Minnow Bubbles and Whale Bubbles
It’s really easy for minnows to want to complain about the whales at steemit and blame them for not doing their job. After all, if they were doing their job, we’d all be noticed and rewarded for our hard work, right? We all know what it’s like to be ignored by accounts with more SP than our own and have negligible payout despite producing decent (and sometimes stellar) content. There is more to this situation than meets the eye though. I believe there are more whales and dolphins looking to help others and the ecosystem than those who are entirely selfish in their behavior.
And for those of us who have already developed a following on steemit, we know that it’s merely a question of the amount of time you put in and your methods, right? If you aren’t doing well, you need to persist and possible change your strategy, right? Once again, please don’t jump to such simplistic conclusions. We all have limited perspective and we are all biased.
Both of these viewpoints are one sided.
I will speak from the perspective of both a minnow and a “whale” because I am essentially both and neither, a minnow who has a fair amount of attention and success but still struggling to get consistent payout. I have many things going on at steemit aside from my writing and a fair amount of followers and so I’m already treated like a whale by some minnows. I see clearly into both situations.
The Whale Bubble
When we talk about “whales” we are often actually talking about anyone significantly larger than ourselves, usually including dolphins and sometimes even large minnows. As we grow, we forget what it’s like to be starting off, or what it’s like to be here a while and still struggle to surpass a dollar or two on our content without bots.
We do however, know clearly that we are doing much better than we did in the past and no longer feel the same level of frustration (some have skipped over that struggle entirely, either through buying in or through finding support early on). When we hear new users complaining we feel a bit jaded about it. Everyone is complaining. Don’t they realize there are always ways to succeed? Why should you make a high payout when you just got here? Did you think you’d be able to become one of the more successful users after just a few days or weeks on the platform?
Most “whales” and whales feel that time and effort will pay off in the end because it did for them. They don’t realize or remember how frustrating it is to comment on a larger users post and get no reply time and time again, write from their heart and get no comments or payout, look at crap posts making much more money than they do and not have any indication that there is a real correlation between quality work put in and payout other than the assurance of those who are doing well themselves.
Whales and “whales” also tend to ignore that as the user base grows, it becomes more competitive and it seems to matter more and more who you know. There’s a limited number of SP out there. The more that is held by a few accounts, the less floats around between minnows. The more minnows there are, the harder it becomes to get noticed. They seem to miss the point that even though they made it through the struggle, someone who works even harder and longer may not be able to reach the same level of success in the future
Another common argument I hear from larger accounts is “your 100 sp will be worth thousand six of dollars in fiat, one day” which may be true but it’s a bit opportunistic as it doesn’t address the issue of wealth distribution and people gaming the system at the expense of everyone. There is also the attitude I mentioned already, “you are complaining now but you will be as big as I am one day if you work hard”, this may be true and may not be. Don’t let it just be a convenient way of thinking.
As you grow, remember that not everyone isfacing the same prospects in this ecosystem and while some things are much better than they were before, other new issues have arisen that you didn’t have to deal with. You may have more power and even more experience and perspective but it doesn’t mean you always know best.
The Minnow bubble
Don’t think I’m letting you all off the hook, minnows (see what I did there). Minnows love to get stuck in a victim mentality and let their expectations run wild, then feel disappointed. Steemit may be a step up from the rat race, but it’s still a competitive place where who wins is sometimes a bit more based on who wants it the most, not always based on contribution, decency and quality. I’m not saying you should suck it up and deal with it, but don’t fool yourself into thinking that steemit is (or should immediately be) a perfect place where greed and manipulation don’t exist. It comes from the same society that has all the problems we are used to and It is also not a perfect system. It is merely an interesting experiment with a lot of potential. That is not to say it isn’t awesome, and full of new opportunities and possibilities, but you are going to need to be realistic about your expectations and more creative and resourceful if you want it to be everything it could be.
It’s also easy to assume whales don’t give a shit about you or the platform because you don’t get an upvote or reply when you comment on a whales post, or when you see large accounts receive high payout on crappy posts. The fact is, there are countless users with a large SP stake who are doing everything they can to distribute the wealth and help out users like you, but there are far too many of us minnows and too few whales and dolphins and on top of that they also want to support users who have been here for a while and who they know and trust and there isn’t much wrong with that.
