This platform is so much more positive and, more importantly(!), constructive than YouTube that it is really winning over my heart at a fast pace. I truly believe, that YouTube is, in a way, a good representation of what is wrong with our society right now. People attacking other people without any regard for the other persons' feelings and without contributing any sort of value.
I think it is important to stress, like I did in my post about how poisonous YouTube is, that I can’t wash my hands in innocence. I played online poker professionally for 8 years and I was a little shithead during the early years. I would sometimes lose my cool and say some horrible stuff and when I look back at those days now, it’s almost like looking back at a pathetic version of myself.
Eventually I got into coaching poker too and that’s what made me eliminate this sad behaviour. I did not want to risk having a student or a potential student rail me and seeing me act like that and thus, I bettered myself.
With that being said, I would not ever want to take away from that aspect of Steemit: the aspect of positiveness and support, so I am hoping that everyone reading this post will understand that the following is meant to be constructive criticism!
The one and only thing I have not liked about Steemit so far is people trying to “exchange” a follow for a follow. I’ve seen it be done in a variety of different and creative ways but they all boil down to the same thing and I don’t like it one bit, because I think it can potentially hurt the platform in the long run. It totally takes away from genuine appreciation for people’s contributions.
A hot looking girl who comments on my post: “Hey, I loved your post about your trip to Colombia, keep em coming and btw. follow me back!” Would love but no can do. I think hot girls are awesome and I really like them but I also like getting it on with my girlfriend and the odds of doing so severely diminish if I like you back!
Someone who is running a blog about cars might be interested in reading about my adventures in Colombia but that doesn’t mean that I’m interested in reading about his blogs about Lamborghinis. I can barely tell the difference between a Lamborghini and a bike, much less do I want to read about it.
“Hey man, awesome post about your trip to Colombia, I followed you, follow me back @lamborghinisarethebestmethodoftransportation…
It shouldn't work like that and it shouldn’t have to work like that, because what goes around comes around in the most unexpected ways:
- @lamborghinisarethebestmethodoftransportation left that comment on my post about the moral objections to interviewing a serial killer and ends up following me because he has seen Narco’s on Netflix and is intrigued by my stories.
- @guineapigsarebetterthandonkeys has left a funny comment on the same post. She has the cutest picture of a Guinea pig as her profile picture and I decide to check out the account. It’s amazing! There are all these videos of her guinea pigs getting her beers from the fridge, doing her dishes and playing volleyball so I follow of course. Who wouldn't want to see that?!
- @dirtbikesarethebestmethodoftransportation has also left a comment on my latest post, which the guinea pig girl ends up reading. You wouldn't have guessed it but she is a huge dirt bike fanatic, so when she is reading my reply to her comment and happens to come across this guys' comment, she decides to check out his profile and follows him.
I know what you’re thinking now! Dirt bikes, Lamborghinis… He is about to fill the circle! But we are not there just yet, because the dirt bike guy (his name is Jimmy btw) hates Lamborghinis with a fucking passion! Someone in a Lambo cut him of one time and ever since, he can’t see a Lamborghini without going into absolutely mad. To calm himself down, whenever that happens, he likes to paint his girlfriends nails when he gets home, it’s very soothing for him… One day, he is trying to find tips on steemit for nice little patterns that he can paint on his girls' nails the next time he sees someone in a Lambo and it turns out that it's his lucky day!
- @nailpolishisthebestformoftransportation just posted an awesome blog about flower patterns and Jimmy doesn’t know how fast to click ‘Follow’ and now yes, we have arrived.
- @nailpolishisthebestformoftransportation has a well kept secret that she has been able to hide from her boyfriend. She LOVES lambos, in fact she lost her virginity in one! So when Jimmy is at work and she is catching up on Steemit, she comes across a quality post from @lambosarethebestmethodoftransportation and decides to follow him. After all Jimmy doesn't have her steemit password anyway...
