Reality Check, the Game & Crowd Behavior - My Analysis and Proposed Solution to My Dear FollowerssteemCreated with Sketch.

in #steemit7 years ago (edited)

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I’m just going to post this once and for all. I know that it is not usual for me to write anything outside the travel category but I just feel like I have to write and share this to my followers. This is by the way based on my own experience and observation in the past 2 months.

As you can see, I’ve been writing nonstop about my travel, including tips, places I’ve been to, social and other controversial issues and some lessons I’ve learned. Fearless and unstoppable! During the past few weeks, I get to know the game and the reality here in steemit, and below are just my personal analysis and observation. You can always correct me if I’m wrong, agree or disagree, but please read before you yell! There’s no room for selective reading here for now.

It's not you, it’s the system

If you’ve been wondering why your posts are not getting any new upvotes, or you’re not getting any new followers after having written for hours what you think is good quality content, don’t feel bad. Because it’s not you, it’s the system.

Steemit is still in beta and obviously still has a lot to improve. There are new users every day who are lured here for the money, stay for the community thing. Some are beggars, some are really talented writers, some are spammers, some are just going with the flow, some are investors, some want a quick way to make money, some have nothing else to do in life and some are just trolls imported here from Youtube/Facebook. Basically, all people from all walks of life!

So as Steemit grows, more and more new users push your content down to the bottom once posted on the new tab. That means within the first few seconds, your content has already been swallowed by the quicksand.

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But wait, there’s still a little bit of chance for your content to be seen there. Once posted, you’ll see your content for a while on the new tab, especially if you still haven’t refreshed your browser. It makes you feel like you’re at the top for a moment. Just savor it.

Now, out of those thousands of online users, there happened to be a big guy who was on the same page. But maybe he went to the bathroom or went to the kitchen to get some coffee. Then he went back to his computer and voila! Your content was still on his screen.

2 Realities:

  1. He might have noticed the catchy title such as – My new gaming rig, DIY BTC mining machine, or some other technical stuff, oh it does not have to be technical too. It can be any controversial topic or any unique content that interests him. He will open your article and there, you get his precious upvote!

  2. He was too busy to notice that your post didn’t attract him at all, so he just went back to his feed and moved on with his steemit life.

They don’t usually comment, they feel like action speaks louder than words. Don’t expect them to follow you too. You’ll just notice that you’ve been upvoted by one of the big guys when you see them reigning the upvotes’ drop-down.

Don’t bet on it!

The reality is, if you have like $20++ worth of self-upvote, then that already secured your post on the top of the hot tab for the first 3 hours. However, the reality is you don’t have, yet?

Booster/Whale Bots

I’ve been writing here for a while now because I enjoy it. And also I want to make some money, aren’t we all here? In the end, it’s still better to write here and make a few cents than start from scratch by creating a new blog. Google Adsense won’t even give you $1 in a month unless you are a very popular travel blogger.

So I’ve been writing for a while and not noticing these bid bots that can give a post some boost. Until I’ve noticed some of my followers using this randowhale or minnowbooster thing. So I took my time to read about them and gave them a try. That solves the problem #1 a little bit, not having enough steem power yet to propel yourself to the hot tab. Though, I honestly feel like self-upvote is like those shameless selfies on Instagram and Tinder (which I really hate), like gotta lure 'the men', ha!

But times are hard, and there are some people out there who deserve to read your posts or you have messages you need to get out there. You deserve at least some minimum hourly wage, but unfortunately, the system is not working in your favor.

But you can’t depend on the whales all the time, as @allcapsonezero stated on his post about investing in steem power, 'they have too many mouths to feed'.

So be the whale and help yourself instead.

Thanks to the booster bots, it can give you the illusion that you’re a whale.

Thanks to minnowsupport it also gives you the illusion that you have a lot of upvotes, and that people really read your post.

