A little Encouragement for Newbies and Minnows!
You're a little minnow. Someone has just thrown you into a magnificent ocean full of riches. Although you're super excited to explore, you don't know what's hiding in here so you go careful. After looking around you can only see some cute dolphins, a few gigantic whales and lots and lots of other minnows; no dangers. So you embark on the adventure with confidence, but shortly discover that between all these wonderful creatures, you have no friends! Everyone is swimming past without even noticing you!!
Disappointment settles in and you have no desire to keep going. You settle into a corner and quietly watch the other fish swimming around enthusiastically, wondering what keeps them so excited.
You wrote a lot of brilliant posts that received no attention and you start losing interest. At this point you have two options: either give up and start doing something else, or fight hard to stay motivated.
If you chose option 2, fantastic! But now, how do you do that?
Method 1: Get to know the ocean!
Have a look over the FAQ page, there's lots of information about how Steemit works. There are also many wonderful people who post advice and info about the platform everyday, but the first thing you need to stay sane on Steemit, is to understand why your post may not be successful. You will be inclined to start wondering whether your article was good enough, maybe you're not as skilled as you thought.
The truth is that even though your post was brilliant, there are high chances that it simply got lost. There are thousand and thousand of other minnows swimming around you so try not to fall into the trap of doubting yourself, because you will quickly lose confidence in your abilities and that's pretty hard to get back.
To improve your chances of being noticed, start commenting! Good comments will bring lots of people to your blog.
Method 2: Give up the greed before you begin
The reward system is one of the reasons we're here and not on Reddit, so it's gonna be pretty hard to overlook it. But if you try no to focus on it and enjoy the experience of writing and sharing, it will be easier to keep writing even if your articles don't have success at first.
Method 3: Keep getting better
This is where Steemit can help you grow. You've written a great piece, but after you give it a second look you can think of more improvements you could make. Your next post will be even better. If you can keep this up and constantly improve yourself, after a while you will be so good that your posts will be pretty unmissable!
If you chose option 1
Even if you have lost all interest in writing and there's no way to get it back, don't worry. You're still part of the ocean, so stick around and curate. You can have your say and make a difference from your hide place by supporting (or silently judging) everyone else. Comments are a great way to grow your reputation and you can earn quite a bit without writing your own posts.
Steemit is amazing and full of wonderful people, so however you choose to be a part of it, you will have tons of fun and make life-long friends on here!
Thank you for reading and I hope you found this post useful.
Corina
Now that that's over, if you actually want to know how it works on this platform, you should read these:
@corina - don't mislead new people. Without money, they have no chance of building a powerful account. Even with money it's slow going and risky because STEEM price is volatile and vote bots don't always produce a profit.
I don't mean to come down on you hard because I'm pretty sure you have good intentions. But if people read shit like this and it makes them feel better, they'll never do anything to improve the situation. They'll stay satisfied with the status quo and nothing will ever change.
If, on the other hand, new users and a majority of the current userbase are upset at the way things are going, then things are more likely to change. If we have to lose a few people along the way, fine. But it will be worth it in the long run if there is a system that properly rewards people for their contributions instead of what we have now.
Otherwise, this site will be made up of 99% "minnows" who are basically people with nothing better to do than write blog posts and interact with each other in the comments section of the Trending page. Sure, people will form friendships etc etc and that's great, but why settle for that?
This could be a place where people actually create good content and get paid for it. Isn't that the point? Yes community blah blah blah, but we're here to make money and participate in a system that at least has some semblance of fairness.
Why "encourage" people to grin and bear it instead of trying to change things? If everyone plays nice and pretends to be happy with their $0.10 posts and a COMPLETE lack of options for earning reliable income on this platform, what incentive do the developers and/or executive team have to implement anything that will change how things work?
I don't agree with some of the more "vocal" users on this platform regarding how to improve this place, but I respect that they are willing to get on stage and yell into their megaphone.
