Engagement And Comments Are VITAL For Your Success
"We Can No Longer Reward Our Audience"
Many Steemians out there are skeptical, angry or concerned that HF21 killed engagement. That HF21 put the last nail in the "comment"-coffin. Many users are afraid that the social aspect of Steem came to an end after the new changes HF21 brought to the platform, and I was concerned in the beginning as well. Especially as an author who has focused on my own profile and my audience ever since I got here.
I used to upvote comments in an attempt to reward my audience with something. But I also did it in an attempt to show my appreciation and to show them that I was grateful. I always wanted to reward my audience, as I knew that they were likely to come back if they got something for it...
As someone who never cared much about curation rewards, this was a superb thing to do, but HF21 took that away from us. I can understand that people are concerned or discouraged after such a change, but this is literally the perfect opportunity for people to get recognition and to build their brand. We need to adapt.
Many people are likely to stop writing comments, as they aren't likely to be rewarded for it, so people eager to get more recognition and to build their presence will have a great chance to do it. And the chance will increase for each minute someone else stops to engage.
I know that it's hard to stay positive and to see the good when you feel overwhelmed by the bad and when you feel that you are being affected in a negative way "all the time", but there are good things that comes with it. It's only a matter of finding the good. It's about looking outside the box, or to see things from another perspective.
Another Perspective
Unfortunately, I can't show you any real statistics or in-depth details for this, so I will just try to state an example instead. Even though it might not be 100% accurate, it should give you a good idea of how you can take advantage of this.
Let's say that author X made a new post and this author usually got 50 comments from 50 unique users before HF21. If HF21 truly "killed engagement" like many claims it to have done, this same author should get far less comments after HF21.
So, for the sake of this example, let's say that this same author gets only 20 or 10 comments after HF21. That should be a decent number of comments if engagement and comments has been killed.
This basically means that the chances for this author to notice your comment has increased, and even if you don't receive an upvote for your comment, you have definitely increased your chances of getting a new follower and upvotes on your future content. As long as you don't write garbage-comments.
However, this doesn't stop at this specific author, as many authors are well-known and usually have some discussions within the comment section of their articles... So, you don't only increase your chances of exposure from this author, you increase your chances of gaining more followers and ultimately more upvotes in the future from many other authors as well.
Why Would That Happen?
Since HF21, people are looking for more high quality content to reward. We have more manual curation than before and people are eager to earn curation rewards, so they need more content to choose from.
If you put in hard work and time to build your presence and to get recognition and exposure, why wouldn't people reward you for your efforts? As long as you produce quality?
The short answer is, that they would reward you for it. But, no one will spend countless hours trying to find these "gems" out there, so if you engage, and write comments in an attempt to "build your own brand", you are more likely to be on the receiving-end of an upvote than others who doesn't put in the same amount of work.
“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!”
― Sylvester Stallone, Rocky Balboa
I have no plan to stop commenting, and I've seen the amount of comments on my posts grow. This isn't because of any financial reason, my audience has simply grow and my content has gotten better.
I never personally commented to get any payout on them. I simply wanted to start conversation. I see way too little "engagement" on posts, especially political posts. These should spark debate, discussion or at least memes.
I agree that it is up to the authors of the post to "reward" the commentators with at least a response or an upvote. Actually, a response is worth more to me than a vote.
Let's grow the platform by actually engaging here, not just posting your article or video and then wait for a payout. I see that as an issue with many of the "larger" content creators who have moved to Steem in response to some type of censorship elsewhere. I understand they might come here for the financial aspect (I see this being poo-pooed away by some who repeat the mantra that someone "shouldn't come to Steemit for money"), but engagement with their audience should be awarded by the audience.
Personally, I do not up-vote creators who do not engage with their audience as a general rule, no matter their size and scope on (or off) the platform.
Haha, yeah. I usually avoid political posts. Politics is usually a bad subject for me. lol
It seems like many of the "famous youtubers" etc. are using Steem only to wait for rewards with slim to none interaction or engagement between the payouts. That is very unfortunate and I usually don't support that type of behaviour, even if I like the content. I think the social aspect of Steem is very important, so I can't support that type of behaviour. It doesn't feel good... But I also think that #newsteem might have a positive impact on these things too, with time.
This is exactly what I believe. By not providing these creators with your upvote automatically, it shows them that without being part of the community (and helping to grow it), the rewards aren't there.
The market needs to show its power and not jump on a bandwagon just because someone is "famous" and we're excited to see a big name here.
I don't think a downvote campaign or anything is the solution though, just simply not giving your vote.
Well said!
I do think that downvotes can be used to change peoples behaviour, which is a good thing... But I also think that people should avoid the "bandwagon"-thing. I think it's equally important to downvote certain type of behaviour as it is to not reward someone.