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It’s about the first 3 hours

So you invested some money in your posts that you think will 'make it' (attract upvotes, resteems, new followers etc.). But it’s always about the first 3 hours. If you’ve gotten yourself at least $10 within the first 10 minutes, that means you got yourself a little bit of exposure up to the hot tab, which I believe where some readers go to check some good posts to upvote, just when they are about to get ‘hotter’. Because upvoting posts past 30 minutes will give them some good curation reward. Chances are, you’ll probably get more than $10 within those 3 hours (depends on your content too). If you make it to $50 in about 2 hours, then you’re still gonna be there on the hot tab. Congratulations, you have retained your spot! Now, you’re getting a lot of comments and some more upvotes.

Your content is getting hotter and is probably past the $50 mark now, more comments coming, they are noticing your content now. Expect to be resteemed (another return on investment).

But I admit that there are few readers out there who really dug you somewhere, from being resteemed by another user or from one of those tags.

Either your post will make it to the trending page or not, that is if you got past the $100 mark, so wish upon a star! If your topic is really good, then perhaps it will make more. However, there might be bigger hands controlling everything, so your payout might stop at $50 after 3 hours, and that’s it, sadly, your post is now old.

You made it!

But don’t be sad, because you’ve already made some money, you might lose a bit because STEEM value is getting low these days, but anyway you have new followers now. Some people saw the value in what you write. And the good thing is, if you have used the not so saturated tags visible on the home page, such as –Freedom, Photo, Animals, etc., expect to see a couple of your posts on the trending page of these tags. Some of you might even have found me through this way?

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Within the first 2 days, your post might still be here! And that means, there might be readers out there who really take their time to find people to follow. You’ll know when you start getting comments out of nowhere, still getting resteemed, and you’re still getting new followers.

All in all, those whalebots and steem power are a good investment in terms of promotion, getting organic followers, increasing your reputation as a writer and of course, money, in my humble opinion.

Other Realities and the Game

If you get past the 50+ reputation score by consistently writing quality content, blood, sweat, tears and all, then it means you have higher chances now of getting clicked. If you’re writing just to have some fun and post whatever stuff, don’t worry but persist! It might just take a year to make some money and increase your rep score.

As you all know, most of the first batch from last year have 60+ reputation score now and some of their followers have evolved to big fishes, some made earlier realization and had become whales. So you might be wondering why when they post, a few upvotes within the first 10 minutes and they already made $30+, it’s either their Steem Power or their whale followers who have been supporting them all this time.

There’s also probably some sub network of high-powered and high-ranking individuals supporting each other too.

If you have exposed your nationality, you tag your country, and you happen to be a part of the big population, then you might get some big support too. You might even make it to the trending page of that country tag.

People like to conform and go with the popular thing. Steemians are people and not machines anyway, so they get to show the same behavior in real life. People like to make a bit of money from your posts, people like to flood your comments after seeing your wallet, people like to clap for the wrong reasons, people like to go with the flow, people like to beg, you know – all types of people! And sometimes I can tell when some people unfollowed me because I didn’t follow them back. But of course, there are also a lot of people who really read your posts and follow you for what you write.

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You’re not gonna get 100% upvote from the whales all the time, for the reason - too many mouths to feed. If there’s anything, it should be them first, pretty understandable!

I have a slider now but I don’t use it. I don’t have a lot of steem power yet, so it doesn’t make sense to give anyone any <100% of my upvote. I think that even if I have a lot of steem power anyway, I’d rather not upvote or I’ll just limit myself to 11 upvotes (SP limit) per day than devalue someone’s post.

So don’t even think that I have forgotten you all! When I have some extra SBD, I might have already given some of you some @lovejuice and @bellyrub here and there! Your post does not have to be long and glamorous though, it’s just when I feel your post is beneficial, interesting, entertaining, and providing some value. It does not matter if it’s your day with your dog, your artwork, another one of your ramblings or anything. It’s just sometimes I like to 'pay it forward'. Making a bit of money for myself makes me happy, but making others happy makes me feel happier!