Sometimes people need to hear that things are not ok, that they're not fair and that unless something is added to the system then they are laboring under false pretenses and most likely wasting their time.
Though we have n argue in other thread I generally agree with you @yallapapi
The post is a pretending that all is great and we have some kind of meritocracy here where reward is proportional to one efforts and quality of the material. It is not.
Our job right now is to make steemit better and welcoming place. ANd it is a hard job.
I've been trying to do a lot of training especially about the .02 earnings threshold. I REALLY wish I had known about that sooner. I think it should be lowered to .01.
Can I ask what the .02 threshold is?
If your blog post or comment earns .00-.0199 you will get paid nothing. If I upvote your comment all by myself you get paid nothing. .015 to .0199 does show up as .02 but you still do not get paid.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@mysearchisover/steemit-steem-fraud-i-got-robbed
so i am a new user should i prefer to do comments or upvote for earning ?
Comments and bots and you can also upvote people like me 30 minutes after I post and before my bot arrives for curation awards.
Thanks
Thank you for your detailed comment. Steemit isn’t perfect, but let’s not forget that it’s still pretty young. It has a lot of time to grow and improve and become fairer for everyone. In order for it to grow it needs people interested in making a difference, in writing actual good stuff.
Moreover, it isn’t a money-making paltform, it’s a social media platform, a blogging platform. And social media is about getting to know people and making friends. Just like the other blogging websites, you don’t earn until you’ve worked hard to build your reputation, to get people to read what you write!
I hate seeing wasted votes. I think you should upvote your own comment and maybe help give out some curation rewards.
Other than the .02 earnings threshold which I think should be .01 I'd say it's pretty damn good.
Still, it is useful for minnows to implement the tips in the post, they make a difference.
@yallapapi so in your opinion, does it mean that in order to earn in steemit, you have to "invest" ? What kind of investment that you are referring to ? i believe that people in this community, who in actual fact, besides sharing good content is to make come income where, where you get "Paid for content".
What should we be doing to better gain better exposures of our posts ?
Yes. You have to learn to invest especially when you are coming in newly. You need the SP and the Steem to get quality money and comments. Having followers without good SP is a waste of time . When people see your posts, they want to know who thae guy is because people want to make connections.
Read the two posts at the top of this comment chain.
This post has received a 20.05 % upvote from @boomerang.
$10.00 steem
We are absolutely in agreement here. This is why QORA will have a totally new way of incentive being built in Generation 2. Not to mention that QORA is ACTUALLY decentralized (unlike steemit being a .com, you can get to QORA blogs by going to your localhost, which connects you to the QORA network.)
Right now, in Gen 1, blogs, websites, etc. exist and can be hosted on the QORAnet. We're not quite finished with the Gen 1 fixes and upgrades, then we'll be working on Gen 2, but you might wanna come check out our Discord...
https://discord.gg/3HYYz5r
Click the Play button below and start listening to the audio version of this article.
Steemit is a vast oceans so we need to feed ourselves with knowledge for us to survive. When I started things out on Steemit the mindset I am carry on is if I earn its a bonus. This ocean has so much to learn from,about crypto,bitcoin,investing,life... Almost all of the post are trying to add values to their audience and for that reason why I so much in love in this wonderful community. Great post @corina encouraging everyone to not to lose hope sharing values with others. I remeber a saying "Sharing time with others is not wasting time". There is a good blessings coming back for people who add value to others.
Right you are :)
Yes it's very encouraging I confirm that. I'm a Minnow ready to give up running giveaway contests just to basically gain .01 sp a day. Hopefully I can make it but it feels hopeless.
you will not make it unless you buy SP and pay the bots.. Period.. thats how steemit works now
Its great for learning about crypto etc. but not for making money unless you can buy SP and pay the bots.
Thank you so much for your beautiful words. Yes, the best part of Steemit is the wonderful people, working hard to make a difference.
Hmm, great mindset!
