Hi dear readers,
I know you probably won't read this at all, because that's how Steemit turned out to be... from hundreds of people seeing your posts every day to a tiny handful, if you're lucky. I'm a member from the first wave, sharing my life and travel adventures with all of you. But all good things come to a (temporary) end.
The newest members probably don't know this, but Steemit was once enabling people to turn their passion - be it writing, photography, art or journalism - into a full-time job, supporting their entire lifestyle. It was able to feed the poor and support third-world-country-projects (I myself fed a group of homeless people for about a month purely with Steem-money). Until it all changed.
Yes, newest members... you think it's normal to receive 5 bucks for a post, but it actually isn't. My first posts:
Later on:
Now:
And wasn't the pay-out and blockchain-approach exactly what made Steemit stand out from other social media?
It's okay. I don't attach too much value to money, I can survive with about 300 bucks a month including everything, an approach that shape my adventures... but writing without an audience seems rather pointless, doesn't it? I spend about 2 full days on each story, writing, re-writing, researching and editing photos... I rather spend that time traveling, creating new stories for audiences that can actually find me.
I'm not leaving Steemit for good, I'm just going to wait until its problems are fixed.
In the meantime my adventures can be followed via my own website and newsletter:
www.budgetbucketlist.com
(that has 4,000-10,000 readers a week, opposed to the 15-20 here at the moment).
I always end with 'until we meet'. I mean that now more than anything, I hope to join the Steemit-network soon again and relive the times that once were.
Thanks for sharing. I'm really hoping it does turn around. The concept and potential is phenomenal.
What do you see as the actual problems in this scenario though? I guess a lot of it comes down to more people = more posts = upvotes being spread around more. You've then got the accounts that are draining the reward pool for themselves on a daily basis.
$5 per post would be a dream for me. It's rare that my posts see anything above $0.50.
It's not just the spreading of votes through bigger crowds, it's internal politics.
But the upvote count dropped, not only the value (286 → 4600; 284 → 383). Wouldn't more users imply more potential readers and hence upvotes? One should analyze the whole series, but anyway, it seems that not only each upvote counted less, but also that there are less users interacting, which is strange.
If she hasn't more than 20 hardcore fans, I start to think there's a more general problem: maybe the platform doesn't promote retention, and on the contrary prefers erratic engagement: a growing user base who hasn't incentives to keep supporting good authors.
I noticed as well that I myself haven't a habit to visit authors who I liked in the past, I just scroll the screen and maybe click on few tags of interest and then few posts that catch my attention. Now and then I go and check for a couple of authors, but most of the time I don't. That is, despite the many I follow, indeed I don't focus on anyone.
But even this behaviour should give more opportunities of engagement when the number of users is growing.
Until we meet, I will follow on your website.
Until we meet :) hopefully here in the future
Your post is very good and I can learn a lot from this post. You can post something very good in the future
Putting so much time into a long post and hardly get rewarded for it is actually frustrating. I can really understand (as a travel blogger, too). Your posts are great! Hope you come back soon :)
Thanks for the supporting words. I will keep following you and others, and hopefully soon quality-writers will receive again some recognition :) if only by visibility of their work.
Hey you still in Samoa?
Haha no, my stories always come after the experiences ;) I visited the Philippines after and I'm now on my way to Fiji.
understand your reasons, always liked reading your posts on Steemit, goodluck and fun with all your travels
Thank you! Same here, won't stop following you!
From what I read, it seems that you are truly a good person, like the ones who are hard to find these days. I am new to Steemit and I certainly can see the difference in the rewards based on what you have posted. I think this is probably a supply/demand issue, there is only so much cryptocurrency that can be created and now it has to be divided amongst more people. Anyways, although I do not know you, I wish the best and know that I will follow you, just because I have seen beyond the words and the pictures. I intend to post what I love to share and to follow the people who will enhance the human experience. Please honor me by following me and do not hesitate to drop a word to stay in touch.
Thanks for your kind words Marcus! You're right, partly :) There's a lot going on behind the scenes affecting the payouts too, but that's a long story. I've always been a leftie, but never a communist haha. I will follow you and I hope you are not demotivated to post, despite the low payouts!
I will not be demotivated. I arrived late to Steemit, so I did not see high payouts. I will be looking forward to your return and hope to exchange more ideas. Keep in touch!
Have a good trip but come back please, we need people like you!!! Be blessed @budgetbucketlist
I will I will :) thanks for the supportive words!
I only just found you blog last week! Thanks for sharing your reasoning and some Steemit history. I had high hopes and wondered what it must have been like earlier. I've been experimenting with voting bots to try to earn. After my first and only serious post, I've taking to posting just photos and a few paragraphs. I can imagine dropping to one photo with a caption at this point... Best of luck.
Hi @budgetbucketlist! Very interesting post! I just started travel blogging here two weeks ago, so these insights are pretty eye-opening. You are mentioning problems that need to be fixed and things that are going on behind the scenes that are affecting payouts. It would be great if you could share what these things are! Looking forward to hear your thoughts!
If you ever will be back, you should write a detailed, day by day, list of what-I-do what-I-buy where-I-stay, what-I-eat …, etc… Because even if I cancel all the billed things (water, electricity, phone, gas, internet, web hosting, rents of whatever), I think I couldn't make it anyway.
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