The Solution

  1. Continue the hardwork, write and build your portfolio, eventually you’ll get some big followers. (But don’t depend on them!)
  2. Power up, forget about the 'take the money and run'. Write good content, put it to 100% steem power then boost it. You’re on your own now, so be the whale!
  3. A quicker way is to invest some money in steem power (at your own risk), if you really believe in the platform and you see that this is one way to escape the negative work environment, free yourself from corporate slavery, get your money out of state control and perhaps even travel while you work.
  4. Support each other. Most of my followers here started the same month as I did, or this year’s batch, and probably some of them will be whales by next year, and steemit might have grown bigger that time (let’s hope for the best!). And it might take time for each of us to make some money and put some worth on our upvote. But then again, let’s just enjoy the ride!
  5. The hard way – just enjoy what you’re doing and don’t be discouraged. Perhaps stay away from the trending page and all the negativity. Mind your own business, support your followers. Just continue writing and maybe the rest will follow.

Image Credits 1, 2 , 3, 4


Before following me, please check my previous posts. I usually write about my travels or whatever my distorted mind has to offer. If you follow me and you're not really interested with that, then you'll only be disappointed! Unfollow @diabolika

Thanks to my 591 followers, curators and steemit friends, you know who you are.

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It's a good read, quiet inspirational.


I'm not really sure if the hot, trending and promoted tabs add anything, though.

Personally I ever now and again look at the hot tab, but the others are a complete waste of time in my opinion. You'll almost always see the same names, nothing really changes there.

But you are right, it all comes down to hard work and perseverance, some posts get a lot of votes, although they seem completely useless to me. Mostly due to a large group of followers, that will upvote anything.

Let's also not forget that commenting on posts can add a lot to one's rep and visibility. In some cases you can even make more money by just commenting, than by creating a well-written post.
Because a comment is (usually, most of the time not for me) a quick and short reply, you can do a lot more in less time. It's a numbers game after all.

A welcome addition would be to have multi-language support. If I don't see all the posts in languages I cannot read and am not interested in, that will remove some of the clutter.

But as you said, it's still in beta (feels more like alpha at times), let's hope we'll be able to see some big steps in the (near) future.

I'm not really sure if the hot, trending and promoted tabs add anything, though.

You get new followers, you get big upvotes through this way. It's about exposure.

Because a comment is (usually, most of the time not for me) a quick and short reply, you can do a lot more in less time. It's a numbers game after all.

Totally agree, engaging comments get upvotes too!

Personally I ever now and again look at the hot tab, but the others are a complete waste of time in my opinion. You'll almost always see the same names, nothing really changes there.

This post aims to help my followers make the change .

If you don't believe, then watch this post after 3 hours lol. Things can be a bit predictable sometimes.

LOL, you're still on the Hot section, but down to page 13 by now. But it's 4 hours now, so I'm a bit late.

Don't get me wrong, but you've already managed to grow quite rapidly. Which is great work, but that also makes it easier to end up in the hot or trending tab.

I completely understand what you're trying to do here, don't take my comments as criticism.

It's just my own experience I'm voicing here, and I am not so arrogant to think I'm very different from the majority of people.

It is a real shame we have no reports about the views on the different tabs, that would help to determine how important it is to be in one or the other tab.

Guess we'll just have to wait for the communities, see which changes those introduce.

Really? I don't even check the hot tab these days if I'm still there. Though, I get to check 'Freedom', 'Animals', 'Nature' trending page sometimes, and I was a little bit below those popular bloggers there lol.

I'm also not very different from the majority, but I try to help as much as I can, especially to fellow writers. I've read a lot of really good posts of my followers and I just want them to make a decision for what's best for them.

Anyway, the writers help the investors in return by providing good content to keep the platform (safe for their money), and the investors are helping the writers by promoting their posts (not just monetary reward). So if I have the choice atm, I will invest straight away. It's win-win for everyone.

Let's wait, what's gonna change in the upcoming months.

I go to the new tab more than trending. I like to see if I can give some minnows a bit of encouragement. And, I find some great people to follow.

I'd love some encouragement, don't be shy ROTFLOL.