Greetings, sweet corina
Great post. When I came in here, I was totally lost in how to do things. However, I started to read a lot, to see several tutorials of people passing on information about how the site worked after a while, I learned how things inside work. My first post had 0 reward hahaha.
In addition, I received help from the Brazilian community here. We have a channel on the discord and telegram, plus some curatorial projects that help us both get upvotes and have more visibility here.
I recommend to everyone that they enter, that they look for the projects that are done in their original language, because it helps a lot.
Very frigid by the tutorial.
Good afternoon!!!
It does take a while to learn to be a 'proper steemian' but its' more than worth the time. Thank you so much for your comment and the advice!
(I say this respectfully) But then why do you use Bots @corina ?? I made a vowel to not do it from the git go.I started using Resteem services but now I decided to even cut that out anymore .
It's just against the principles of what Steemit is about or at least what it should be about.
Sorry , but I will bust my butt ( like I've been doing for over 3 months) and it may take 3 or 4 more times as long to make it to Trending page someday, but I feel it is the best way to act like a "proper steemian" and set that example for others :)
Again, I do not want to cut into you as I think your intentions are good and what you say in your Post has some valid and sound points.
But I think Bots were really never intended to be a part of the Equation here from the Founders.
I use bots because I think my posts are good quality and I want you guys to be able to see them. Thank you for your comment.
And don't you think I and hundreds of others also produce high quality Content? But do we do it ?? No, because of Principle and the bad example to others and it ends up perpetuating the abuse of them !!
There are other ways to get visible.
One way I have been doing is joining groups of high quality Curators.
Btw, I haven't always been this vocal in the beginning. But as I begin to analyze it more and more I came to the Conclusion we need to completely Ban them because of the abuse.
And we need to be vigilant about it.
if you're just a small fish, you cant beat the whales, what you do is to team-up with them, small fish can survive if you were together with whales to get rid of predator, The same thing in steemit, if you're a minnow you have to understands the way the whales are thinking, and create a post that will target them in their vulnerable spots, i know whales have some vulnerable spots. :)
That's a good idea but what about the upvote bots? Most whales play with upvote bots and really they don't care they can always upvote their own stuff. They'd probably make more upvoting themselves than farting around with minnows like me.
There are whales who care about Steemit and helping it grow!
That's true but it seems few and far between. Just my opinion from down here
Very good article. It's very encouraging.
I found this post suuuuuuper helpful thankyou!!! I am that little minnow swimming aroun feeling excited and searching for her place in the ocean!!!! Thankyou for your helpful tips, they were just what I needed right now. Much appreciated!
#introduceyourself/#introducemyself
The “introduceyourself/introducemyself” tag is for creating one introductory post that tells us about you. Users are encouraged to use this tag exclusively for that, and not to reuse it.
I think this post deserves an exception.
I think the first goal of minnows must be creating some kind of a network, by commenting and curating others' posts rather than posting much ourselves. There is no point in posting high-quality posts on first days after joining steemit, since no one will see them, but on the other a good comment under the popular post may do much more :)
Very well put @corina. Especially method 2! And that, to my mind is the problem which 99% of new members struggle to overcome, because when joining they actually had zero intention of getting to know anyone, all they saw were dollar signs.... which as more seasoned members here on Steemit will know well... that approach will never get you anywhere.
So true!! The most exciting part of this platform is being able to get to know everyone! I love that Steemit values those who read/watch/respond to content too. That's what makes a community, a community :)
Well said @willowrayn :)
Thank you for your comment Jaynie. When I first joined I was the same: ''Give me the moneeeey!'' A few months later I stopped blogging altogether because obviously, it didn't work out!
Yeah, persistence is a massive player here if you want to succeed financially, but again... as we have both said, it should not be your fundamental goal, before much like in the real world, if all you want is the money, you will most likely never get it.
It's true! Plus there are lots of other reasons to be here other than money! so many amazing people to get to know and really good posts!
Absolutely!!!