Forget about making money on Steemit. For now.
When browsing Steem, I regularly come across the congenital whingers who lament that they have not yet had even a solitary thousand dollar payday.
Neither have I, as yet.
To those who are regularly & sincerely posting original, high quality content on Steemit:
Forget about making money off Steemit.
For now.
If there's no money to be made on Steemit now, why am I myself on Steemit?
Why did I, like other Steemians, painstakingly research this article?
Here's why:
- @mallorcaman asked us to share stories about how we joined @steemit.
- To keep myself sold on why @goldmatters encouraged me to board the Steemit train.
- To document reasons to believe.
Kindly indulge me & don't TL;DR this article. Please read through the whole article. No skimming.
Patience is key to wealth creation
There is time-tested wisdom is exercising patience in investing.
Do I have faith?
Do I believe?
In the founders?
In the leaders, the whales?
Am I patient?
Am I willing to persevere?
Not only belief & faith, am I willing to stick it out?
Patience, more than intelligence, may be critical in investing. It is the secret sauce of successful investors.
Between the conception
And the creation
Between the emotion
And the response
Falls the Shadow
T.S. Eliot, 'The Hollow Men'
How will you respond to the Shadow?
Everyone who holds Steem Power is a buy and hold investor in Steemit.
Those on the platform, while it is in still in beta, are angel investors, with @ned & @dan being the archangels. Ned Scott & Dan Larimer have magnanimously invited anyone to join Steemit on the ground floor. Larry Page & Sergey Brin did not open Google to the public till its IPO. Peter Thiel & Mark Zuckerberg did not let the public in till the Facebook IPO.
At least than 2 years old, Steem, the social network, is still in beta.
Let's compare apples with apples, i.e. Steemit as a social network contrasted with some iconic social networks.
Facebook started making money eight years after its founding.
Is Instagram making any money, after six years even though it has the weight of Facebook behind it?
After 12 years, is YouTube making money for Google?
From day one, Steemit has been profitable to its investors, the holders of Steem Power.
Increasing the value of your investment
Unless an angel investor is involved in managing a start-up, he does not have much direct influence on how his investment fares. He is dependent on the start-up's management team.
Unlike a passive angel investor in Silicon Valley, Steemit provides an opportunity to nurture, increase & multiply the value of your investment in Steemit.
Turbo-charge your Steem Power
At this stage of Steemit's life-cycle Steem Power is the investor's capital. One way to mplify Steem Power is by proactively advocating Steemit & Steem & cross posting your Steemit content, on other non-Steemit social media platforms. Kindly review the ideas shared below.
Please also share & comment on your own advocacy & cross posting efforts.
Advocacy
Advocacy, at its core, is advertising. While the repetitive Coke ad may work, a repetitive blog post may not.
What is the difference between persistence & nagging?
Blogger
Google "monetized' Blogger for itself & "incentivised" blog writers & then the whole of the internet through AdSense.
AdSense is Google serving advertising on your website, blog, page, app or content & then paying you some money. The key advantage of AdSense is that the content creator is compensated till the end of the content or the end of AdSense, whichever is earlier. AdSense's model does not gave any curation rewards. This contrasts with Steemit's one month cut-off for rewards for posts.
A way to increase the life of your Steemit content is to
also post it on an AdSense enabled blog or website,
while cross referencing the Steemit post.
Here's an example of a Blogger advocacy post, Steemit's Steem is a blockchain based social media platform where anyone can earn rewards.
Medium
Based on his experience with Blogger & Twitter, Evan Williams established Medium, arguably the most content creator friendly platform on the internet. Just as WordPress does, Ev Williams provided writers with a beautiful interface. When you write on Medium you're in the company of the Barack Obama White House, Astro Teller & the Economist.
Medium is still exploring ways to compensate authours. There is no compensation for curators. These are some examples of Medium advocacy posts:
Steemit’s Steem
Direct-to-authour compensation
Beyond Rewarding Content Creators
Blockchain undergirded publishing
Cross posting
Cross posting original Steemit content on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & Google+ is worth the manual labour that you may have to put in. Of course, you could automate posts on social media. What posting automation you use depends on the community that you are attempting to build. Most internet users, smell robot posting from a mile off.
* Reach: increase the reach of your original Steemit post.
* Content: provide fresh content for your followers on other
social media platforms.