Unlike when I had followed the lambo lover in hopes of having him continue to follow me, he is now actually getting an upvote from the nail polish girl when he puts up a hilarious video of his dog behind the wheel of the Lambo he rented (rented because if he owned it, he wouldn’t be begging for people to follow him).
I’m going to give one last and more serious example to try and build my case a little more and hopefully actually convince some people.
I made a post 2 days ago about the possible moral objections to interviewing a hit man, which Angelo and I did for our YouTube channels. One of the comments was very constructive and intriguing to me personally. The comment was made by @south-paw (who btw I asked for permission to use this as an example). In addition to the comment he also added a link to one of his blog posts that was closely related to this topic and that had a very fascinating title: https://steemit.com/news/@south-paw/cognitive-dissonance-can-a-whole-country-suffer-from-it
If he had left it at that, I would have read the article and I would have followed him because he writes about stuff that, after having been in Colombia, I am very interested in. But then there it was: Follow me… In Amsterdam we have an expression for this type of thing: “Throwing in your own windows”. And that’s what this was. I made a rare exception and still decided to read the post, which was great and which made me want him to post more and made me eager to follow him. But I would never normally do that after seeing a “follow me” or “follow me back”. In this case I made an exception and I’m glad I did because he is nice enough to even let me use it as an example in this post, but you get the idea!
Hopefully I was able to get my point across. Organic growth is the only valuable growth. I really believe that if you make valuable contributions to this platform that your potential fan base will eventually find you. “Valuable” is the key word tough! I put hours and hours into my posts and when it’s clear that someone has taken her or his time to write a well thought out constructive reply then I make it a point to try and write back something of value, hoping to build an organic and loyal following that way. I have faith in myself and so should everybody else who takes this platform seriously!
I liken "steemians" to living cells of the Steemit community.
If each "cell" does its job, the organism is healthy and thrives. Likewise, if each steemian makes the best use of his/ her time on Steemit, to focus on adding value in their own unique ways by expressing or sharing their own knowledge, talents and passions, as opposed to wasting energy by trying to convince people that they're valuable, the community will grow to be strong and self-sustaining.
If too much of the community turns this into a popularity contest, choosing to devote more time to "vote (support) grabs", then Steemit growth will be stunted, at the very least.
To put it simply, if each individual of the whole (community) is strong, then the whole must also be strong.
meep
the gig is up @ionlysaymeep, we now know for sure you can say a lot more than just "meep"! ;) lol
Link: My Entry Interview Q & A In the @ionlysaymeep Contest ! MEEP !!
meep
Oh man, you caught me red handed :(
meep
"Someone who is running a blog about cars might be interested in reading about my adventures in Colombia but that doesn’t mean that I’m interested in reading about his blogs about Lamborghinis."
Amen! I share your feelings that begging for followers makes me less likely to even read the content. Acting like it's a "trade" - how dare you not follow me?! - is a weird sort of selfishness / entitlement, sort of. But I think it comes from a place of wanting to be accepted, or even just needing to make a few bucks, so I try to be understanding.
I think that for a lot of people here on steemit, it's about the potential to make more money if you have more followers. I guess I can understand it from that point of view, but just having more followers doesn't mean you're going to get more upvotes. You also have to post stuff that those followers will find interesting enough to upvote.
Yeah, for example what if someone exclusively blogs about parenting? I have no kids, I'm not gonna upvote content about parenting, so if I follow its just kinda a waste. that kind of thing is what I think makes follow-for-follow a little weird, also it turns all of the comment sections into a spammy wasteland
It's hard to argue with that. It's like my page, a lot of what I write about is gardening. If someone isn't interested in gardening, I wouldn't really expect them to follow me. It's just more stuff in their feed that they have to wade through. I do need to expand my offerings though, for that very reason.
Asking (or begging) for a follow comes out as needy. Some people don't realize that it has the opposite effect of what they are asking. One thing to note is that this a behavior that for the most part is observed on a lot of new accounts.
