Thanks for this post. As a new Steemit user, I've been wrestling with the issue of whether to use bidbots or other upvote services, or not. On the one hand, it seems like it's in poor taste to pay for upvotes, and I should just be concentrating on creating good content. On the other hand, writing good content isn't enough if nobody sees it, and using upvote services does seem to get my content in front of people other than the bots.
Anyway, that's my dilemma, and maybe I should write my own post about it, but this article really clarified some of my thinking about it. Very much appreciated.
A belated welcome to Steem!
I'm no superstar around here, but am pleased to have grown my account more than 100% over my initial fiat purchase, all organically and during a prolonged bear market. It helps immensely to join communities that feature content like yours and encourage people to engage with it. Whatever you are into, it's likely someone runs a regular contest, challenge, or other feature on the topic. If not, you could start one.
Lots of folks say Steem needs better content discovery, and it does, but the organic path of making connections with individuals and groups through your comments as well as your posts works well here. That's how I found you just now!
Posted using Partiko Android
Hey, thanks for your reply and your thoughts on this! And congrats on growing your account so dramatically--that's no small feat, from what I've read.
Great point about joining communities. I'm still getting up to speed about the communities that are out there, and how to join them, but I'm keeping an eye out for posts (and contests!) from communities that match my interests.
Also a great point about the path of making comments and engaging. That's something I need to do more of. Glad it worked out in this case! 😄
Looking forward to your own post about it! Please tag me to make sure I see it though! Yeah, that’s the old Catch 22 of the bidbots. Pay up... and you’ll get to trending maybe. If you’re lucky, you’ll pick up some new followers and some organic votes along the way. Don’t pay... and it’s “If a tree falls in the forest with no one around, does it make a sound?”
That was the Old Steem at least. The New Steem ways are still being formed. So it’s a very interesting time to be here on the platform. One thing is for sure: It’s a great time to be blogging for STEEM when it’s cheap like this. That’s why you see old homies like @boxmining back here posting stuff.
Posted using Partiko iOS
Thanks, I'm hoping to write something about this later today, and I'll definitely tag you!
That's the impression I'm getting about New Steem. I joined just after that hardfork, so I don't have a good sense of the difference, but I see lots of people (yourself included!) talking about how bots are ineffective now. I also see a lot of manual curation efforts being formed, which is cool, but it's unclear how to be noticed by those curators, too.
More to write about, I guess! Thanks again for your thoughts.
I actually have the same problem as a new user. Making quality content is nice, but its nicer if it actually gets some views. I think we are supposed to just keep on writing content and hope we gather enough followers to make steemit worth our time.
Maybe so! And I think part of it is your perspective; maybe if your main goal is just to find a place to record your thoughts, Steemit is worth the time under any circumstances. But I think a lot of people are like you (and me)--even if they're not in it for the rewards, they do hope for some exposure for their ideas.