Steemit and Community Building: The Return to General ”Life" Blogging

in WORLD OF XPILAR4 years ago

In my earliest days as a Blogger — which happened more than 20 years ago — the whole idea of social blogging was essentially about people sharing the ongoing events and stories of their lives.

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The Origins of Blogs...

The term "Blog" — a contraction of "web log"literally was about logging your daily activities and thoughts in a sort of "journal format."

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Sure, some people had certain topics they focused on more than others but the vast majority of blogs I remember — as well as their creators with whom I became friends — we're pretty much a catch-all journal of what was going on in people's lives.

It wasn't actually until social venues like MySpace and Facebook were introduced that the whole idea of blogs having to be ”about a specific topic” and bloggers being ”specialists” became common. At the same time, the "personal" flavor gave way to a more formal "newspaper article" style... at least if you were hoping to be "taken seriously."

To me, it felt like a loss...

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The Internet of PEOPLE!

Although I kept niche blogs for many years it was never really my ”natural placement” as a content creator. That is to say, whereas I was perfectly capable of writing on a specific topic, it quickly enough got boring because I felt like I was being fenced in. What became more of an issue for me was this sense of feeling boxed in by having to provide information rather than personal stories.

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I guess this is all a fairly long winded way of saying that I'm more oriented towards ”the Internet of People” than ”the Internet of Things.”

When I think about it, I always come back to the same place: what is it that keeps us interested and entertained? Ultimately, it's personal stories. Even when we're talking about something that is clearly ”information” — it might be something like a recipe, or even how to assemble a piece of furniture — I always feel more compelled to read those ”versions” in which the personal experience of the person behind the words clearly shines through, as opposed to just a dry piece of prose that says ”connect A to B.”

For example, if I were to choose between one post entitled ”Why smartphones are useful” and another entitled ”How I get the most from my smartphone,” I would almost without fail choose the 2nd post every time.

When you look at it from that perspective, most people do approach “information” from that perspective because somehow a personal recommendation feels more trustworthy than just generic information that couple have been transcribed from an owner's manual.

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A GLOBAL Community!

What sets this community apart is the truly international global nature of its users. Sure, Facebook has users all over the world, but the problem with that is that these people from all over the world seldom interact on Facebook. On Steemit, on the other hand, people tell their stories and you have folks from Venezuela reading about people doing barbecue in South Africa; people from the United States reading about camping in Australia.

When it comes to community building, that is one of the greatest strengths of this platform!

And, to get back to the title of this post, what is makes it doubly so is the tendency of our users to create content that is about their daily lives. Certainly, we have occasional contests and challenges and such that focus on a specific thing but we nearly always get to read about life through the eyes of the individual content creator in their particular corner of the world.

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I say that of course, because that's how I use this venue! But it also seems to be the way a lot of the people I follow and have become friends with over the past five years using this platform.

So when we go out and talk to others and recommend that they join us perhaps it behooves us to make this particular aspect part of our ”sales pitch!” I don't know if the #promosteem folks have a set format for how they like to present Steemit, but I hope the personal angle as part of their approach.

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

How about YOU? Do you like to read personal stories from people around the world? Or do you like "strictly information" better? ASIDE from rewards, what is the greatest strength of Steemit? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — NOT A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 20210524 21:30 PDT
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 4 years ago (edited)

The good blogger try to put a bit of themselves, their thoughts, feeling and true events into their stories. That makes such posts interesting and while reading we can feel that there is a personality and not just an article. I believe Steem/it is not only social media but that is platform that also generate finance and that puts blogging on the second stage. Because many interested to get more from what they do. Because of that blogging here sometimes loses the real sense of blogging, it is "dry" and sometimes mass production, especially when it comes to contests. I was glad to see that you also have the same opinion :)

You post is nominated for „Wold of xpilar“ Community Support Program, @booming account upvote. Only the posts that are not cross posted, original and posted from community page are eligible. If your post gets approval, then you get upvote within few days. Good luck!

 4 years ago 

Hi @stef1, thoughtful words as always!

