Maybe this is a rant. Maybe. Ready?
Lots of people talk about how many accounts wind up dead, that Steem isn't doing enough to engage them, that they are leaving because they weren't able to become part of the community. Perhaps it is all true but, why?
I don't have the numbers but if you trawl (not troll) @paulag's blog for the last couple of weeks you will find numbers for churn rates and various engagement activities. Have a read.
Today I posted about Steem complexity, which creates various barriers to entry as the place is goddam difficult to get the head around... alone. And this is the real issue with the churn rate isn't it? People have come here expecting to earn yet without the willingness to actually learn the system which generally requires engaging, making friends, joining groups and you know, being social.
Many seem to have come in under the influence of Jerry and friends bullshit from Youtube thinking they are going to have an easy time of it and when they don't, they cry, complain that it is because the system is unfair and leave. Bye!
Others come in on the words of friends yet, how many people are really capable of onboarding and being able to support people to not only learn what is required but also add value to their early days to help them find their feet?
Remember these numbers I posted a few days ago about powering up and building a middle class?
< 100 - = 980776
100-500 = 13026
500-1k = 3442
1-5 = 4275
5-10 = 776
10-20 = 511
20-30 = 191
30-40 = 88
40-50 = 57
50-60 = 58
60-70 = 35
70-80 = 20
80-90 = 19
90-100 = 18
100k+ = 147
So, how many people on the list can offer the informational support a new account needs to work out the complexity? How many can offer some voting value to get them off and running? I know that I have trouble with keeping people engaged and I am offering them the support of my own somewhat knowledgeable experience and my voting value. What about the people onboarded by those accounts < 100 SP?
Is it any wonder that the churn rates are so high when people are pulled in from all over the place with promise of easy riches only to meet perhaps the most complex economic system they have ever had to directly deal with?
A little advice: If you are struggling here, if you don't understand the technology, don't have a significant vote to support and can't help people become part of the community yet you are onboarding, you are probably adding to the churn rates. So many people I have talked to over the months have said they have brought people in only to have them leave again and think it is the other persons fault, not their own. Is it a problem?
Not really I think. At this stage of the ecosystem lifecycle I don't think we are anywhere near ready for mainstreaming and definitely not ready to become a charity organization that hands out value to the needy. It will kill the system.
What is needed isn't just people working to engage new users, we need new users who are proactive enough to engage. There are people who have been here for many months yet are still not on any of the chat platforms, still do not know the basics of the economy and are still spending their time chasing dollars without networking. Churn them, burn them. As it is obvious that the system isn't ready for them and they aren't ready for where the system is now. In time, they might regret it but that is their loss to live with.
I find it incredible that we have created a world where people expect to earn without actually doing anything. Just post what they want and magic money will rain down that they can extract and by their food or a new phone with. This shit is hard work and if you are here for only the money, you better bloody well know what it takes to get it. Especially if you are coming in with nothing but the shirt on your back.
I don't really care what people say, everyone is influenced by the prospect of earning here and even though there are many ways to do so, all of them take some level of work. Even the people who rub the "egos" of whales for votes have to sacrifice something, generally their dignity.
There are something like 60,000 active users out of the million odd accounts on Steem but as the numbers show, 98% of them have less than 100 SP. For the most part, those accounts are not helping much with user retention as they are often the extractors, the ones who never power up and the ones who are unable to add any value to the new users coming in.
It is not that they couldn't help of course but, they generally don't and most of them don't spend time engaging with the new users as the new users can't offer them a vote.
human engagement. Give it a good read. take out the bots and the average comments per post could be less than 1. Less than one. 1!Here is a post from @paulag on
If you are a small user worried about the future of this platform, bloody well start engaging with new users too. As said, look at the small number of larger accounts and tell me how they are not only expected to find all the users and upvote them but comment also? Or is it their duty to work 24/7 to engage users who for the most part don't care enough to know what the acronym SMT even stands for, let alone power up so they can have a bit of a vote to encourage others. They damn well know how to cashout though.
