Last night I went to bed tired as usual but still felt like writing so started a post on my phone in the darkness - I didn't finish it as I fell asleep half way through. It is probably a good thing though as I am guessing it wasn't going to be of the highest quality and, I need the sleep. Well, I can't really talk about what is of the highest quality anyway and like was said in a comment last night:
People always talk about "quality" but that's extremely subjective and I hate it when people tell me what I should or shouldn't like. - @Johnhtims
Quality is definitely one of those subjective points and preference plays a big role in what is considered worthy of support, as does social and peer conformity. Some people may vote or don't vote on content because they feel they are expected to act in a certain way and a vote is a public show of support. I wonder if there was no way to track who voted on what, would people vote differently? Probably as this is Steem - many would just vote for themselves.
But, even if we were to look at what kinds of content is valuable for the platform's future, what would that look like? This is the benefit of a dPOS platform if there is a fair amount of stake distribution and usage as, we wouldn't really have to worry about guessing what would be the thing to take the platform forward as the market would decide. With narrow stake spread however, the personal preferences of what those with stake is going to drive what is supplied. Supply and demand.
With the low prices though, the distribution is slowly changing and those who have been grinding away have likely noticed that they are getting a little more support from a little further afield than before. I have watched many users who I have supported in various ways early on starting to gain traction at a increasing rate. Sure, with prices what they are the value of each post doesn't seem very impressive but counted in Steem, they are growing. It is pretty awesome to see.
The earnings here compound in various ways when powering up and consistently posting and engaging as there are influencing factors that come into play. An account that can add 50 Steem a month will be a minnow in a year and with consistency, that is not very hard and if one can afford 200 dollars, Minnowhood is an exchange buy away. Two hundred dollars is a lot for some but for many here, it is a couple X-box games but let's face it, those X-box games are unlikely to deliver more value in their lifecycle - especially not for the players.
But, there are other compounding factors when powering up and engaging consistently and that is visibility, skin in the game and of course, attraction of people who care about people who have skin in the game. Depending on the type of content too, there are benefits and attraction points that will start to build a following on the actual content and of course, engaging and personal additions builds a following around the person behind the content too, which is likely the most important factor for long-term viability.
The trick with this last one though is to be authentic because being inauthentic falls down eventually when the real person comes out and often, that real person comes out when they are under pressure. How many people have posted about not caring about price or earnings, only to have their real intentions uncovered when price falls or they lose support? Many, many, many. Others however do like @whatsup said and does - just keep posting.
There are also other factors that influence earnings here such as the way one engages, the way one treats people, the way one is willing to get uncomfortable or, put in for people without expecting something in return. Many people are only on Steem, some only on Steemit and expect it to have all they need and won't explore other areas. There are plenty of things to play around with here, @steemhunt, @steemmonsters, @dlike, @partiko, @appics, @actifit and many, many others; why limit oneself?
Well, it can be a choice as I don't use most of those as they do not interest me so much yet, I do hold HUNT tokens and I am glad that @aggroed and @yabapmatt are continuing developing in many ways that make the platform stronger, regardless of whether I play their core game or not. I even vote on some Steemmonster posts from time to time to support people who do play as well as on some actifit posts, even though I am not a big fan of the posts themselves as, I am a fan of the people posting.
The longer price is down, the more people who buy, the more who take advantage of earning in a range of other ways too whether through the bidbot delegation or the interest earned on powered up Steem. From the total pool, this is how much goes to each core group:
As you can see, the payouts on curation and the earnings on interest take about the same amount from the pool each day. This means that those who are powering up and voting are essentially doubling their value through the interest percentage also. The interest earning at the moment is about 1.8% a year and of course, that is compounding as the SP grows too. Something to think about considering what a savings account in a bank will offer.
A lot of the focus is put on earnings here which is because this is a platform that encourages earning on content but, it also encourages earning on stake and that is of course the driver for people to earn on content. As distribution continues to advance more and more content is able to be supported at lower levels which means that the value of the whale votes becomes less significant over time. As price increases with demand accordingly, while less Steem is going to be added to a post, the value of that Steem could be well and above where it is now. 1 Steem today is worth 45 cents but 0.1 Steem will be worth the same at 4.50 and 0.01 Steem the same at 45 dollars. Seems a long way off?
Maybe, but that doesn't matter much as long as it gets there at some point for many people and when it does get there, holding 100 Steem is going to be a significant amount of a retirement fund, especially depending on the country one lives in. But, waiting until it is 45 dollars and then trying to earn is an opportunity missed if one is here and available now as now, that 1 Steem is relatively easy to get through posts, comments and the like.
However again, buying is always an option for those who have a little funds but many believe that the only way to get Steem is from the pool. There is 80 million Steem on exchanges at the moment, 25% of supply. It is all well and good to argue over the pool but for those with the means, buying a little is not necessarily a bad idea. Of course, be prepared to lose your investment always.
I find it interesting when I come across accounts that have been here a long time and complain about the mechanics of Steem but don't actually know what those mechanics are. Many make assumptions about it in the areas they don't understand and think that the way they want to use Steem is the correct way. It is kind of like someone complaining about not getting charity handouts who doesn't consider that there are people who might need it more than themselves.
Steem however is not a charity platform, although people do perform charity-type activities here. This is a platform that is experimenting with various types of economic and social dynamics simultaneously and it is very unstable. Those who want to earn a living from Steem are going to have to understand that it is in a constant state of flux and is unlikely to stabilize any time soon. However, those who are continually buying, earning, powering up and supporting others are the ones who are going to bring future stability so that some people can live off Steem and many others could have a significant additional income stream.
Those who are earning and selling without building their own stake, will continually have to earn on their posts which is going to be a tall order when there are millions of users, many professionals and in a world that is an attention economy. It is hard to hold people's attention long-term through content production for an individual as the content scope can only creep so far. Eventually, people get bored and look for another shiny thing to play with.
This is why ownership is important as it offers a personal buffer and when it comes to Steem, Steem is what is owned and Steem is what is required to empower others too. Many people who are unhappy with their earnings don't seem to consider that they themselves are unable to help others out with their earnings either. They expect to earn on their content because they have posted it but like the charity, don't consider that someone else might be more deserving. Remember that there is much more to Steem than the blockchain and most interactions go unrecorded.
When it comes to what is going to take Steem mainstream for example, I do not think that it is going to be an individual post or, an individual at all. It is going to happen through a whole host of interactions with many of them being off steem, like I said the other day.
Part of my role as I see it in these early days of Steem is to help a few people build their accounts, buy in, understand a little more, engage a little better and power up a bit more Steem. The people who follow me should understand the risks by now but as I said earlier on in this piece, I have seen many accounts that I have helped and tracked dating back two years that have grown massively in that time from both earning from the pool and buying. Those types of accounts will play an enormous role in the future of Steem. I have also seen many other accounts that have not grown at all or shrunk. That is fine too, but every course of action is followed by a course of consequences.
Three years is such a short time in the world of movements and the blockchain industry and tokenization process is going to take decades to fully come into its own. Those who are here now have that opportunity to not only benefit but shape it in some way and on Steem, there is even more opportunity to create niches of the future due to the opensource nature of being able to build upon the chain or support what is built upon the chain. To support however, it takes stake as this has always been and may always be, a Proof of Stake platform.
Proof of stake is having skin in the game. If you have a financial advisor that recommends a stock, ask them how much they have invested themselves and if they have excuses why they haven't, don't trust their advice because as the saying has so often been, put your money where your mouth is.
Well, that is all I have for this morning before I head off to work.
I just kept posting - @whatsup
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]