* Build community: your community is the heart of your social
network. When you share your Steemit post, your fresh, original
Steemit content on other social networks, you are contributing
to building your communities on those social networks.
While everyone is on Facebook, how useful is cross posting Steemit posts on Facebook?
- Groups: The Steemit Facebook groups may get you a few upvotes. Though I post on these groups, a Steemit post on these groups is like preaching to the choir. Posting, a related Steemit post, on a topic specific Facebook group would indicate to the members of the group that you are attempting to add value to them & the group.
- Personal: Post on your personal Facebook page, as you feel your friends would accept it. Some will want to see everything that you post, others will feel spammed. I've posted just one Steemit advocacy post & and another topical post on my personal account.
As LinkedIn is a professional business, network, sharing a post on how to make Mumbai cutting chai may be out of place. Like Facebook, judge for yourself what is appropriate for LinkedIn. Here's an example of a Steemit post shared in a LinkedIn group, Change is possible
The 140 characters on Twitter provide an ample opportunity to share all Steemit content, without restriction. People get their news from Twitter; so why not Steemit in their feed?
An example of a Steemit post shared on Twitter: Who we could be
Google+
Google+ is the network that pundits love to hate.
On Google+, Check out appropriate Google+ communities for the topics that you post about, you will be pleasantly surprised. Then, of course share your Steemit content in those communities.
While Google+ may not be Google itself, Google is SEO & Google+ is Google's property.
See also, Dubai: Dhows & Disney
YouTube
The world's dominant video platform is also a significant social network & search engine, at least in the English-speaking world.
Though like me, you may have not broadcast any Steemit specific videos, you can still curate the beautiful videos made by the Steemit community. Watch @heiditravels on her Crypto Tips YouTube channel intoduce the Steemit Hardfork 17.
Like authours who read aloud their books as audiobooks, many bloggers are now reading out their blog posts on YouTube. YouTube provides an excellent interface to provide a link back to the blog post, as well as, even providing a teaser text preview of the original blog content.
Other Platforms
While, I have not used the Chinese web or YouTube, Pinterest,
Instagram & Snapchat specifically for Steemit, these could provide
opportunities for both advocacy & post promotion.
I've seen many Steemit advocacy videos on YouTube.
Your call on Steemit
Are you a buy & hold investor or a day trader?
Long investment or quick profit?
Further reading
Steem, Steemit
The Steemit Test
Why Dad Loved 'Isn't It A Lovely Day?'
Does downvoting a post help build Steemit? Take the survey
A call out
Fun
Why Dad Loved 'Isn't It A Lovely Day?'
Why Mum loved "Tea for Two"
You may also like:
How To
How to navigate the minefield of social media
How to succeed on Steemit: Guaranteed
How to start a home business with no money
Controversy
Carpe Diem, President Trump: End Financial Folly
Slavery: Who will help eradicate child trafficking?
Most Americans don't want freedom; they want security
Gold Is Money
An Open Internet?
Downvoted in disagreement of reward generated by concentrated whale voting
(BTW, how does a post that suggests to "forget about making money on Steemt" not decline rewards? Hypocrisy much?)
The headline says "Forget about making money on Steemit"
"For Now"
Kindly indulge me & read the whole post, please.
Thank you for participating in this conversation, @smooth
So, how about declining rewards "For Now"?
Actually I don't really care. My downvote was based on concentrated whale voting and had nothing to do with your "Forget about making money" comment, I just thought it was ironic. I don't see anything wrong with you making money on Steemit, even now, as long as it isn't excessive due to a few whales making high power votes on one unexceptional (sorry) post.
a bit please vote for me :D I will frame your votes every time :D of course I hope smooth doesn't straighten them out :D
Here we go again, @j3dy, one more custodian of the platform.
Introducing serial downvoter, @endgame
hummm what do you mean? is it about me or is it about another "spam asshole" don't worry yeah skeptic tank I mean septic tank :| this is bs mate, I'm not sure what the answer is, they are already with their minds made up, might be right for all I care. It's normal to have a disconnect I guess. Conflicts are natural and losers are natural. Especially here, it's the platform it's not anyone's fault :D And with the disregard it was bound to happen I'm not sure but thanks for bringing it up :|
Nested
Certainly not about you, @j3dy
You have been very helpful & constructive.