Maybe it's a symptom of lack of social skills for some people. If you are reading this and you are constantly asking others to follow you stop it. It does not work. Instead actually read what the other person is saying and make a comment about it. You will get more followers that way.
Welcome! I am enjoying seeing all the Youtube folks coming over :) I stumbled across it about 3.5 weeks ago -- from Imgur of all places.
Enjoy and Steem On.
Thanks, definitely been enjoying it so far! Good luck to you as well!
Dig it, totally agree. Asking for follows is just gaming the system. The nice thing is that the system is set up to not be gamed. :) At the end of the day, if we Steemers just add value with every single action we'll end up with a SUPER valuable asset we can all use and enjoy. Thanks for taking the time to write that up!
"Adding value with every single action" is a pretty great starting point.
Right? It's slightly different from FB in that you've got to be a little more careful with your upvotes/likes, because they actually mean something. I totally dig that.
Seconding world5list's comment - add value with every single action is a beautiful way to say it. I've never heard the concept expressed quite so succinctly / perfectly. Wisdom!
You guys triggered a blog post, The Steemit Guide to Victory. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thanks! Seems like the simplest and best piece of advice we can give all Steemians. I was just cruising around the #introduceyourself tag and seeing if I could develop that idea more for newcomers. Steem is a place the curious come to, would be rad if we could encourage them to add the very best of themselves to this platform. At the end of the day if we're all adding value we're creating an incredible commons.
You lost me at this whole cyclus of the lamborgini :p. Steemit kind of has two sides to it. One of it being a business model, by some played as a game. The other aspect (which encourages me, and I think most of us) is the social applications brought to life because we all care who gets a share of the money. People who are trying to get a quick buck and build themselfs up by the likes of such means as low quality, high quantity (and including ur example of "follow me back") get hammered down swiftly by the community. I made an article about this platform and its difference between the sorts owned by corporations u might enjoy https://steemit.com/steemit/@droucil/how-an-idea-like-steemit-could-change-the-entire-internet
(P.S. feel free not to follow me)
Yeah, that was an interesting read. I mainly wonder how explosive growth would effect Steemit.
The idea is already out there, it just takes time to adjust to the current system implemented.
I have had the same concern about organic growth and genuine appreciation.
I just follow people who I find interesting, but I don't ask them to follow me back. I appreciate your post. :)
Thank you! For being a well behaved steemer too! ;)
You're welcome....and thank you lol
wow great post!
can you follow me back?
hahahaha just kidding! :P
here take my upvote!
Lol, thanks a lot! ;)
Organic growth is not always a positive growth, many other social media can prove that. I enjoyed reading your post. Please don't follow me. :)
Good stuff there! Trading follows is not healthy unless you are both really into each others' work. Sometimes it's just hard not to return the favor.
Yeah makes you feel bad for no real reason...
Hmm i think its also a cultural thing. Geographical in a way. Follow me - means like - click the button so you can get notifications about my posts. I would say follow me to you, only if i think that my posts will benefit you in any way.. If thats not the case, it would be the same as if i see you on the street, approach and say, hey lets be good friends. At some places, its like.. dunno. rude thing. Jusst a thought from newbie. Cheers!
I guess if people were REALLY good at estimating what other people would be interested in reading then yeah, asking for someone to follow them would be valuable, but I think generally speaking, people aren't.
Well said.
Thank you :)
I agree wholeheartedly. I will not follow if they ask. If they won't follow, so be it.
That's what I do although sometimes it makes me feel bad about it, which sucks.
"Follow me and I'll follow back" = "I have nothing valuable to contribute, please take pity on me and upvote my shitty content so I don't have to make an effort."
Nope. Ain't gonna happen. You're much more likely to get a follow from me if you don't ask for one. Asking reduces your odds to zero. I'm even more likely to follow if you make a comment saying my post sucks.
