Jerry Banfield, the face of Steemit, just published an article boasting about how many accounts have been created here so far on Steemit.
Now, there is nothing wrong with loving Steemit. I love Steemit, but I'm not kidding myself, by going around telling everyone how great the platform is, and how well it's doing as far as user growth is concerned.
He says in his article that there's 400,000 accounts here on Steemit, and the question that I simply asked him in the comments was: How many of those accounts are actually active.
Now, from what I know, Steemit has been around since May or June of 2016, and has 400,000 accounts, of which, according to the last statisitcs article I read, only around 50,000 of those accounts were actually active users.
Now, to put that into perspective, Facebook had over a million active users in its first year, but, to be fair, Steemit is more like Reddit, and from what I hear, Reddit had to grow itself in some shady ass ways as well.
According to the lore on Wikipedia, the creators of Reddit had tons and tons of accounts, and would participate on the website through these accounts, in order to spur up some conversations.
Now, Steemit is different, because Steemit is a pay-to-win platform, so all one would have to do is buy Steem, and all of their content will show up at the top of every topic.
With that being said, it is a huge put off for many new wanderers, who just happen to stumble upon Steemit one day. There is almost no possible way to make it to the front page of Steemit without paying for Steem, which let's face it... is going to put a lot of people off.
Oh, and truth be told, I am getting a bit sick and tired of seeing the same regurgitated content at the very top of each category day in and day out, and I'm sure that you all are as well.
I love Steemit, but unless you got whale googles on, I don't really see the platform making it too far.
I mean let's keep the realism train rolling for a second, and break-down the Steem token a bit. It can only be used here on Steemit, and a few other Steem oriented platforms, which let's face it... are absolutely terrible.
DTube is horrendous, and is littered with copyrighted content.
I don't know people, I'd like to think this platform could go somewhere, but the more I am on it... the less I believe.
Anyway, since I'm not a whale, this post probably won't be seen by anyone, so I don't really know what the point was, but for all of you who still have faith in Steemit... I wish you much luck!
I fully agree with your post. The exact number of active users (and other interesting values) can be found in my daily stats here.
no way to tell if they are independent advice users.
tx loads are doing well though - I've seen it north of 900k tx/day https://steemdb.com/
Well, there are some things you said that I totally agree about. I'm loving Steemit a lot, but I get what you're trying to say. I will try to enjoy Steemit as much as I can before anything happens, and I really hope it can go far. But for that to happen some changes need to be made. Great post, I'll resteem because i really like what you wrote!
@lillieskold
Hey thanks,and I've been really trying lately not to be so negative in general, but Jerry has his own agenda, seeing as though he invested his entire life-savings into Steem, so I don't want anyone else getting hurt is all.
I do not think they can get hurt, maybe dissapointed with time lost but if you do not invest in steemit and just take the revenue of the posts as they come (with or without bot boost) then all you can do is lose time.
I have earned 250ish on this platform in 2 months and do not consider that to bad... as stated, the only thing I have potentially lost so far is time
Well you didn't really lose time either if you felt it was time with purpose, but you're still never going to make hundreds a day like these whales are currently doing.
There's a guy on here, I shit you not, he posts the same 5 to 10 articles everyday, and makes a killing... that shit is going to kill Steemit.
This post was seen and upvoted by a minnow. For what that's worth.
Thank You
Great article. You bring up valid points. I was under the belief that the platform is in Beta and they would fix presented issues that make sense like getting newer users on the front page, before finalizing. But I later learned they are updating periodically. I see and agree about seeing the same content over and over. It appears if there is not a dramatic liftoff in daily unique users with compelling content soon, it will stay in Beta. Is there a suggestions box around here? It would be nice to see something like that and read peoples submissions to vote on. If it is around I haven't seen it.
The whales make all the decisions on what happens to the platform, which is yet another reason why Steemit may not last the test of time.
Steemit is a test, the test is over 😏
https://steemit.com/steem/@abh12345/battle-tested-steem-blockchain-going-to-kick-ass-in-2018
I have done well on Steemit and will continue to use it, but its hard for me to understand how people can fall for someone who is so clearly full of it. I wont put anymore support into the platform with a sociopath being the face of steemit. This article will probably get crushed, but I commend you for speaking out!
Yep, and my posts have been attacked on here before, which is yet another reason why it will most likely not succeed.
I hear ya on the whole Jerry thing, and the sad part, is that he doesn't even hide his bias.
Dude has gone all in on Steemit, and actually uses peoples up-votes to line his pockets, and to also create advertisements that actually just benefit his accounts, and not Steemit, because he targets them to shit spammy countries.