I believe the real problem is that the dolphin class still isn’t large enough. Some people believe it will get better and better. I have my doubts due to the way wealth attracts wealth. I personally would prefer a system or algorithm where no one was allowed to grow so huge that they could threaten the entire ecosystem. I know my belief contrasts with the popular emphasis on a “free market” but I do believe freedom is about much more than just a free market and some things take priority to that. All I can say to those who disagree is, let’s see how bots and a system of growth that is doubly exponential in nature work in the long term. Trickle down economics didn’t work for our national economies so I don’t see how it will work here either, but I’m willing to stick around and see how it plays out as long as I still have an opportunity to get closer to my dream of full self reliance and make friends.
Here’s one thing that you should ponder despite your political beliefs though....
Have you imagined what’s it’s like to be a whale?
Sometimes I write a post that’s gets 20-50 comments. Sometimes I write one or two posts a day. I also have friends and people whose work I believe in and want to maintain my relationships which means reading their posts and keeping up with them through chat. This isn’t not only strategic, it’s what makes steemit fun for me. I’ve got Initiatives that I work on on top of all that. Do you think I have time to not only reply to comments but also read posts by every single user who replies on my posts in an entirely reciprocal fashion? Calculate how much time it take to do that’s on your posts as a new user and multiply that by 10 or 20 or 50 (or 1000 if you are @jerrybanfield).
I’m still a minnow and I have a hard time keeping track of all the people who make themselves known to me, imagine how hard it must be as a dolphin or wherever who does more than just curate content. @kafkanarchy84, @whatsup and sometimes even @stellabelle, @v4vapid or @slowwalker will give me an occasional upvote. If they miss 98% of my work or rush on a reply, I won’t take it personally! They have a lot on their plates! They’ve all been here longer than I and probably have more usernames in their memory than I have. They are being many thing s to many people. I’ve yet to get any notice or upvote by @taskmaster4450 despite reading a lot of their posts and leaving heartfelt comments but I don’t hold a grudge, that’s one user that I know is always paying it forward!
Eventually, maybe I’ll be noticed. Of course you shouldn’t do this for just any dolphin or whale, minnows need your attention more and often deserve it as much. Just support who you like and believe in based on their content and on who they are, regardless of their size on the platform. Build a sense of community among your fellow minnows and as your minnow friends grow, more people will notice you and throw you an upvote.
Stereotyping users with larger accounts won’t fix anything, and the more you realize how many are on your side, the more we can work together. Will you still be fighting for minnows when you are a whale? If so, start now! If not, why should anyone want to give you a bigger upvote. Stand for something and look for ways to work on the problem, rather than waiting for others to fix it for you.
Spend your energy on the solution rather than dwelling too much on the problem. Work together with others and search for consensus so that your efforts go further!
I came up with the idea for the Be Awesome community, the Deadpost Initiative and Steemit zombies out of a desire to do whatever I could to improve the ecosystem despite being a minnow myself.
Steemit zombies is an ambitious new project to create more dolphins on the platform through our collective effort and a strong supportive community. We are still working out the details but one of our methods will be to focus on gaining readership and upvotes for undervalued posts past the 7 day limit. This is not MY Initiative, it’s a community effort that I came up with the idea for, we will need a lot of people to make it work. If you are interested,
Join the Steemit zombies and Deadpost chat
Join the "Be Awesome" discord community
The Be Awesome discord chat, was created with the intention of making deeper connections with fellow steemians. Come talk about "deep shit" and make friends.
I’m also a language learning coach. Come find me if you need help learning a language.
Confessions of the Damaged - a collection of short stories
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I welcome crypto gifts :-D
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by @skyleap
I find one issue is minnows try to save their upvotes. They will read your post and comment for curation rewards but wont upvote.
There is also a lack of reAal engagement/ support amongst minnows.
Spread the votes around and you will grow faster.
In general I'm fairly satisfied with steemit as it is and I don't mind that whales and dolphins don't give me all their attention all the time since most of the time I don't deserve it :)
Sometimes though, just once in a while, it can be a little frustrating to put hour after hour into a good long well edited and written post with absolutely no recognition, just to then see high rep people make short or poorly composed posts or uploading bad pictures and instantly get high upvotes. I often get a feeling that it's people and not content that is upvoted on steemit, and while I absolutely understand that everyone of course wants to support their friends, it's a little discouraging at times.
With that said though it's obviously important that you do steemit because you like it yourself, and while I've yet to earn my share of attention, I'm thoroughly enjoying what I'm doing and as such I hope the rest comes along the way.
