Sly's Stainless Steel Motivation for New Steemians

in #steem5 years ago (edited)

stallone-variety-story-2-16x9.jpg

So you just got your confirmation e-mail regarding your Steem account, you login through some of its various interfaces and you're prepared for your first blockchain post. Lets assume you haven't used a similar platform, for the sake of this blog post. You might have heard/read that writing an introductory post is the best way to start blogging in here, and it's definitely a great idea. Do that!

Right around the corner of your introductory post, there are people already waiting for you. Wait, what? Someone's waiting to welcome new users? Not exactly, but yeah, most of the new ones are welcomed to the community with comments and upvotes. Rarely do you get unnoticed, when you use the proper tags for your introduction post. It's a warm attitude coming from some of the old veterans of this platform and a way of advertising themselves as well. Don't be fool, it's not just about warm embraces and nice words. Yeah, advertising works for bloggers as well, and a "healthy blog" knows how to make itself known in this world.

Things aren't that simple though and after that first post you might find yourself rolling article after article, and post after post, with minimum attention towards them, or even none. Feels like all those that welcomed you in the introductory post, "with cookies and joy", have completely vanished from the platform. They aren't actually, they just are welcoming others fresh new comers, or just doing their thing around here. Now you're on your own and you have to find a way to attract their attention back to you again, and the attention of others as well. The more the better. BUT remember, that in the case of daily posts and quality attention, the more the better doesn't apply. I would say it's "the better they are, the more will come and consume your content". Throwing ten posts a day left and around not saying basically anything, but simply spamming, or even worse plagiarizing, won't set you on a pedestal

If you are someone like myself, you will find yourself running out of enthusiasm and positive vibe quite fast, when you are left all alone on this platform, and all that welcoming attention is gone. BUT it's perfectly fine. Don't quit, Stalone didn't quite either, after the first punch in Rocky. He just kept going further and that's his advice and stainless steel motivation for you, the one that I click baited you with to open this post. What did you expected? Some super secret potion formula, on how to make your blog "the Rambo of Steem". There isn't such thing...

blue-1845901_1280.jpg

I know that not every post that you will find on this platform is great, or at least worth your two minutes of read, but if you believe in your blog, and the content that you are sharing, you shouldn't be stopped by the dim light you currently run under. Most of the people that are... STILL, blogging around here after years and years, and thousands of posts, have gone through this phase as well. It takes a while to get attention and make yourself known on Steem, and I'm not talking rock star like @galenkp, but to somehow "earn your tribe" and not live a lone blockchain life, which in my opinion is very important.

That tribe is the confirmation for your blog, saying that it matters, and it's not just simply "matter on a block, in a chain". Don't get it twisted, this post, doesn't have the "secret potion" to make you a trending page regular hero either, or a SBD potato, but it's meant to take you out of the deception that you might encounter after a few weeks, or even months, of blogging...pretty much for yourself. I know that on my own. In my first two-three weeks in here, I was basically blogging for ghosts, almost no votes, and the ones that I would get were plankton like myself, and in terms of engagement I was very often the target of "nice post sir" spammers, and that was pretty much it.

It's not that now I've become a great blogger, or that I have attained anything spectacular, but I haven't quit either, and by doing that, I discovered that Steem is far from perfect, but it holds in its womb, quite some nice hives/communities and some nice dudes and gals, which are definitely worth the time spent online, in what I call the new social media. I don't own a Fakebook account, although I did for many years, I am using twitter though, but neither ever had or has the amount of attention that I give to this platform and my blog. It's really one of a kind, and your experience on it can be frustrating in the beginning, when you don't have anyone to introduce you to the world and help you make connections, but keep moving forward. People will come on your way...

moving-forward-4777506_1280.jpg

Well, if you start posting bullshit, or behave rude, they will leave as they came, but if you are a nice guy/gal, and that little thing that you share is, to say the least funny, many will stay. People are made for communities and love hanging around, online communities are increasing by the day, and Steem makes no exception for that matter, so why quit too soon. Trust me, you will regret it. Instead, I would recommend any new user to continue sharing whatever he/she feels like, as long as it's not spamming or plagiarizing, and most importantly to engage with others sharing similar passions or opinions.

Quite often engagement is much more important, and productive at the same time, than just simply posting two times a day, and do the lone wolf walk. I know that from my own experience. In the beginning I was too busy posting three or four times a day, that I wasn't reading any post or commenting on others posts. My engagement was null, and pretty much the same was my progress as well. It's logical though, that when you talk to people, they will come and talk to you too, and sometimes will follow you, and before you know it you have upvotes and comments for every post of yours, and the world doesn't seem cold and cruel anymore. Moreover, as a new user, be happy you haven't been around in the time of paid upvotes saga and fake boosting, twisting your mind on what the trends really are, because you would have probably left the platform easily, like many did.