So, am I the battlefield in a whale war? @smooth @smooth.witness @smooth-e
How would a newbie with a tender skin react?
It's nothing to do with war. Everyone has a say, every one can vote.
If you see this as a war.. yes you have the right to have your opinion.
Potential Payout $9.79
in 27 days
Bump
Don't you think this post is helpful? at least to the newbies that expect a huge payout because they've seen a video or something, I have to say I've missed out on the 7k payouts and have done much more than one post for it. I don't care much about payouts, I know that if everybody does well w will all benefit and profit so it's a snowball, but at least don't support the disregard of 200 votes, at least this post has received 1000 views, and 500 votes, if people downvote for profit distribution, it really looks like a flag war and the newbies suffer mostly, why should 50 people vote for 10 cents and then a whale downvote to - 5 usd :D a bit harsh. Still it's a discussion worth having on the moderation on post payout. Anyways when posts were making 7k or 16k nobody was there to pump them back down to 50$ it's a bit too ridiculous in my mind.
Of course, @abit
A little context, though
Throw, possibly automated, @smooth-e & @smooth.witness into the mix, as well.
Even for my AdWords customers, I've never gone this granular, @abit
Downvoted. This is an empty cheerleading garbage post that asks users to turn off cricital thinking and treat being a part of steem like being in a cult.
this is particularly vomit inspiring.
You are entitled to your opinion, of course, but it isn't necessary to be so rude.
Thank you for stopping by.
So, how do you invest, thinking crtically, as you say @sigmajin eschewing ad hominem & ad nauseam
A tit-for-tat would be downvoting you, @sigmjin
What goes around can come around, @sigmajin
The way, I disagree with someone else's opinion on Steemit is by expressing my opinion, not downvoting them or emotionally bursting out. I understand that this is also an unwritten @Steemit ethic. To each his own, I suppose.
Feel free. Ive been downvoted by the biggest whales on steemit at times, and i still vote/speak my mind.
Empty hype and informercial style spam posts hurt the credibility of the platform, especially when theyre supported by large stakeholders who ought to know better (i mean seriously guys). Theyre a significant part of the reason why we are where we're at now. And btw, no thats not ad hominem. And no its not emotional. And no its not bursting out. Its calling a bad post thats, frankly, part of the problem, out for what it is. If an opinion is actual opinion, rebuttal is useful. If the opinion is empty hype, it should be criticized for what it is. A lords prayer style pledge of loyalty to and faith in whales does not merit rebuttal.
Im also not sure how the kus-kee post is relevant to my reply.
Edit to add -- also describing people who think there is a problem on steemit with recognizing and rewarding quality content as "congential whingers
(spelling corrected)" is an ad hominem attack if ever there was one.edit to add: Initially corrected OP's use of the word "whinger" as I assumed it was "whiner" misspelled. It turns out, its a real word. British, But real nonetheless.
Sometimes we need some brain washing as well ;)
lol. well said
Let the community weigh in on the invective & ad hominem, as well @abit & @sigmajin
Nobody asked me to write this post.
whinged, whing·ing, whing·es Chiefly British.
thats redonkulous. but ok you got me on that one. Leave it to the british to salt my game.
redonkulous.
Yeah nice way to smack down people to reality. :) Now we are going to feed on whale bones :D
I do agree with you actually thanks for making that point, got me out of the loop of thinking that I should pray to somebody :D still the analogy is a good one, but I wouldn't expect archangels on here and making blockchains :D and referencing the boil the crabs analogy as a good thing :D(ok carry them in the bucket and let the top slide off) in the white paper.
Right you are after all Cheers for the reasoning :)
Take it easy.
People have the right to downvote.
Forget the money.
lol money. Even on a trending post, i doubt my dv is worth more than a couple cents. Its more of a statement.
Of course, free speech @abit
Does it include abuse too on Steemit?
@ebryans handled a vehement disagreement with my opionion quite differently.