Yeah, that is nice. New tab should not be ignored. It is where we can discover great talents.

Me too, I even have to scroll really down sometimes and just write some comment.

Funny, I was thinking about writing something similar today.

I would see myself as a mix of an investor and a rambler.
I have started steemit as a dolphin but without any following or experience how to create one.

I think most of my posts make around 1$ (if I extract the investment for randwhale and minnowbooster and my own vote). But I had some luck a few times and got a whale vote and after that my post recieved way more attention, even my posts arent really that well written or thought through. ( I am writting longer on this comment now as on many posts)

And yes you are absolutly right you need votes with some SP behind it to make it into hot and/or the bots.

So my opinion as an investor: I want to make SBD and SP. That means
a) I make 10 posts interact with no one and just upvote myself
b) only curate
c)do a mix of both (this is what I am doing atm)

Option c) brings me some fun. It brings me connections and hopfully upvotes, comments for my posts. I enjoy reading other peoples posts and reward them for it and I also gain from this.

I think going for the Dolphins is the way to go. They dont have so many followers yet and they can still interact with you. If you show conintues support they will give back. I havent really done that yet but I think this is a good approach to make money here.
That doesnt mean you can write shit and hope for votes but you get noticed quicker by the Doplhins. At least this is what I think. ( this is no advertising for me)

But as you said steemit is not a get rich quick scheme. It provides a good oppurtunity for your investmant but nothing comes free. Give and you shall recieve. Make friends and work and grow together and have some patience.

I like you still use Steemit-Friend ;-)

on another note I have seen that people use the source for their images more often. Is this advised to do? Could there be legal issues otherwise?

Oh I forgot to mention one more upside of the bots is that they boost your reputation also.

I agree @flipstar and I was about to ask you about investing in steem power just like you and my few steemit friends here. I'm not gonna mention their names or some spammers will flood their posts. But I'll probably do some sp investment too later...

For now, I'll just do some power ups on my post. I invest in bots some money like sometimes more than 10 SBD to booster, so now I only post 1x a day but it must be super good and super quality. I will put money on my post if I believe that it will really attract some attention or followers. It's a gamble maybe, it also depends on my judgment. The return will be more my SP, new followers and increasing rep. Not bad! So yeah, I learned!

Like you, in the future if I get to invest some money and acquire more sp through writing, I will not just upvote myself. It is nice to interact, it's lonely talking to ourselves out there. Besides the psychology of happiness, you become happier if you help others/make others happy. The return will be 10 fold to you.

This is the first time I've read a long comment from you lol. I will upvote this later, I'm still regenerating.

In the end, it's only gonna be just us supporting each other here. So forget about the rest, the trending page etc.., it's about us trying to give ourselves hopefully a better future here?

I have seen that people use the source for their images more often.

Not sure what you mean, but you know me, I usually use my own images but some posts like this, I'm not gonna put my photos on the beach all the time lol.

Put the image source always to be safe. There are free images that can be used according to FAQ, put the source links on the post. Sometimes I use free wallpapers too as images on my posts and put the source links. Anyway, the images are free to use.

are you on the steemit chat? we can have a talk there if you like?

Ok, I'll just finish my lunch... If you are still there.

Great post. I happened to stumble on it before it slid down too far. Thank you for sharing.

Wow, thanks!

power up sis! gotta always push for that in the steem community. hope you're well!

Yeah, doing it now! I hope you're well too. :)

Upvoted. I'm going to resteem this now :)

Thank you! :)

Thanks for the article and photos. Great read!
I appreciate if you follow me!

Yep, you are right about the first 10-30 mins.

Sent 3 more bots your way... :)

Hahaha, you see what I mean lol. Thank you! 😍

They should be arriving soon!

and yeah, i'd make nothing without the bots - some argue they will kill the program, i dunno.

One of the bosses has aired his displeasure by downvoting the randowhale creator, can't say for sure if it's due to randowhale in particular though.

