THE STEEM ECOSYSTEM

This information is for the newbies and people trying to find their way around this platform. Even I am in the process of figuring things out even after being here for over six months, so chill, no one has figured it all out. However, I am sharing what I have gained from my experience, and I will also like to point out that it is neither right or wrong but what you make of it, okay? Alright, let's proceed.

Chances are you heard about steem and you're here to make money. Good. There are many opportunities here for you to earn steem coins. All you need do is look in the right places. You might not make that much but definitely, you will make something for yourself. Every steem coin you earn on here is valuable, more valuable than you can ever think or imagine, don't forget that.

However, this article is not about your earning prospects. I want to discuss a different thing altogether. Something you're part of; something that will determine your relevance on this platform and it has nothing to do with the dollar amount at the bottom of your posts. A lot of people here have sizable amounts under their posts but no one cares or reads them. So what is this said thing I am talking about? Well every steemian calls it the steem ecosystem.

The steem ecosystem is our virtual habitat. It is the playground for every steemian-- our unique home where we interact with each other. It's a closed system accessible to only us.

The steem ecosystem is evolving. I join this platform 6 months ago and I tell you its nothing like what it was then. If you were not writing articles considered by a few as 'quality' or making tons of comments then you had no chance of succeeding. Well expect you had deep pockets and could buy your way to the top. Now, someone who joins steem today can make some decent earnings from the number of existing dapps like dtube, oracle-d, musing, e.t.c You don't need to go through the stress of posting continuous and engaging with people you don't care about, which still happens on the here. To be quite frank, you need to play the game of engagement, it doesn't matter if it is fake or not. For you to succeed here you need to collaborate with other steemians. It's a community orientated project anyways, so you have no choice. Well, that's not totally true.

I have been riding solo for some time and I can say I've been quite fortune to have achieved my level of success on this platform in a short time. Becoming a minnow in less then three months without an investment on this platform or community help, is quite an impossible feat. I am not outrightly saying I did not get help but it is not the reason I have over 500steempower now. I will attribute my success to the development of dapps.

This is a graph detailing my growth (courtesy @abh12345). You can see I started to peak from November. That was when I discovered musing.io and other dapps. I started to interact with the system in different way, contrary to what I was told when I started. Which was to leave tons of comments and hope a whale notices me.

Yes it is fun riding solo but you need to be part of community. This might seem contrary to what I have been saying, but it's not. Yes, I might not appreciate most of the existing communities on the blockchain, that doesn't mean they cannot be instrumental to your growth on steem. Matter of fact I'm in the process of creating my own community. My twitter campaign is the first step in bringing the kind of people I would love to partner with in other to achieve some of my goals, which are not selfish per se or selfless either, but I think the steem platform could use some really genuine people.

Like I said earlier the steem ecosystem is in a constant flux. The only way to stay relevant is being as authentic as possible. A lot of people and projects have fizzled out in the short period I have been on this platform and many more will do the same. This is because we have a lot of fakes--even genuine people fake it on here. But the thing is you cannot fake it forever. Sooner or later you will get exhausted. However if you remain authentic and find feasible ways of achieving your goals, I guarantee that you will be here for a long time.

Wanting to make money is not a goal. We are all here to make money, but what are we doing to make that money? Contrary to popular opinion the steem ecosystem / reward pool cannot adequately cater for every content creator on the platform. You're not going to make so much for being a creative writer or poet or photographer because not so many people here care about these things. And the few communities who support these kind of persons havd limited resources. Maybe this will change in some years from now when we have more minnows and dolphins to support these communities.

So how do I make money on steem?

Well if you do not have a lot of steem-power to self-vote or a whale on your side or a curation trail you follow, then your best change of earning anything here is via dapps. Most of these dapps have steem delegations and they are quite generous to those who use their platforms. I earned about $25 for a dtube video I did, that will never happen if I was writing articles anyone hardly reads. So I think I am clear on this point.

The next option would be to build something sustainable. And this might be a slow and painful process but will pay in the end. I spend my time talking about steem on twitter, that doesn't really earn me upvotes, but I know if I create more awareness for the platform it will have a positive effect on my growth. This is a long term approach.

Building relationship. There is no way around this one, you need to build relationships. This is a social platform. And I must emphasize on genuine relationships and define it. Don't claim to care about someone or a project when you're only in it for the money(made that mistake with musing). If it's a business relationship then make it clear, that way you do not have issues in the future.

The whole idea behind this article is to make you aware of the changing steem ecosystem and how you can remain relevant for a long time. So I hope this piece of information has helped you in some way.

©nonsowrites

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