People can't seriously expect everyone else to do all the work, build the communities and power up to support the rest who just want to sit back and do nothing. Yeah, I am more than aware that people have different life positions but if this was my only way to put food on the table, I would be here learning every fucking thing I could about this system and finding every bloody way to make this work. If this is my chance at a ladder out of hell, I would throw everything I have into ensuring I am not just going to get a meal tomorrow, but one next week, next year and in ten years from now.
Unfortunately, I don't think this is possible because of unverified signups but, I would be very interested to see what the churn rates are based on region and a few other demographics. I think it would tell a lot about what is happening on the platform and show where distribution is going and why.
If you aren't willing to do what is necessary to help another, why would anyone help you? A community is built on reciprocity, give and take. Pats of encouragement on the back only go so far and they can't be eaten or used to pay bills or buy medication. What are you giving to this community and what are you looking to take?
Sunday rant over.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
I love these rants . There a self check :)
Its easy to earn money here on steemit all you have to do is post and people will throw money /upvotes to you . Do an intro post like this and earn a quick $100 , easy . just look at the trending page and you can do it to . A whale looks for new people so he can give you millions .
That's the crap that has to be overcome by new people . Its there expectation that has been sold to them .
I was up until 4 am (I am dragging ass) this morning going over that crap with someone who just joined . most of the time was deflating the guarantees they were promised . We will see if any seeds were taken and understood . To tell people that they do not have to invest anything is an out and out LIE
I don't know where this entitlement comes from but I will hurt your feelings and state the truth .
This is the thing isn't it? Most people feel that they are owed a debt without ever paying in.
People are leaving this platform because they don't find success in their 1000-word essays that can't be seen by the curating communities. But they have missed one important detail that every low-value account must know - engagement. Sure, you're a good author but if no one knows about you it's pointless. Since most that reach the hot are those who can bleed out to boost their posts, or those whales who can self-vote their memes.
But with engagement, people will check your content out. And probably most minnows would earn more on commenting than on their own content. Based on my own experience, except 1 post that got curated, I haven't had one past the $1 value without boosting it. But I randomly get $0.1-$5 on my comments for free. And of course, the discord community-engagement also increases your popularity and follow count. This is why it's called proof-of-brain algorithm. We gotta use our brains on how to find success; either bleed out cash or become popular.
Anyway, I haven't seen these numbers until now, and I've checked out your last post. I was surprised that the ones who got a $0.10 vote are part of the 1 percenters already. I intend to lease more SP to make some newcomers happy and stay. Some think it's unprofitable; it is, if you're thinking short term.
Yes, I'm one of the guys who came from Jerry and friends' band, but I never expected that I'd earn a ton here, atleast for now. I haven't engaged to new users, thanks for the eyeopener, I'll check #introduceyourself posts from now on.
Love your rants. Gets me thinking.
On a tangent, love the photo. What is the alien looking tower?
It is called Haulitorni (Shot tower) and it was used to make shot pellets for bullets. It has stood in different forms for a long time now but it has a little events hall underneath these days. I shot a wedding there last autumn :)
This is a shot of the bride doing the set up inside before the ceremony :)
What a lovely capture! I'd upvote it except you've declined payout. I'll just have to add to a post I've missed.
Like I said before, people are generally llazy in my opinion. The unwillingness to engage, hurry to cash out and lack of belief in the system is why we are stuck with 98% of us (myself included) with less than 100SP
To me I don't care how much SP you have or your Rep . Thats takes time to grow. what I care about is who and what you are
I do not follow you but I do watch . you resteem to much for me but I do like your last resteem :) I do like your comments and enjoy reading them . Now I have to go read that post you just did .