I noticed that as well and asked him about his income level targeting on his ads along with demographic targeting info a while back. I have yet to hear anything and I am not holding my breath
He targets all the shit countries, and we wonder why Steemit is filled with beggars in the comments. It consts pennies to target those folks, and then he pats himself on the back, for bringing spam over to Steemit in droves... just sad.
Less than a penny in some cases, I am an avid user of Facebook ads and google adwords so its nice to see that I am not the only one to notice this. I do not like to call them shit countries though. I would prefer to say he targets users that will make him look good and benefit him the most with no regard towards benefiting steemit.
Ah yes, and my apologies, but you are exactly right.
Although, no one has really called him out on it, well not anyone at the top that is.
Check out the likes and dislikes on his latest videos
and you will see tons of people calling him out in the comments.
This guy did a very nice video asking Jerry to tone things back a bit
All the negative feedback shows that people are getting tired of the BS and although it may be muted here it will be amplified outside of steemit. Jerry has the potential to do amazing things for steemit if he takes the advice from those who are asking him to rethink what he is doing.
I'm seriously thinking about forking the source code and start my own platform.
The idea was great, but the current situation isn't any good. And honestly I think we have already gone to far to make the platform honest.
As long as the problems aren't fixed, the userbase will kill the platform. Sadly.
What surprises me the most is that the Company beside steemit doesn't even make an effort to fix the platform.
You think they would, because they kept a whole lot of Steem for themselves, and the better the platform does, the more their Steem is worth.
Has anyone checked their accounts, are they powering down?
If so, maybe they just don't care anymore.
If you do make your own platform, that'd be great if it allowed votes to be counted equally regardless of the amount of currency a post is worth (I'm not sure if that's possible or how it would work). That would allow certain posts to still earn a considerable amount, while giving many other great posts a chance to be really seen, and could stop the whole pay-to-play thing.
I've always thought that one of Steemit's biggest problems was the fact that you can basically buy influence; that also seems to go against the spirit of what decentralization is about too. I still believe that a system where everyone has an equal vote is the way to go.
it's okay to have some kind of pessimistic point of view on things sometimes and it's okay to be aware of troubles and point them out but I think there are no problems other than some bots or fake accounts created and yes ofcourse those who where thinking to get rich overnight but didn't aren't probably active anymore but I see it like this: I was user 211.000 something in june and now there are 400.000 accounts.. that almost a 100% raise.. don't forget there are lots of cheap and poor country's where the currency is so low valued that 1 article on steem actually could pay a lot in those country's and what I see on discord and on the posting wall is that these people gather in groups a lot and be very active. also the amount of new developed apps for on the platform has increased a lot which is healthy if you ask me.
Hell yea!! I am flying to Tansania on the 10th of Oct. I am staying there for half a year. I will start promoting it there! Going to be kind of difficult, but in the region I am going to be it is like 3$ for 8h work! Me, I would rather spend 8h on Steemit to earn 3$ ^^. The problem is do they trust in that, do they have time and a few bucks to get an ID and an international Bank account? And even if, they would need full guidance! Maybe I should write a post about how to get to all this stuff so I don´t need to explain it all too often.
Very good viewing angle!
Because of your smart move to comment on Jerry´s article and linking to your article in it, I found, read, upvoted and resteemed your article.
So in that way you succeeded already. 😉
I share your dose of healthy crticism regarding the reality of steemit. But it is the in yer face cheerleaders like Jerry who will bring growth to steemit. And it is critics like you who try to improve the quality of steemit, which is the much more difficult task.
To a successful division of labor!
Amen to that, and I usually don't post bomb in the comment section, but I felt his article needed another side to it.
Hey there @tolkalore, this is a thought provoking post, I don't resteem very often, but I feel like more people need to know how genuine users are feeling about the system. I'm a nobody, part of no "whale circle jerk" but I have hit trending a handful of times since joining the platform.
I agree that some of the faces on Steemit are giving a somewhat falsified view of how easy it is to be successful on Steemit. I do however, consider myself a F2P (free to play) participant on Steemit, as with anything I believe that I could grow as a minnow by simply putting in the work.
There are many good contributors that talk about the work and hustle needed, so not all of it is false advertising. You brought a great point to light, if Steemit is expected to go mainstream (which we all hope it does) the average person using this site is going to get frustrated and give up easily.
I want to know what is being done to counteract this, everyday it seems there are people upset that they don't make more than a couple of cents.
I went through my followers the other day only to find mountains of post with zero votes, sitting between zero to three cents. It like the blind leading the blind here, as even I am still learning.
