AskSteemit #7: What are your thoughts on referral links?
As someone who's been growing up as a Gamer by heart, I've always wanted to start building my own brand. When I finally had the time to commit to it more to it after studying I looked at the existing platforms like Youtube and Twitch and starting out felt a bit hopeless. There was a lot of competition especially from people making it their full-time job.
Luckily I stumbled upon blockchain around the same time and researching it more and understanding the advantages it brought, I really consider myself being even more lucky that I stuck around and decided to follow its progression instead of what feels now having wasted a lot of time on the existing models trying to get my name out there. As someone said, in the beginning of the internet there wasn't much either and for most people it would take years, even decades to understand its true potential and how unlimited it can be. That's how I started seeing blockchain technology, being at its infancy and growing into a toddler and now probably starting to get to the teens in its technology progression. Of course there is still much to be upgraded, invented and figured out before we move forward but the pace is getting faster and faster the more people get involved.
I decided to wait with my branding, wait for a similar system that was built on blockchain and let me do all those things the others would. Then I stumbled upon Steem. :)
Even though at the beginning it was just a "blogging" site, I already saw it as just the start of something much bigger. The same way as Bitcoin was the first app for blockchains use, I knew that this was a totally different blockchain that enabled Steem to do things differently, much more efficiently and more limitless. Of course it also required a leap of faith much like other cryptos do, hence why the rewards are often much greater if you wait it out. I decided to trust the team working on Steem and that they had the best in mind for the platform and its future. So far I have not been disappointed and the pace its growing in is really good.
I'm saying this considering the damage that Bitcoin has done to the crypto name in general, with all the scams, schemes, losses of customers funds, illegal activity, etc. I still stumble upon people to this day where I mention Bitcoin and they look at me as if I'm crazy, but I can't say I blame them cause most just never got that deep into researching it or just blindly follow news and mainstream media.
To get back to what this post is about, I try to almost never ask people to follow me, upvote my posts or resteem them. After watching videos on youtube for the recent years, I almost find it disgusting how some users keep pushing for likes and subscribers in their videos. It comes off as very desperate and needy, almost like begging. Sure a reminder now and then can be alright, but asking readers to do the few things they themselves can and want to decide on when reading your post... I don't know, feels too much to me.
Considering Steemit itself is soon going to add referrals and possible rewards to getting users to sign up, it got me thinking about referrals to other sites, mainly about blockchain. This would of course be strictly about those where the person getting referred wouldn't lose out on anything from it. That being sites that don't have a big risk of turning out to be shady or insecure, but mainly those that offer advantages to referring others which I hope here on Steemit it will be similar. What I mean by this is that the user getting referred doesn't lose out on value that goes to the person who referred him, instead value is created from the company or the blockchain to reward one or the other or both.
So for such sites I've been thinking about adding referral links after my logo.
What are your thoughts on referral links? Do you mind those that are a win-win for both parties involved?
Leave a comment down below, in these #AskSteemit posts I reward good discussions more than usual.
I also find myself annoyed with some youtubers who ask/beg for likes/shares/comments, though I usually don't mind the ones who are self deprecating about it. I mean, I get why people do bring it up in their videos because the interactions are what get you into the trending/recommended sections on youtube. The more likes/dislikes/comments/shares you get on your video (along with the views of course) the more likely you are to get pushed into users feeds.
Though, at this point in time it really doesn't matter. Youtube has become so oversaturated with content creators, that unless you get insanely lucky with the algorithm picking you up (Which is still possible depending on the interaction, but unlikely), or get the "golden tap on the shoulder" from someone bigger than you on Youtube, it's near impossible to get a sustainable income and fanbase on there. Even a lot of the bigger guys I'm subbed to have had their growth fairly stunted/slowed down lately with the policy changes they keep making.
Anyways, enough about my Youtube ranting. As for referral links? I think so long as there is no way to abuse them they're a win-win for sure. I definitely don't think anyone would mind if you added the links after your logo, man. You're a trustworthy guy on here, and I'm sure most of everyone knows you're not into some shady shit.
Oh, I didn't know that Steemit was getting a referral link feature added. That's pretty interesting news! Especially if there's going to be a reward system involved. It'd help push people to get their friends to join up for sure, which would of course help boost the growth rate of the site. The only thing I'd worry about with that is if it uses a monetary reward system that people would find a way to abuse it and leech from the reward pool.
Still very interested to see when that feature gets implemented and where it goes though :)
Yeah, I agree. The "golden tap on the shoulder" is something that happens here too and is normal. Why wouldn't you vote up your friends or help them get more attention if you can. Then there are other forms of say getting paid to do it that should not be as okay.
Yeah they announced referrals on Steemfest but the details are still unclear. :)
Yeah, I have no problem with the tap on the shoulder happening, it's just based on luck is all and who you know so you can't depend on that to happen. (It's common sense though to shout out your friends and try and help them grow, at least to me it is since I like helping people out, haha.) And, when you say other forms are you talking about when people pay a certain bigger person to upvote/shout them out? Because, I agree that shit really isn't fair/cool. Not sure though if that's what you were talking about :P The upvote services are one thing since they're advertised as such, but I'm not a fan of when whales take payment on the down low for doing that.
Oh, rad! Feel free to make a post on that in the future when more details are revealed! To be honest, I get like 85 percent of my Steemit news from when you post about it, lol.
Hehe, was gonna make more detailed posts about Steemfest but decided maybe to leave it for those that attended. :P
But yeah, that's what I meant, there's a lot of "pay for fame" going on on sites like Youtube and Twitch as well where big users use their fame to make money of others hoping to win some followers for it through hosting and other mentions.