I don't know how Tarazkp is so productive but I'm working on it LOL
if a few more of those 98% had been powering up, they could support other too, but they have been here months and haven't.
lol I had a rant yesterday about people not powering up and blaming the whales on not voting for them lol. Thank you for the shout out and links to my posts....
many people many not know this but steemit links are high quality back-links and help a lot with SEO but that's just another side of steemit people don't get to know and deserves its own rant lol
What am I giving to this community you ask. Steemit is so different to anything I have ever worked on before, and I have this mentality that because its not money in my bank account who cares who else uses it, and because its not in my bank, its easier to share. I can do that on steemit, lol not in real life with real money. In the business world I worked in, to get to the top you gotta be tough, hold no prisoners. I think I can get to the top of steemit without being that person, but being the compete opposite. How awesome is that.
By choosing not to support those that don't want to support them selves is not being tough, its being real.
@fknmayhem was telling me about this a few months ago. Good to learn these things.
I would say that Pareto would be pretty correct here, Too much has been 'wasted' trying to engage 80% who don't care when it was the other 20 that are looking long.
The first time I joined Steemit was in July 2017 and I thought it was fun because thanks to my neighbor who put me on this platform, he told me that he had won $ 89 and that moved me and I went to this platform to see if I won dollars and my first publication did not earn more than $ 0.35, it was depressing and sad, I left it, but I returned in December, the currency went up and it was at that moment that I understood how to make a deposit thanks to stemmit and it is with effort and dedication, as well as when you want to achieve a dream and you need to put the action. regards
Hello friend, @tarazkp, you have reasons to say that people want the magic money of life, this platform is quite extensive and has many ways to progress, new users like me, we have to spend a lot of time to understand it, people! Like you make things easier for us! Thank you very much for that, here what matters is the work, that way we will be well rewarded ...
Thanks for this. I reengaged a few personal contacts who have started an account but lost interest.
You are right,
many of the people who leave the Steemit community
had completely unrealistic expectations coming into it.
The fact that they were disappointed has nothing to do with Steemit,
it has everything to do with them.
If it were not for Jerry and friend giving people an unrealistic representation of what Steemit is, their expectations would likely be more realistic. If they leave, let them, perhaps they will find what they are looking for elsewhere, let them leave Steemit to those who love it, flaws and all.
I totally agree with you, everybody needs to engage the newer users, even those of us with little SP. More engagement cannot hurt.
Most won't because there is nothing immediate in it for them.
I started doing my own part a few days ago and I really hope more people get on board with something like this.
Biggest issue I have is people just don’t want put any effort into anything and expect to make a truck load of money. Other day I told someone who was just posting YouTube trailers of gaming that they needed to include a lot more in a post than just that. I even gave examples of different things to talk about and what people tend to look for. Yet, still posting a single link to a game trailer with nothing else. I just don’t know what some of these people expect.
Somewhat tempted to show them my own work as an example. Granted I don’t want someone to become overly defensive either or anything else like that. Still at end of the day community and just put some effort into things is what people need to do. There are so many people daily looking for good written blogs that are original and created by the person posting. Yet it seems so far and in-between.
I just think back when I came here and while I more than centrally had some shit posts (I still do!) I still had a few I poured my heart and soul into while I was learning the ropes and asking questions. I wish there was a more thought out boarding process to get people started here. I just don’t have a clue what that would look like.
To get paid for other people's work.
Decentralised system so it is up to the community somewhat, especially those who onboard them.Most people don't know or have enough to onboard but they expect others to do the work to engage them.
This is beautiful rant here, and you know what's surprising? We celebrate 1 million users on the platform, but people are registering and running off, because they feel it's just post and collect money really, even being a thief is difficult
yes. some of them do a lot of work for very little too.
Certainly true we need these people to start taking steemit seriously rather than ponzi scheme
Hi tarazkp, i am one of the <100SP accounts here and after 6 months, still learning and finding my way. I saw a lot of people quit since the day i started and i have to admit that when you are not a good writer, things are not always easy here buth practice makes perfect right? That's why i am still here.
I met some great people wich is the perfect reason to keep trying and be social.
After 6 months, i am still struggling with some questions (maybe i am focusing too much on the numbers). I read and like to comment buth when i give a few comments like this a day, steemplus increases my spammer %.
Discord is another one of my problems here. If i dont get invited to a new channel, i never get there because i dont know how to find new groups. Is there a list or something?