Or a statement of suggested behaviour? @sigmajin
btw millions have been made an millions have been taken out, I remember a post showing just that a 4:1 ratio of powered down to earned in the platform. All the problems @sigmajin stated are there and aren't being accounted for. Those are some of the main points haunting the system and ned and dan are pretty much ghosts at this point, so when they are needed the most, they are hard forking :D
Also the lack of conversation isn't helping, I havent seen ned or dan active since I got here, there is the occasional interview, but nothing to pump up the hype like the previous year. No big commitments, no nothing, just deadlines, and shuffles, it's a social experiment for me at best at this point that is, and many of the startups here have whooshed off finding their hopes dismantaled. I remember a post like a tweet more like from ned and that's it hes like a celebrity in shooting, spotted aaand hes gone :)
We need to talk for sure :)
Btw what about this :)
https://steemit.com/steemit/@doitvoluntarily/every-one-of-us-can-help-steemit-to-grow
I think you can be a good PR for Steemit, Inc the company. Please consider contact @ned if you have interest but haven't done that.
Thank you, @abit
Of course, I am interested. What's the best way to make contact?
@ned @dan @dantheman
@nigelmarkdias I believe you can find contact info here: https://steemit.com/@steemitjobs . Not all positions are posted there.
Thank you, @abit
Exactly what abuse do you see? I saw a bad post, i pointed out it was bad (and why) and i voted accordingly.
Don't agree with your conclusion, @sigmajin but, you brought out some interesting points in a constructive way in this particular comment.
Therefore, upvoted that particular comment. Having said that:
Would like to thank you, sigmajin
Your enthusiasm has given me some ideas for some fresh posts.
To start with, id ask myself if maybe there's a reason, aside from being born petty and motivated by greed, that the whingers (should not be a word) for whom you have so much contempt maybe have a reason for their dissatisfaction.
On a platform where one of the biggest problems is that it leaks userbase like a sieve, don't you think just attributing dissatisfaction to bad genetics is maybe just a little counter productive.
then maybe rethink statements like this
because aside from being patently false, its more than a little insulting to people who bought in (rather than ninja mined their way in) and have taken a bath since.
Then maybe rethink statements like this:
Because its also patently untrue. The people on the ground floor were ninjas. And dan wrote a blog post about how clever it was to keep most people off of the ground floor. At best, ned and dan invited any investor to join on the second floor. An invitation the acceptance of which resulted in a pretty significant payday.
Which is the fundamental problem with your whole thesis. You want users to stick around and accept not making a profit during what you represent as a nascent period of corporate development where no profit is realized by the organization at all, but whats really a period where significant profit is realized by a very few, at the expense of most users participating for free.
Of course, its upto you to opine on whether you feel a post is good or bad.
Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder :)
Starting from the top, I asked
What would you advise to "think critically" about investing?
btw millions have been made an millions have been taken out, I remember a post showing just that a 4:1 ratio of powered down to earned in the platform. All the problems @sigmajin stated are there and aren't being accounted for. Those are some of the main points haunting the system and ned and dan are pretty much ghosts at this point, so when they are needed the most, they are hard forking :D
Also the lack of conversation isn't helping, I havent seen ned or dan active since I got here, there is the occasional interview, but nothing to pump up the hype like the previous year. No big commitments, no nothing, just deadlines, and shuffles, it's a social experiment for me at best at this point that is, and many of the startups here have whooshed off finding their hopes dismantaled. I remember a post like a tweet more like from ned and that's it hes like a celebrity in shooting, spotted aaand hes gone :)
We need to talk for sure :)
Btw what about this :)
https://steemit.com/steemit/@doitvoluntarily/every-one-of-us-can-help-steemit-to-grow
Holy Upvote Father steem and the Resteem in between I mean the Spirit yeah holy everything and don't mention the name in vain. I guess I agree with you, but it's still a valid point with all the growing concerns and divides.
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Resteemed... and excellent article!
I came to Steemit completely by accident (through someone's Facebook share of an article ON Steemit that had nothing to DO with Steemit) and ended up getting involved because I could see its potential as a way to rekindle "social blogging" which was VERY popular 10-15 years ago. I like what I have found here-- especially the active community and that's why I am staying. Neither my arrival, nor my decision to stay have anything to do with money.
Which is not to say that I don't have my reservations about the rewards side of the equation... ANY site that offers rewards to its users opens the door for those who'll try almost anything to game the system for personal gain in the short term, with utter disregard for the fact that they just shot the goose that's laying golden eggs.
Thank you, @denmarkguy
Do all social network users seek rewards?
My theory is that all users of any social network seek rewards, overtly or covertly.