Like you said, we shouldn't reward people just because they are famous outside of Steem. I don't see anything wrong with rewarding these people early on though, just to make them comfortable and to ensure that they will stay on Steem... But I think it's a very stupid idea to continue to reward them just for content. We need them to engage and promote Steem in case they want to keep the rewards.
I've seen famous people arrive, make a few posts, not engage with commenters, or comment on other posts, then give up and drift away.
If celebrities can't succeed here without commenting, what chance do any of us have?
That's a very good point, but it still feels like comments in general has decreased, and the biggest reason for that is most likely that they aren't being rewarded anymore.
I've stopped upvoting all but the best comments. All but the very best ones are going to languish on the flat side of the curve. That said, as you've mentioned; there's less competition for eyeballs now, so gaining followers from insightful comments should be adequate compensation.
Yeah, I think so too. I think the #newsteem approach and mindset is legit and good so far, so I just hope it continues like this.
A lot of times I hesitate to comment on something partly because I don't really have much to say about the post. If I read it and like it, I vote on the post but seldom comment. This is especially true on something like photography and art which I enjoy looking at but don't really have much to say about. It feels like comments like, "Looks good!" or "I like it!" sometimes even cause the author to get a bit jaded and don't add much to the post if the motivation for leaving such comments is not clear.
As an author I have even seen people leave really positive comments yet not even vote for the post or leave such a small vote with low steem power that you wonder about the intention of them. (I think a lot of this type of thing could be the result of automated processes, or misunderstanding how things work.)
In any case I do enjoy commenting and engaging with others a lot more than I did initially and the recent changes haven't really changed my behavior much.
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I have never commented to score an upvote, nor will I do this after HF21. Not that I do mind receiving an upvote for a genuine comment.
Leaving a comment behind is in my opinion the best reward for an author. This means that the post has been read. Which isn't a guarantee when getting an upvote!
I decided to go back to the basics. I have no believe anymore that a big account will discover my blog after HF21, just like they didn't before HF21. I did write for a year and a half, almost daily. I do admit that not all post are great posts, but I do consider the quality of most of them above PAR.
So, I will decrease the number of posts that I will write and produce more comments to reward others.
I do know that this is a bad decision because I am not only missing out on a steem per day, but also I will be missing the opportunity to earn some tokens.
But as long as I enjoy myself I will continue!
Have some !BEER
Cheers,
Peter
I still will keep on blogging just not as frequent anymore.
I have never done any major "vote-fishing" either. I have never made comments in an attempt to score a bunch of upvotes or to get larger accounts to follow me. I honestly think it's kind of lame, even more so as many of the larger accounts seems to reward that sort of behaviour. I don't like that.
I have obviously been thankful if and when I have received upvotes for my comments, but I know many other Steemians out there who has earned more by writing comments than articles, so I feel bad for them. These changes affects them in a very negative way, and that's why I try to point out things that actually might benefit them in the long haul.
I'm one of the biggest human commenters on Steem and I don't plan to stop. I'm not too worried about losing rewards, for that, but I appreciate it was a nice extra income for many. I would only give a couple of cents for a comment, but that takes too much voting power now.
I would hope people will continue to comment as that has value for me. I will still give votes on the best comments or even !BEER. The social aspect of Steem is vital to me.
I've never been able to give someone more than just a few cents due to my stake, but I loved to reward my audience with something. I don't vote on comments after HF21, but I try to reply to everyone, (except for spam). However, one or two cents made a difference for many users, so it's unfortunate to see that they are being affected in a negative way. Like you, I think the social aspect is vital, which is also why I try to stay positive and come up with things that will and can benefit us.
In some cases I will go looking for a post by that user to vote up, but there is not always time for that.
That is very true, but we also often get to know people and become aware of people's existence through the comment section, which is why I want people to continue to engage. I can see how it will benefit people in the long haul, even after HF21.
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Hello dear friend @hitmeasap.
I have seen many behaviors of users who were "hunting" posts to leave comments and get upvotes. Generally these would be empty comments. I consider these are embarrassing actions.
However, I know many users who care about making quality comments and who really provide debate content.
I honestly enjoy the exchange of ideas in the comments. This ends the speaker's privileged position that must be heard but not criticized.
Comments are part of the publication itself. They complement it. And sometimes important points can be addressed that could be omitted by the author of the post.
I have always been a participant in voting for comments, it is as supportive support to my followers and at the same time it is a way of showing them that I really value their opinion. With the entry into force of HF21 the amount of comments in my publications has not decreased, this demonstrates the level of commitment of my dear followers to whom I always thank and give so much support. I have chosen to assign Bounty to my publications as a way of retribution.
All best, Piotr.
👍
~Smartsteem Curation Team
🙏