If you could help me with my questions, that would be awesome.
Articles like this keeps people with 2 feet on the ground. I like that!
I don't spend much time at Discord but most communities have it listed on their pages and many members too. Steem.chat has groups also but I am unsure how many are active or have turned into link drop channels. At least in steem.chat there is a 'general' channel that you can ask various things and people will help.
a lot of the discords are in the posts of the owners, try msp, they do good work (minnow support project)
check out the site : http://minnowsupportproject.org/
there is also a discord link in there
en ook een nederlandstalige groep... dus dat kan ook helpen
good rant today... you know i agree
and SMT : shit my trousers? split my teeth? Slow Monday Thinking?
keep powering up...
Any one of those could be correct. I will have to see if it is in the FAQs
noooo, you really are going to look it up???
just ask someone, preferably someone with a lot of SP they know everything so we do not have to
I think this is at least partially true. And expectation definitely plays a role in churn.
But if someone joins, sees people whose success on steemit is mainly due to them being lucky enough to be early adopters, and then realises that they can never realistically hope to get anywhere near making a fraction of that kind of money - no matter how much time or capital they invest; can we really judge them harshly for giving up hope?
The small accounts actually have a great deal of value here combined but many spend their time trying to chase large votes rather than build a community around themselves. They should forget about the big whales and early adopters are and learn who they could be.
They do have a great deal of value combined, and if they ever organised to act coherently, even whales would learn to treat them with respect. Most people aren’t ready to hear that yet. This denial of reality is a big part of what maintains the status quo around here.
I remember just after HF19 a good whale saying, "the minnows have so much power, I hope they will use it well". Seems his hopes were dashed on the rocks.
I remember when i first heard about steemit from someone i never knew, i knew it was possible immediately, his testimony was good enough for me.
Infact it was all i needed, i have tried and failed at many things, one thing about failing i learnt is that, when you fail so much, there are two outcomes, either you stop trying, or you try more.
This mindset actually helped me here, all i knew was that the system worked, and if im not getting it, then im not trying enough. Ofcourse it is really ass kicking but just like you said you will give your all to ensure your tomorrows tomorrow
People i bring in mostly see how i work on my phone, i let them know first hand it is no childsplay to be here, they come in knowing they will work their ass off to get seen, they will have to compromise, be the s in social like never before, because these things im also doing and im still barely seen. The work is 10 times more
It is a lot of work and a month or two is not a long enough investment.
At this point I'm only attempting to onboard the people I know who are interested in fiendishly-complex systems for their own sake. I'm working on building a system that will use my votes to pay people I bring in enough to make it worthwhile for them to learn the system, but it's a ways from complete and Steem falling against USD doesn't help.
yeah, I have brought in some people who should be perfect for learning Steem yet, still failed to get them engaged. some have done well though. I try to support them all but it isn't easy.
It will be interesting to see if when dTube actually works reliably we get a big boost in user engagement/retention. Right now success on Steemit requires a whole lot of reading, and a lot of people just aren't interested in that.
Don't I know it.
I'm new here and read almost everything. I'm still confused about a lot of things but im sure I'll learn.
I came here because I want to share the things I like and have learned. Money of course is a good thing but so is engaging with others which like you said it's important here.
I agree with everything you said.
Posted using Partiko Android
well, if you read and engage, that alone will bring you some value... like the votes that you have gotten now
and if you do not need the money immediately for survival then power it up and be glad you did a few years down the line
Thank you for the advice! I think I will power up most of the time. I don't even think I'll make much since I'm still new but I'm not worried.
Posted using Partiko Android
i thought i would not make much, have almost 2000 sp now...
You're doing well!
Posted using Partiko Android
I agree with you when you say that it is complicated to understand steemit alone without help from anyone since this platform is very extensive and complex, for that is the help of the OLDSCHOOL that helps us to develop and raise our vote. Thanks to you for really helping us!