Many did so, due to low attention towards their blogs, and I can say I understand them. I haven't left though and preferred "the organic growth", because I didn't agree in paying bots, which I actually respected, and kept going further. Now the platform is cleaner in my opinion, and it's even easier to get noticed, than it was two years ago, especially if you have something interesting to share, but in the beginning you'll probably have a few hills to climb, till you get on the highway, cruising along others.

The main idea is to not get diluted over time. If you were excited about Steem, when you first heard of it and joined it, keep that excitement in an envelope and whenever feel like walking in a ghost town, open the envelope. Sooner or later, folks will come your way, upvotes will pour on your posts, and people will engage with you, as long as you pretty much do the same. No matter what, don' quit. It's simply not worth it, for what Steem is as a project. Even if you don't have time to blog for hours a day, there's appics that can help you keep in touch with just a pic and a few phrases, dtube and threespeak to offer you a vlogging opportunity, on the run, and so on.

The first steps will for sure be shy, for most of you new ones, but as long as you keep that excitement envelope near you and you have in mind Stalone's piece of advice, you will find a nice virtual world in here. Patience, determination, and an open mind coupled with beautiful ideas and words, won't let you ride alone in here. You just have to...keep moving forward.

Source of images: 1, 2 and 3

Thanks for attention,
Adrian

Sort:  

f5qv0f.gif

:)) Funny one.

It seems to me that Steemit is kind of like the lottery in that it is promoted from the winner’s perspective but to be a loser is actually normal. What I mean is, promotions for both the Lottery and Steemit emphasise the big win (the person whose ticket wins them the big jackpot; the blogger who earns enough Steem to quit his job) and make it seem like that this is what you should expect to happen at you if only you persist long enough.

But the reality for most people is the purchasing of tickets that are worthless and the posting of posts on Steem that generate next to no payment. If you expect that hard work will inevitably result in your making a good living from your steemit posts, I think you are much more likely to end up feeling disappointed because that just isn’t normal on this platform.

On the other hand, if you come to Steemit with the attitude “at least I get some monetary reward for each post, even if it is normally just a few cents, and you never know I might occasionally get a jackpot post that brings in tens of dollars”, I don’t think you will be disappointed.

the person whose ticket wins them the big jackpot; the blogger who earns enough Steem to quit his job

Is there any? At first I imagined that I could make a living as well, but haven't got to that point. When Steem will appreciate to over a dollar, than it will be cash rewarding as well to blog around here. Till then, it's just a little extra, like buying a tshirt or so a month with those tokens, and mostly about the community that you can find or create.

If you expect that hard work will inevitably result in your making a good living from your steemit posts, I think you are much more likely to end up feeling disappointed because that just isn’t normal on this platform.

I'm not encouraging new users towards this idea I am just motivating them to not quit, as this world is really worth the time spent, and the rewards are welcomed as well. Hard work is paid off. By hard work I don't necessarily refer to work for money or an income on this platform, but to make your blog appealing, at least for you.

Totally agree on the last part of your comment. False expectations can be hurtful, but when you stay open and simply enjoy what you do around here, you might get more than you were expecting.

Esta publicación ha sido seleccionada para el reporte de Curación Diaria.

final de post.png¡¡¡Felicidades!!!

nice post sir

lol, jk. This was a good motivational & down-to-earth post for any who may be being led astray by hype-men.

Your first week on Steem won't net you a million bucks, but it'll probably gibe you more than any other centralized social media platform.

Plus, here's the coolest thing:
It's yours! This is your space! Go nuts with whatever you want! It's fun :^)

Exactly. The project is a whole lot different when compared with the classic ones and the way I see it people are more inclined to be straight forward about what they post about and how they say it. There are downvotes that can be used to take one post's rewards but they can't make you invisible. If you still have something to say you can do it. Twitter or Facebook can censor you forever.

Your first week on Steem won't net you a million bucks

Not even your first, nor your second year.

Most of the Steem blockchain users are focusing on the money earning opportunity on the Steem blockchain in a selfish and greedy way. And that is ruining the Steem blockchain. The number of the daily active users are decreasing since months. Everything is in the statistics. Everything could be different, if the people would focus on the social media part, instead of the money earning opportunity. People should use the Steem blockchain naturally. As they use Facebook, Twitter and any other social media website.

I agree.