Thanks for a good read before bedtime, I enjoyed your dualistic view into a world of someone who is both and neither :)
I think your comments sum up a lot of my feelings about Steemit pretty well. I have days where I love Steemit and can't wait to interact, post, and be part of the community. Then, I have the days where I feel the frustration that can come with a good but ignored post. Some days it's definitely a love/hate relationship, but I continue to press on because the positives still outweigh the negatives.
I think that's how a lot of us feel. There are lots of emotional traps (BS) that is easy to get upset about but it doesn't really do any good to let that take up your attention. Focusing on what you can do is always going to go further.
You seem to be doing fantastically, I hope you are satisfied, and keep it up. ;-) There are a lot of users who struggle for a long time to get noticed by anyone with any weight, and some of them have very great content. I can think of some that have posted every day for 8 months and still make less than $1 on most of their posts despite their good contact and engagement with other users simply because those users are all minnows. I'd like to make it easier for those people.
Hehe yeah well.. if it wasn't for my girlfriend @iwanderela and her faithful upvote and using votebots to buff up posts for attention and to earn steem power, I really don't think most of my posts would make it above $0.5 in upvotes.. I don't mind the lack of upvotes as I can make up for that with the bots to slowly grow, I just wish for more comments to interact with - people that actually read what I produce :)
I believe I create quality content most of the time and that I have something to offer when I write and I wish I could get it out there for more to actually notice, so in that regard I don't feel like I'm doing that fantastic.. I'm merely playing the steemit bid bot game for now.
But I'm keeping it up and hopefully one day I'll have a breakthrough or be big enough myself to get into the inner circle :)
I have thought about my comments lately.
and all the anger on in the minnow community. seems like a lot of minnow are so s so jealous so many are losing the plot.
and not getting it. take a lot of time to be a whale. Either way, how u got there. a thing half of the job is not going to is and check the wallet al the time and just give it shome time.
am starting to get this more and more.
btw big fan on the steemitzombies.
Thanks, welcome to come join our chat, link in the post.
a did. :) am not the super active in such groups but there is fly on the wall :)
I think many people miss the point that social networks are more about friends and attention then they are about "Content".
Think about typical Facebook interactions... You like to see your friends' kids, but you probably don't surf pictures of "Stranger's Kids". Well, because that would be hella creepy.
People who know you or know who you are ... Are interested in what you have to say. People who don't... They likely will never notice your perfectly punctuated, neatly formatted post.
MAKE Friends. I don't care what anyone tells you to do to make quality content... Make friends.
Be interesting...
Have I mentioned that you should make friends? :)
This network is about monetary gain. If content were what was truly important the system wouldnt be set up for whales to dominate the rewards.
just keep steeming and forget about complaining! that is success
Really nice thoughts @whatamidoing!
I joined steemit only two months ago and see like an exponential growth of users which also implicates that there will be a lot of users that might come for the quick and easy money by making some quick and easy posts. These are also inactive again quickly but until they are they will complain that steemit is not the land of milk and honey.
In my opinion, time is an important factor. If one is patient one will grow as long as providing interesting content.
Actually, I'm not that patient to be honest. So what I did is investing some money to buy steem and made contacts on several Discord channels. Thanks for the ones mentioned in your post btw.
Greetings from some plankton and keep on steeming so we have more of these thoughts to read about!
The whole point here is to make sure the amount of dolphins grow at a faster rate as the amount of new users skyrockets so that it won't take longer and longer for new users to get noticed and the wealth can flow.
Truth! You are smart to look at the Steem ecosystem from both perspectives. There is a challenge (And opportunity) in being the whale as well as being the minnow.
I think it helps to focus more on the contribution and less on the raw numbers -- as long as the followers are going up and there are some good payouts every week, there never a real need to worry in the early days of a Steem account.
I look at everything this way, I try not to identify too closely with anything so that I can see all sides. I don't want to be arrogant about it, but it always gives me a unique perspective, which is why I know I should be making more ;-P. I'm sure that sounds arrogant haha. I'm sure my aversion to using established methods of doing anything and my desire to always re-create the wheel have slowed me down to some extent but I'm trying to help others as I help myself and in a way that's consistent with who I am, which I think doesn't really have a model to follow.
Well said @heymattsokol!
I totally agree!
Very insightful post. I appreciate your perspective. I know that I am already strapped for time when it comes to Steemit, so I definitely can imagine that Whales, who still have lives outside Steemit, are as well. These are important things to keep in mind.
I noticed this early on and now that I'm running initiatives and have a lot of followers, I can feel it in full force. I would love to give lots of attention to everyone but to do that effectively I'd have to keep my circle extremely small. I try to keep my steemit life together and cohesive through the chats.