I believe that the key to emerge and be a good blogger in the sense that you have to have a lot of communication with our followers and little by little have more followers for the communication you do with them and so little by little you will become a big shot. My dream is to be a whale
They mostly did that to gain visualizations since steemit is not easy to generate income. YOU HAVE TO STRIKE A LOT
a lot of words. but say, live and let live, and let the platform talk for itself ! Chill.
Correct. The new users need to knuckle down as well. It is not an easy road to riches. I think the riches will come but it's a lot of work. One needs at least 6 months to get established and not be tempted to take money out. Why would you as you will stop your growth. Engaging with others on the platform is key. If you are not going to then you may as well leave. I think the wrong sort was attracted to the platform by certain users and bot owners.
You are the 2nd person I encountered this week that was complaining about how we are not ready for mass market integration and that charitable causes and hand outs will kill the platform.
I have a dissenting view on the matter as I think that we are at the right time to humanize the Steem Blockchain.
I have been in the platform for 6 months now and I have grown my account almost at my goal of 1k SP with both earnings, conversions of SBD to SP and some fiat invested.
I have invited some people and had lost some of them, some have stayed and invested, not substantial that they are dolphins but at least they are at minnow level.
I thought several people would really make it big here but even with me engaging them, supporting them and mentoring them they just couldn't last long and they really tried, they were engaged, commented a lot and was even curied a number of times but the interest eventually waned because Steemit really takes a lot of time. I spend a min of 6 hours each day sometimes as long as 16 hours if I don't have work or its a holiday.
Now if we only focused on those that are still here and posting without taking care of those that newly enter we will doom ourselves into becoming isolated. We don't want to become North Korea right that we only worship the self appointed leaders and bastions of quality. We want freedom and also a good nurturing environment to let new account set roots and grow.
My 6 months here has taught me the importance of a community and engagement. So when I created the account for charity @giftinkindph I knew what its purpose is and how to make it stronger.
I know that I can only gain attention if I make the post good and not appeal on the merits that I need pity but on that what I wrote is done well formatted, with good pictures, a clear purpose and a way of giving back to the Steemit community.
I delegated a good part of my SP so that it will get to a minnow size and help support other charities here. All earnings that it will have will not be cashed out as a portion of it will be used to powerup.
I shilled the shit out of the post i made in @giftinkindph to everyone I know but I don't have the mentality that they owe me their upvote or for them to donate. If they do upvote and donate well good especially if they care about the advocacy or it resonated with their values but if not then I don't hold it against them because each one of us have topics and advocacy that we care about.
So my charity account will further our vision but in the same time strengthen it, add more SP especially if we have surplus donations like last year that we could not use for other things because all school, supplies, food, medcine and other stuff has been taken care of and we could not return the surplus and just had it in the bank account earning a paltry interest but will be added to this years budget. If we had a Steemit account we could have used it to power up, curate for charity organizations and kept adding value to the account. We are looking long term here.
Also for like people in Venezuela the earnings they get here means the difference of eating food or eating trash, so by helping them we give them more opportunities. I like that humanitarian side of Steemit. It is a way to help people from across the world and you know they will use it for food. Although I saw an upfundme earlier to buy 2 sets of luggage because they were going on vacation. That was a WTF moment.
I did a quick research about the SMT the other day because I've run into that term several times in the last week (including one of your posts). What I understood is that one can create his own token based on steem for any use one wants, I'm still half through the way to understand it. So, I'm not that bad i think. I have 5 weeks here but I suppose that I can engage more with newer people.
i cant whip the guilt of my face. you struck a nerve.
my last post is about engaging through commenting and building a solid rapport with people. the people in this context are the bigshots. but your post got me thinking about the newbies, just like myself. if were are all brushing the egos of popular writers on steemit who would cater for the large population of newbies. we should do more than just telling each other what to do as newbies, we should as well support each other with quality comments and upvotes.
im dedicating tomorrow to the newbies--commenting, upvote and helping in any way I can. at the end of the day, it's about givinh value and receiving it in return as steem
True. All of life can only move forward progressively when give and take is equal and that give me give me mentality only drains the life from it all. A parasitic notion.
Very interesting post good job friend