Nah, cmon, feed me newwws, plz!
Oh, speaking of abusing statuses on Twitch, did you see Charlie's (Cr1tikal/Penguinz0) video speaking about why he doesn't stream on there which he uploaded today? Showed just how much they pick and choose on reinforcing their rules/standards, and how fucked up the site can be. One user got banned for calling a semi-camgirl out that streams on the site, yet the girl he talked about said some horrible shit about him, his girlfriend and someone else and didn't get banned.
He also showed some other hypocritical things going on over there, really makes me feel reluctant to want to continue to stream on there, honestly. Oh, and of course Cr1tikal's video got censored on reddit and removed from the front page because they considered it witchhunting, because he mentioned some people by name on the site. (Yet, H3H3 and Idubbbz do the same stuff with calling people out and reddit sucks their dicks, lol.)
lol, I have to check it out. I like that youtuber, he often calls things as they are.
Soon you'll be able to stream on @dlive hopefully. ;)
Hoping that @dlive to come true!
lol, didn't know Twitch did that obvious favoritism... Doesn't surprise me their only concern is money and revenue, though, most of the platforms are the same way nowadays.
Yeah, I've heard of them doing shady things in the past but it seems like it's gotten much worse. So, can't say I was shocked either, but, it still was surprising how bad it has become in a way. But, you're right. That is the state of things currently on most of pretty much all platforms, and it really is a shame.
It's like the refrain: Bread for today is hunger for tommorrow.
wow nice...
very very nice..!!
Referral links are OK, as long as they're disclosed.
Finding good things is not easiest either and if that leads to a reward, I'm not one to deny somebody the opportunity to earn.
End of the day, transparency matters and defines IMHO. Let the user/visitor/reader decide if they want to still click it (or remove the referrer from the link). But don't use a URL shortener without disclosure about it being a referrer (or affiliate) link.
I agree, users can decide themselves if your content is good or not and follow/subscribe, there is no need to beg for it. The only problem I have with referral links is that essentially companies/platforms are just outsourcing a big part of their marketing efforts on to the existing users. You might think it is a nice 3% for you, but wait until you see the yearly profit break down for the company based on this scheme. I am not really comfortable with companies turning us all into personal marketers; we already have facebook turning us into frienf-to-friend advertisers....I don't know, just feels dirty.
We're all marketers already though through word-of-mouth. If I tell you that I'm new to the area and I'm looking for a great restaurant, you'll recommend one or at least point me in a direction where there's a lot of them. The difference between this and referral links is that you'll get a cut from the sale through the referral. Which honestly makes sense because the company would not have had that sale if it weren't for you. Just imagine how many recommendations you've given. From a business stand point, this is great. The business is allowing their customers to get paid for something they already do, enjoy their product or service and tell others about it. But of course, this only works with legit businesses. If it's just a phishing scheme, then I agree it's dirty.
I don't mind referral links. After all, it's my choice to click on them and do my own research on whatever website that referral link takes me to. What I do have a problem with is people creating false information in order to scheme people into something through a referral link. I've seen many of those and they're annoying. But if it's safe and non-sketchy, I don't mind. Like I said, it's up to me to click on them anyways.
There's nothing wrong with adding ref links for something you truly believe in. I wonder how it would work exactly with steem? Fixed reward or percentage based like 1% of referrals earnings... I just wouldn't want it to be abused.
there's nothing wrong with adding ref link for something you truly believein.. and my post upvote comment and reply
This helps me remember the day I post a referral link that explicitly stated I will not benefit from those links but still got auto comment with warning. (I do not blame the owner of the bot.)
I believe the platform should explicitly stating in the sign up page that the user is using a referral link, but will not have disadvantage compare to signing up without referral.
I think that's an important message! As important as warning users if the site is mining with your CPU. ;)
hahaha....
NYC POST I LIKE YOUR POSTS!!
but really... I personally don't really have a problem with them, but I myself have never once clicked a referral link. It isn't a big deal in my opinion, but I can see how it would irritate some.
wow nice good!!!
The only fear I have about referral benefits is the pyramid-scheme perception they sometimes give off.
I pressed enter earlier than I wanted...
To clarify what I mean here: if we use Steemit as an example, I've told many friends about Steemit because I genuinely believe it's a great platform and I feel as though some of my friends can truly add valuable content, and potentially do well in terms of rewards. I don't tell them about Steemit to financially benefit myself. With a financial referral bonus, one of the fears I would have is that certain friends may wonder whether I actually want them to join Steemit as a benefit for them, or if I am trying to earn some sort of referral bonus for my own gain.
(Hopefully that makes sense)
Yeah I get that "did you really want me to join or did you just do it cause you're making money from my activity?".
I'm looking forward to see how it will turn out, I wouldn't be against it if there would be other sort of rewards that wouldn't directly mean you are gaining Steem or monetary rewards for referrals.
Yeah, it's a tough one... I definitely see potential pros and cons, but it could very well be a good thing. I like the idea of "creative rewards."
so i love u your work..
Yeah, that's understandable and that's kind of what I meant with the ending. I'm glad Steem never used referrals in the beginning cause many would've considered it a scam or a scheme just because of that alone. But knowing the value they give are created or given from legitimate ways it should be okay since there are many sites that use referrals and its a good way to incentivize marketing.
PS. There won't be any bitconnect referrals. :P
I think referral links are as good as the user who posts them. If someone is obnoxious and spamming them everywhere, then they are going to get a bad name. If they are used in a thoughtful way, then more power to everyone involved.
nice it so vote please
There are better ways to do this @riad1112
I think it is good if you promote a nice program/platform.