If we look at the very big picture, Steem/Steemit is an economic social experiment that independently parallels the Universal Basic Income proposals that often get talked about. But instead of a government giving a small financial aid, we have a peer-to-peer system that allows people a small cash flow as a result of doing a task. For some, maybe that makes it a bit depersonalized... but I know that I only curate/vote on content that appears to be "human." I like your painting and even your fraud/stolen identity posts because they share your process, not just a dry "this happened."

As always, thanks for the Booming nomination!

I found your little walk through blogging history to be interesting, and I do remember those parts of history myself! And to be honest, I really agree with you on your take when it comes to make any blog post somehow personal. As I have been active in several communities on Steemit, one of the easiest way to get bored is when someone share general information on a topic. I write quite a lot about movies and TV series, and whenever someone post a review or something without any hint of personal element, I just fall asleep. I can find general information on Wikipedia, but when I read, I want to hear, see, and feel the thoughts and the opinion of the author!

By the way, I really find the way you use your own images and the way you write really refreshing!! :))

 4 years ago 

Well, as your username suggests, you're a writer and that typically implies that you are telling stories, not just passing along information.

For me, there has always been a type of content that is not exactly plagiarism or copying... I think of it as "regurgitation." Something has been written about 1000 times already and yet another person writes the exact same thing, only with the words and sentences in a different order. It might be considered "good" from an isolated point of view, but it doesn't add value.

Thanks for the compliment! I have always used my own images, even when they are not entirely relevant to what I am writing about... that way I never have to worry about copyrights and permissions and sourcing and all that stuff. I only use external images if they are essential to illustrating a point I am making.

desde venezuela un saludo y lo felicito por ese paseo que se dio por lo que eran antes los blogs,ahora estoy publicando algunas cosas en diferentes comunidades de steemit,pero veo que los buenos votos son para las mismas personas sean buenas o malas sus publicaciones,a veces amigo no quisiera seguir pero voy poco a poco ya que he encontrado aqui un grano de arena para ayudar me en estos dificilisimos momento que vvimos aqui en venezuela,hay muchas necesidades,saludos Dios lo bendiga y cuide y espero me visite.

 4 years ago 

Hello @petrarodriguez, yes I know things must be very difficult in your country, and it is a good thing for many that a place like Steemit exists to give even a very small help. I agree that the distribution of votes does not always seem entirely fair and related to the quality of their publications... I try to simply ignore that and do my best and hope for the best.

Nice photo 🤗

I agree with you friend @denmarkguy, I think that in a social platform for bloggers the most pleasant thing would be to know each of the personalities through what is written, to be able to "feel" their experiences, to understand the reality that surrounds them, beyond of a banal set of words that only seek to "inform".

I also believe that even when we talk about our experiences, we must do so in such a way that instead of presenting a sequence of events (as is often the case in many of the experiential publications), the feeling, the sensations, the substantive part of the message are reflected.

I congratulate you @denmarkguy you have a very fresh and at the same time direct way of sending us the message, greetings from Venezuela.

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 4 years ago 

Thanks for stopping by and for your thoughtful words @karupanocitizen!

I like to think that in order for there to be a thriving community, we have to have engaging content, which means we relate to other people's stories... and through that we form genuine connections and friendships with other people. In turn, that leads to a network of mutual support... because we actually care about these people we've gotten to know.

Venezuela is an excellent example, because I know the economic and political situation there makes life difficult, so making genuine connections can offer a bit of meaningful relief, as well.

It is a pleasure to be able to read your publications, for how grateful I am.

I agree with you @denmarkguy, our stories have the potential to connect us, as long as we dare to dare to tell them. This has all the potential to generate attractive content to the same extent that we begin to value publications for the quality of their content and the added value that it generates for the community, not only for the author.

In my country, the situation is indeed quite critical, at levels that many could not understand, but not only from an economic and political level but even worse from a social point of view, so undoubtedly have the support of influential people within a community could provide real and tangible help. However, I am one of those who believes that for this help to be generated, as you say, the connection must be genuine, it cannot be based on a need or economic interest, nor looking for a gift, it must be generated from a sincere friendship born from the warmth of a pleasant reading that allows us to know what each soul keeps for itself.

Greetings friend!