Absolutely true, I will always check out their profiles, but only follow when I like the content, not when they followed me.
So it's not a bad thing to say: please check out my profile aswell 👍
For all the positiveness and support here on Steemit, which are great attributes, I have experienced some negative behavior. It is all random, you just happen to come across it, and it can really put you in a tail spin. What brings some relief is to put that negative energy into positive use, and then you can leave behind the bumps and go on. Another sad thing is when you find a blog that you like, and the person decides to close down and leave. That leaves a hole too.
I don't think follow 4 follow actually works very well. People are just trying it because they are trying every angle to succeed. Some of those strategies are actually detrimental but it's not always clear to see at the outset.
I don't think Steem will be dominated by 'follow 4 follow', but there will always be an element of people commenting relatively superficially in the hopes of gaining some attention. I don't think that's a huge problem, certainly better than the state of other platforms where there is no incentive to be pro-social at all.
Up voted, followed and resteemed. EXCELLENT post. Thanks!
Thanks a lot!
Nice. Thanks for sharing. Check out my Blog, it's all kinds of stuff. Admittedly not everyone would love it, but my blog caters more to myself and things I like. I try to produce content that shares what I like in a way other people might also enjoy. Up votes and followers are always welcome but only if you want to! Have a good one! Q
I just started on steemit and really want to use this platform to express myself. I have never done anything like I'm going to do hear and your words are exactly what i want to happen. I want people to follow me because they are interested in hearing what i have to say. Thank you for your post!
How many subs do you have on youtube?
747.107...
Great post! I think the difference between YouTube and Steemit is the value creators have on Steemit because they're part of the fabric of what makes it work. As part of that fabric, people can be rewarded more handsomly because of it. I think Steemit is great! I just found out about it a week ago and immediately signed up. Thanks again for an informative and valuable post. I love the positivity, something other social media sites and people in general have goteen away from.
Yea i really hate it when "hot girls" get all these upvotes, resteems and follows, just because they are attractive, but their content is garbage. I don't play into that stuff either. Ill follow you if i like your content, i don't care what you look like
Excellent points. Hopefully, everyone can share in a positive spirit without expecting to trade.
It's one of my "peeves" too. lol
it's been happening a lot more lately, likely due to the huge influx of new STEEMIT users. @shayne has posted several good articles on the subject as well:
Link: New To Steemit? Follow Begging Will DESTROY You: DO - NOT - DO - IT! Here's Why...
That was a good read, thanks for the tip!
I completely agree! I hardly, if ever, check out someone who says "I followed you! Follow me!"... sure fire way for me NOT to check you out, guy.
Great post!
Thank you!
it's easy to say something's a peice of crap and leave it at that, it's more difficult to enumerate why you don't like something or find no value in it because that takes time and thought which few people are willing to invest in each other anymore. negativity never built anything, it only destroys. positivity on the other hand builds everything up - self-esteem, confidence, community, pride, etc.
I refuse to "follow for follow", and get a lot of direct messages on steemit.chat asking for exactly that.
I simply educate them on how it just doesn't work like that on Steemit. Followers are ACTUALLY WORTH SOMETHING HERE, unlike other social media sites. I let people know that "follow begging" can hurt their reputation far more than it can help.
You make a good point. However - I do think it helps to know people on the platform. It helps to already have connections so they can support you, you can support them and more connections can grow from that.
I joined Steemit yesterday and although I love it, I don't know anyone at all and the only advice I've really been given is 'follow people and they'll follow you back'.
This isn't arguing against your case, but I do wonder if you have any networking tips? I've been commenting on people's stuff but even if the comment chain is a few comments long, it's not the same as having friends on here. Or even really enough for them to want to follow me!
Just some thoughts anyway, hope you're having a good day!
To beat the system , you must join the system !
Thanks for writing this. I really never did liked that "follow be back" technique. I usually want to see what they are posting then I will follow. That is better.