If you use Booster, randowhale, minnowsupport, minnowbooster, discordia, bellyrub, lovejuice, and delegate steempower to muxxybox, for a 5SBD investment, you post will be worth 8-10. You take 75% of the posts value, so without other votes (like from Trafalgar and frystrikken !), you make about $2 :)

Kill the program? What can we do, there might big hands controlling which posts will make it to the trending page, or not even that, which posts will make some money. It's not about the content anymore these days, imo. So yeah, we'll just gonna support one another here.

So instead of us complaining about the others, the bots became the solution or the investment for us down here. So never mind what they say, we work hard here.

Thanks for the tip! :)

Beep beep. Hi @abh12345! I am @tipU - a service designed to make sending tips super easy.
I also share my profits with the users ;) Click here if you wish to learn more!

Yeah i'm with you. I've selected around 20 people to make sure i support whenever they post. Most are around my 'level' so it feels like i'm growing with them. All you need is a loyal bunch of 20/30 followers and the bots and slowly but surely, you'll get there.

Plus with super content (like yours!), there's always the chance of fast-tracking it to stardom! :D

Without a few steemit friends supporting and following me here, my posts will all go down the drain.

fast-tracking it to stardom!

Hahaha, even so, no 5-star hotel here....

I like these friends you have, with 1 million SP!

Your posts deserve to be noticed though, good on ya :)

Thanks! I have a few here yeah, investors. But they followed me because of my posts. I can't mention all of their names, the spammers out there will flood their posts. You know - people! haha. But they comment from time to time. :)

I quite like your distorted mind. Great post and it seems like sound advice. At the end of the day it was always gonna be up to you to make anything a success. Don't depend on anybody.
And if you're not enjoying it here then you're just replacing one dreary job with another so what's changed? There's no such thing as easy money.

Another bot to remember is @promoted. Just promote your post with 0.01 SBD - 10 SBD and it will upvote you (it claims immediately but it takes longer sometimes).

Thank you @rahvin84, yeah in the end it's all up to us, really. Back whatever you want with plans. ;)

Thanks for suggesting, I'll try that. ;)

Indeed. But act on those plans. Otherwise nothing happens.

I just tested the @promoted bot and it seems to be giving about 9 times the amount you burn at the moment. 0.01 resulted in a 0.09 boost. Next step is to see if you're limited to just one per post... I find that it helps while I have zero power to reward posts that I really like beyond just an upvote that at the moment gives no $$$.

I've done it for yours so don't chuck mega dollars into promoting this post in case there's a limit to once per post!

*edit. I'm an idiot. Of course it's only once per post. Bot can't upvote the same post twice (facepalm)

Is there like a maximum amount to put? Did you say immediately, like within 30 minutes at least? Now that I am investing in these bots to get my messages out there, I will only post 1x a day.

Look at @lovejuice below, @abh12345 and I did it for the same post.
@rahvin84

I've done it for yours so don't chuck mega dollars into promoting this post in case there's a limit to once per post!

Thanks! :)

@diabolika I had some lag when I promoted one of my posts two days ago but I've promoted two today and the bot upvoted within seconds.

According to the bot's creators you can use any amount between 0.001 and 10 SBD for between 0.01% and 100% upvote. If the same ratio of 9 to 1 holds then a 10 SBD promotion should net you $90 in the one upvote. The bot has about 110,000 steem power so it packs a punch. I'm still testing and will try with some bigger amounts once my next batch of rewards lands in the next few days.

Check out this post that explains it all

Oooo this sounds like a good investment. I gotta buy more steem power ;) . Thanks, this is really helpful for me as writer here. :)

I'll try it tomorrow. Following you back! :)

Update: I read it and yeah I get 100% upvote back for 10 sbd, straight away. And it gets burned. I just hope there would be more people to delegate sp on that bot!

This post received a 4.7% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @diabolika! For more information, click here!

This post has received a 26.25 % upvote from @lovejuice thanks to: @diabolika, @abh12345. They have officially sprayed their dank amps all over your post rewards. GOOD TIMES! Vote for Aggroed!