@shello
Ya see, it would be one thing if people were getting upset that they weren't making anything if all was equal, but the people who pour thousands of dollars into Steem, are always going to prosper over the minnow who puts in the hardest work possible.
The system was designed to be funded, and that's what whales do... but don't expect anyone to be around at the bottom for long, which is what you are already seeing via the account attrition rate.
One, because the whales up-vote themselves, and automatically make it to the top. Two, all the major up-vote bots follow them, and them alone, because that's where they get all their money from. And three, all the other whales, follow the other whales, and the cycle continues.
What I'm saying is, that you could get somewhere without money if you're lucky and persistent, but it will never outshine or outperform those who pay to win... no matter what you do.
The system was designed as a pay-to-win platform, but with that being the case... no one should expect anyone to be left at the bottom for long, which we're already seeing via a super high active user account attrition rate.
The sites churn rate putting bringing more people up, the more users being added. I understand the concept, many video games are pay to win. To have a character with all the best items, you need to be buying them in cash shop, however it is still possible to reach it by being F2P. I agree the amount of time/work would be insane in this regard. The system in that sense works perfectly, to go up- buy Steem!
There are many posts that speak about networking, and I would imagine this to be to get regular upvotes. That is good to say that as long as we are using the site as intended everyday, our own accounts will climb in value.
I understand what you're saying, but pay-to-accessorize and pay-to-win are two totally separate things, and in the pay-to-win model, no matter how hard you work, you will never ever get ahead of those who do pay.
Nah fam I do understand. Pay to accessorize like League of Legends, Pay to win is Maplestory and literally any mobile game like Unision League, PAD (puzzles and dragons) other stuff. What I'm trying to say here, is that you can spend money on the games and still suck overall. It really depends on what you do with it. Pay to win definitely have advantages, but just the fact alone that you can pay and still not win, or that you can be F2P and still succeed, just means that you have to focus more towards what you are trying to accomplish.
You're not wrong, but my opinion differs, I feel like grinding can be just as rewarding.
I hear ya, but that's an awful lot of grinding.
Think the way that Grand Theft Auto 5 is now. Sure you could get all the new cool stuff without paying... but it's going to take you a very very very long time to do it.
It sure is! But that's what I feel makes all the effort all the more worth it. Everyday I try to see what I can learn and improve on, and I feel ya that sometimes it feels that only the rich make it to the top. But I like getting frustrated and being like "omg what am I doing wrong?" cause when I figure it out I feel a sense of accomplishment, like I really learned something.
Steemit is going to take me a long time to climb working at it everyday, but I won't know if I can do it if I don't try!
My Momma always used to tell me, " Life is what you make it."
After many years of holding that belief, I really think she was on to something.
Steemit is what you make it too!
But you can't just expect someone to improve your life for you. If you want to make some crypto here in Steemit, take the reigns, and view this platform as an opportunity to shift paradigms.
If utilized with integrity, this blogging platform can empower thousands of writers, artists, activists, and students.
With this platform, PEOPLE CAN EARN FROM LEARNING.
On Monday I'll be elaborating on this. And on the 10th, I'll be releasing my book about riding my bicycle from Denver, Colorado to Standing Rock, North Dakota, to protest an oil pipeline.
My goal is to pull the huge Facebook audience from Standing Rock Facebook Groups, into Steemit, to empower Water Protectors, and bring them into this movement.
Want some, get some.
And stop waisting your precious time criticizing others.
Figure out what systems aren't working (wether technological and ideological) and upgrade them.
It's time we stop throwing stones at a beaten down shed, and start building up an enduring barn.
Ya know what I mean?
I speak it in Love.
I love it, criticize someone for criticizing! lol
Constructive criticism is key
I know the irony is real~ I'm not sure what to do with it all. :)
I'm really not trying to be a hypocrite, I guess I'm just trying to highlight the principle of criticizing the idea, not the person.
I guess I'm just solution oriented, and used to articles that identify a problem, and then bring a solution. But I guess that's hard when there's no clear solution.
...or is there?
Its important to deal with thing internally before it gets amplified ten fold on external social media sites. When you see behavior that is detrimental to others I think its important to say something.
The problem is, is that Steemit leads aren't really making a difference. They are posting shit content, and then up-voting themselves, along with their army of up-vote bots... that isn't helping anyone in the end... especially not Steemit.
You are a good example of this. You have written a good quality articles and after 19 votes, you would be lucky to earn $5.
While some whale could basically posts a meaningless comment, and earn way more by upvoting himself.
This needs to be fixed. Getting a bigger piece of the pie after you have put a lot of work in it is still fair.
But this shouldn't mean that a whale is set for life, and never has to post anything of value ever again. While still earning hundreds of dollars.
