestion. I thought that steemit is a platform which pays you for valuable content. Not the platform which pays you just for content. maybe this is the problem.
In terms of number of followers your efforts have put you on rank 80 of this 80k+ network! This makes it hard for me to relate to your disappointment. Don´t focus on the rewards, the most valuable asset at this early stage of the platform are your followers. And in this respect you have been incredibly successful. Congratulations!