Covert rewards
Till Steemit, the social networks rewarded users covertly by taking their users on one big ego joyride. The rewards system is covert & opaque. As long as the social can enhance narcissistic behaviour, they can focus on "monetizing" users, incuding content providers, without compensating them in cash or kind. e.g. Facebook ramps it up by enhancing Facebook likes to Facebook reactions.
I've succumbed to coveting the enagagement that my youngest daughter gets on anything that she posts on Instagram, even in private mode.
On LinkedIn, the professional network, how many people have read my article there?
The social networks having caught on very early, have ridden the wave of users getting an ego kick out of the system. For users, the next step is to "game' it as you say. In another context, pertaining to peer approval Nassim Nicolas Taleb covers this is great detail. So the cat & mouse game ensues.
Overt rewards
Steemit, on the other hand transparently rewards content authors & creators. This is broadcast upfront.
Yes, you're right , @denmarkguy there wil be gamers.
Resteemed! :)
Thank you, @mallorcaman
Grade A quality content, by the way I sent your prize for your story entry. Have a great day!
Thank you, once again, @mallorcam
This is quite honestly one of the best posts I've read in a long time. Resteemed. I really like your advice about what kind of steemit content to post on other social media sites like Facebook.
Thank you, @stellabelle
Been following you around Steemit. Your 'Steemit' posts have helped me a great deal.
that's good to hear.....thanks for letting me know.
I am a big fan of the cross posting idea. That's just good SEO plain and simple. There is no reason why Steemit would be any different. In fact some of my highest paid posts came from posts that were originally on my own blog. My thought is, that even though the payouts of 100s to 1,000s of dollars has gone away, a few dollars a week is better than zero dollars a week.
Yes, @mctiller
Cross post: Post on more sites, more backlinks
Great post! I fully agree,
Thats why when my posts only make a couple dollars I'm still happy. Because I can power it up and slowly grow it.
With all the changes, I feel as an investor Steemit Is a place to be. And I like to think that this will be one of my best decisions at this age!
I started on here last year in June. So I've had those "1000 dollar posts" .
I gotta admit, I miss those days, They felt absolutely incredible. But what we are doing now, By staying powered up will probably be worth a hell of a lot more than 1000. We might see some people have MILLIONS. Later down the road!
Your so right !! And i hope im one of those million dollar people ! Im totally powering up !👍😉
I see you've been drinking the KOOl-Aid! Me too....
Thank you, @kaylinart
You were one of the first people I followed on Steemit.
I came in back in late June 2016, got like a few hundred off my first post and I couldn't believe I managed to amass quite a lot in such a small time-frame during the early days. Back then if I could liquidate everything when it was 4 USD, I would have bagged like 90 Bitcoins (back when it was sub-500). But nope, I powered-up everything and have not even clicked on power-down before. Just because it all seemed too much like easy money for me, no matter how valuable I think my writings are.
Did I regret not cashing out easy money? A little, as I look some of the early authors cashing out that sweet crypto while STEEM's price was plummeting. Personally I think 90 BTCs worth within 2 months just for blogging is too much by any standards. You'd be surprised that some early authors were complaining when their posts got into the region of 100s instead of 1000s lol. I've always been that way with money, much to the detriment of my financial life. Maybe I'm just naive for thinking that way lol.
It's actually getting a little disheartening since I've been seeing easy-money happening when I was employed as a sales engineer not wanting to deal with easy money (bribes are pretty common here). Could've just taken all my chances and life would've been easier lol.
But what I really hope is to see STEEM built on hard-work and cooperation - something with lasting value. And I can't possibly start to see change from happening if I don't do it myself. I'll grab the easy money only after if it feels justified :)
Thanks for the reminder, I barely existed anywhere online before Steemit so it still feel like too much hassle having multi-platforms. Plus it's kinda difficult since I write just about anything - not very good for a coherent social media presence..
Edit: just realised that its arguable that i couldve cashed out the easy money to spend on stuff to benefit the community. Oh well..
Thank you, @kevinwong
The diversity of your posts emboldened me not concentrate on one topic or subject, in an attempt to build a reputation for expertise in a specific domain on Steemit.
What a potent article! This is like a Steemit Hands-on Philosophy 101! GREAT JOB!!! Upvoted and resteemed too. Thanks a lots for all of us learn so much from this piece.
All for one and one for all! Namaste :)
Thank you, @eric-boucher
I've learned from you too, sir.