Ahh, the Achilles' heel of Steemit.
Sadly, the start of a platform shapes its future, and with so many whales already out there, in there special whale groups, it's going to be a tough road trying to get some balance into the system as a whole.
and btw someone like that jerry banfield is always looking over reacting happy and enthausiastic.. you should check out bombards bodylanguage on youtube where a bodylanguage expert teaches her expertise to you... then watch jerry banfield again and you see how he over happy and enthausiastic he tries to be.. sometimes it's disgusting yes but all he does is doing promotion for the platform and I don't see any problem with that to be honest
Irrelevant, how many active, active, active!!! users are there... it's the only number that counts.
i came end of june here, and that would be 200.000 accounts created that would at least show some activity but unfortunately a lot of people try it and get 1 upvote only and quit yes... but I cant bother that.. I don;t post often myself but I delegate about 2000 now which makes me some extra montly steem extra
Sounds good, and good luck!
The difficulty is to find balance between buying yourself in Steemit and writing your way to the top. If you do not gain influence on Steemit by buing Steemit, there is no point in buying Steem. If any average creator could get to the front page, it would not serve the business model of Steemit.
One problem in keeping people active is that they might have high expectations of Steemit and post only to make money. When they will not reach high payouts with low quality posts, they will be upset. Some will not reach audienve they deserve as they do not make any connections.. this is a complex system if you want to be visible and succesful.
Indeed it is, and a lot of people who can in fact write decent articles, will want to exclusively publish their work on their own blog... and why wouldn't they?
I can't argue with your point, but can you please try to tell me what you wanted to say with "will won't to exclusively publish". "Will want to" or something else?
Just making sure I understand right :)
Hmm, maybe it's an error, let me check mate.
Yep, it was a mistake... sorry bout that!
Because there is a lot of value in posting your work on your own website only, it gives it exclusivity, as opposed to publishing it all over the internet, this way people will have to visit your website in order to consume said content.
Very true everything you say. System is set up to get dividends to whales who control everything. A pyramid system where the only income to platform comes from the newcomers who invest and lock money into SP is needed to finance whales, so that they can get benefits. There is no chance that the distribution of rewards will be fair in this concept. The only power in this platform is SP, so ppl who posses it decide about everything. The situation is good for whales but not good for masses or mass adoption. With some time the platform will go down, if the fundamental changes will not happen. The enthusiasm for participating will die, when majority of ppl finds out that there is no way to be fairly rewarded. Ppl like Jerry B are of course having own interest and own business model, spreading a lot of BS to promote the platform is well paid activity. And yeah, your post will not make hundreds cos you arent touching the whales. At the end I would say, I would like to see some good changes that can change this, cos I think that there is the potential for a platform that fairly rewards the creators of content, but I am not really optimistic that this would happen. If you want to reed some of my thoughts about it you will also find it in my last blog.
nice article
Thanks
Man you really wont my heart who said if you arent whale your post wont be seen ? i have seen it so many others would also :) i reesteemed it :)
Hey thanks bud!
Ya i really liked what you said...n it's true that same content shows up if we don't actually search for it...but ya i too feel guilty because I too am not so active on steemit due to studies...🙄
Hey, at least you notice it, and at least you try to make a difference.
400,000 accounts, only 82 people even clicked on this article.
Minnows really need to work hard these days,
your article was seen :-)
and your honesty appreciated!!!
Hey thanks, I appreciate it!
Your post was mentioned in the hit parade in the following category:Congratulations @tolkatore!
Hey! That's pretty cool! Thanks!
Well done with your post!
Please consider voting for my witness here to support my work.
Good one!
Sure there are many stones in the way.... But still there is great potential in it. Though the platform is still in beta/ bots rule the system/the ranking algorithm sucks - big time, the dev-team is on many things! There is really a lot to change and to enhance to get adopted the way it should. I am not negative on it for the long term. I am with you at the point: the longer I am in it, the harder it gets to imagine it could skyrocket soon... . In the beginning I was totally enthusiastic!
People need to just use it without the "I will get rich quick" thoughts. But in order to just use it the main UI, steemit.com, needs to run(intuitive/user friendly) flawless... This is the first and probably one of the most important issues, at least to me.
I look forward to a much smoother, and more intuitive Steemit myself, but the 1% at the top isn't going to change, and that is going to be a huge factor on whether or not we could keep the other 99% around to play the game called Steemit going forward.
It can be changed (updates)! Didn't say, it absolutely will. I am just hoping 😉.
You do really suffer in this kind of platform, for the time being. I read lot's of your posts and I do enjoy almost each post. You should by now have tons of followers and a shitload of money.