I think if you want to blog to try & earn a bit of side cash, Steem is for you.
I think if you want to post quick updates & chill with friends, Steem is for you.
I think if you wanna play games & consume some cool content, Steem is for you.

I've never been more passionate about a platform. Steem is for everyone.

For new users:
I am on the Steem blockchain since 2017.05.17.

Getting real human comments under your blog posts is the hardest part on the Steem blockchain. Even for older users, for example me. Many people (including me) not (or rarely) receive real human comments.
Most of the Steem blockchain users are focusing on their own blog posts, they do not care about other people's blog posts.

There are 59 675 posts in the first week of 2020, but the average number of comments is only 3.38. There are 57 751 posts in the second week of 2020, but the average number of comments is only 2.84.

You can find more information about these things in this statistics posted by @penguinpablo: Weekly Steem Stats Report - Monday, January 20, 2020.

So, this is the truth. Prepare yourselves.

I guess it depends a lot on the crowd and the posts. I usually get comments from pretty much the same people, that I follow as well, but sometimes it happens that I get absolutely no comments on some posts. I get that. I don't read every post on my feed either. Over time though, if you dedicate some energy to your blog, you will notice that you kind of create your community based on affinity.

I already dedicated many hours of work to my blog. No matter what I post, what I what I do, what I try, what I write about, almost no one cares about my posts. And I mean commenting.

One example. Today (on 2020.01.24) I have put a little bit more than 1 hour of work into a game review: Music Racer (video game) (2018) review. This review consist of 869 words and four pictures, yet no one cares about my review. Currently there are 21 upvotes and a pending payout of $0.34, but currently there are no comments at all.

And yes, I am commenting (writing and answering comments) under other people's posts. Why cannot they do the same under most my blog posts?

The only exception is, if I write about thinking about leaving the Steem blockchain, then people suddenly come and start to try changing my mind about it.

So they obviously understand what I write. People mostly also answer my comments under other blog posts. But they very rarely write comments under my blog posts. Why?

I honestly like to know the why. Am I so bad at blogging? What am I doing wrong?

I really can't understand why this happens, but if you look at my blog I have plenty of posts with 0 comments from real people. In terms of upvotes, I only have big payouts when bots upvotes me, other than that I don't have any consistent auto votes or anything similar. I like blogging though and don't care that much anymore about such details. I guess there's no perfect strategy to make your blog a great one. My advice is to do what you like.

I really can't understand why this happens, but if you look at my blog I have plenty of posts with 0 comments from real people.

I do understand. Because people are selfish and greedy. Most of the Steem blockchain users are focusing on writing blog posts, but they do not care about other people's blog posts.

The statistics are backing up this statement. There were 8 124 posts created on 2020.01.23, but the average number of comments is only 3.74. If we take a look at blog posts, then we can see that most of these comments are bot (or spam-like) comments. Sad. And people wonder why the number of the daily active users is constantly decreasing since months.

My advice is to do what you like.

I like blogging, but I do not like being ignored. Especially, if I put hours of work into a blog post. Maybe I will stop putting hours of works into my blog posts, and I will write my blog posts only for myself. Or completely stop blogging. It is simply not worth it to put hours of work into my blog posts, if no one else cares about them, except me. If even I do not care, then it is not worth it to put any kind of effort into my blog posts. I guess that I have to forget about real human comments under my Steem blockchain blog posts, so if I would like to get interaction, then I will write something on Facebook.

A good write.

It this #proofofshare a thing now?

Kind of. I guess you can get some upvotes from oc if you do it. I am promoting Steem on twitter this way.

Very useful information

Glad to hear that

Ask him what is "very useful" in it.
He probably will not able to explain. Or do not even want to.
He is probably just spamming and wants attention to his own blog.
These three words are obvious spam. I see it from many people.
Like the "amazing", "beautiful", "wonderful" and other similar comments.

I don't mind it.

Your post has been manually curated by FreeVoter Team.You can earn liquid steem by delegating SP to @freevoter !! We are now paying 100% daily earnings and 90% Curation reward and ESTM & Dlike token to our delegators !! Join Discord for more information. Thank you !!

Great post, I think engagement is key to growing on Steemit. Those that insist on posting won't get rewarded no matter how hard they work, unless their content is top-notch. Even then they'll have a hard time getting an audience. Collaboration is the way to go!

Yes. In the beginning I was a bit shy in communicating but I learned my lesson. It's impossible not to find some good posts around here.

Good you overcame that shyness!

Close to it

Hahaha! :D
You made my day.
I literally laughed out loud on this one. :D
Maybe I should not take spammers so seriously.

They're part of this world.