To be desperate in your position is taceable!
There are many (mostly unpopular) ways to get more followers upvotes and money. You just don't want to participate in that stuff ...
One of the things keeping me at steem ** people like YOU **still posting valuable content - and of cours the money I have spent so far😂.
Hey thanks, I had no idea anyone read my shit.
I am trying my very best not to be negative all the time, but it so hard to find something positive in the space I generally chime in about.
Thanks again for the support though!
I can see where you're coming from but you have to remember that this blockchain is mined by the actual users.
Would you feel resentment if the whales were like they are in Bitcoin? Massive warehouses full of ASIC computers mining away and controlling vast amounts of influence on the platform when all you could do is mine a little inconsequential piece with your computer? They've invested a ton of something to get that influence whether time or money and have a right to wield it.
The fact of the matter is that any blockchain has this situation. The more attention it gets, the more players. If you want to be a part of any blockchain you are going to either invest in the coin or invest in a way to mine it. With this one, the beauty is that anyone can participate without having to drop a dime into mining hardware. All they have to do is participate.
From this perspective I think Steem actually offers a lot more possiblity than any of the other crypto's for newcomers to get engaged and get there first taste of what it's like to participate in the crypto space.
I could care less about the whales and upvote bots. I don't worry about that part of it. What keeps me coming back to the platform is the fact that I find interesting content here daily that adds value to me and because of the mining rewards I enjoy participating. The community is actually a lot better than I thought it would be given the way this whole experiment is setup.
In my short time here I've come across great people, great content and a fun way to interact and be social. That's why I continue to participate.
I do believe anyone can grow on this platform, just takes time and effort and a realization that this is a game that requires more than just good content. You have to engage, participate, and bring value. If you do all three of those for an extended period of time, you're going to eventually reap the rewards.
Are there people on the platform that rub me the wrong way? Absolutely, but that's going to be the case anywhere you encounter human interaction. Overall though, I have found the overwhelming majority of active users that aren't bottom feeders to be really cool.
Do I see flaws in Steemit? Sure. I know you saw my comment about why I won't buy above a buck, but the truth of the matter is, that if they fix the big hurdles and get this thing out of beta, I believe it has massive potential.
So we wait and see if they can deliver or not. In the meantime I'm enjoying myself and loving the different content and interactions I encounter daily.
Just like this post.
I love your enthusiasm, and I wish you the best, but I know you believe that a lot of things have to change around here, especially cracking the nut on how to get new users to come along and stay here on Steemit correct?
Yep, I think the biggest concern for me is the barrier of entry for new users. The retention side is obviously important but I think that comes from people being able to easily bring their current friends into the platform.
Right now, I believe the retention is low due to the fact that most people don't have the ability to join or interact with their current social circles. There is no easy way for someone to experience the platform and then invite all their friends to come join them immediately. Each and every one of us has had to put time into the platform getting to know others on it by following and reading content.
Add to that the fact that it's blockchain based and users have to immediately have this weird long password that they can't forget and no way to recover, along with three different currencies and there's just a lot of hand holding and explaining that has to happen. It's not an insurmountable barrier of entry but it's not an easy one for sure. The more users we get that stay here and figure it out the more users we have that will understand it and be able to bring their friends in. For me, I haven't been preaching this place yet because I want to see a dead simple sign up process that happens as quick as signing up at any other site.
Once that's the case, I'll be evangelizing and getting all my friends involved. It's just a perfect way to introduce them to crypto, get them participating in the space and having some fun while doing it.
Retention will come when you have community and social circles that you get to engage and interact with on the platform daily. Which brings us back to ease of entry and ui/ux.
In my opinion HF20 is huge. If it can deliver on simplifying entry to the platform that's going to open a lot doors. We'll see how it all goes but there's a lot riding on the next few months as far as what the Steemit team needs to do and how well they execute.
Wow, I agree completely, and let's hope that this upcoming hardfork does in fact fix many of the issues we are all currently experiencing.
Based up on available data in the hand, steemit has an exponential growth and also can compete with top currencies in crypto world. Thanks for sharing @ tolkatore!
Could you please show us this data?
You do not think that the 'post' button looks very nice. This button was drawn by a professional designer.
I love steem. I love superbeauty button.
Ned Scott love it too.
Ha, the button is shit... and they didn't even have the decency to make it with rounded curves or anything.
But, but surely such a task would be a great challenge. They would need to add:
border-radius: 25px;
to the existing markup. You can't possible expect them to add a single line of code.
That would take months to implement.
< / sarcasm>
Ha! Indeed it would be.
Need start new ICO to make that. Hardest task))
Congratulations @tolkatore! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
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nyc