10,000 Minnows and Beyond: Looking for QUALITY Content? How About SINCERE Content!
I often ponder the greater question of "What are we all DOING here?"
On the surface, this appears to be a "Social Content Platform," but sometimes it even seems like that is open to interpretation: More than a few insist this is just "a place to develop apps for the Steem blockchain."
What sort of place are we building here?
I'm going to refrain from commenting on that last observation, because there's enough material there for an entire dissertation on short-sightedness and myopic paradigms, so... ONWARD!
Back in my early days on Steemit, there was often a raging debate over "Quality Content" and its importance in growing the Steem ecosystem, and the debate often decended into an "Us vs. Them" stalemate between self-proclaimed "Content Creators" and developers/blockchainiacs.
As I Have Said Before...
In my opinion — and I have said this many times before — quality content is probably both overrated and unrealistic in an environment such as this. Instead, I suggest asking the question whether or not something adds value to the community.
Of course "value" is a pretty fluid concept, as well... but I think most of us can more readily determine whether any given contribution might lend some value to some community or niche here, as opposed to actual quality. Both, of course, are subjective.
There's also little doubt in my mind that "Steem-as-Dan-saw-it" and Steem as it exists today are two very different things. But I'd also submit that we're in a similar boat to Webster's Dictionary: Ultimately, language depends on actual usage, not on what we want it to be.
Pensive seagull on the pier
"Minnow Making:" aka Growing the Community
So now we have these new initiatives increasingly popping up, centered around the idea of community building through — in not so many words — "Creating a larger Steem middle class."
A number of somewhat prominent Steemians have taken different approaches and angles... but all basically with an eye towards very similar goals.
Prolific blogger @tarazkp has long written about the idea of building a middle class as central to not only having a strong community, but to help with our little *"retention problem."
Meanwhile, there's an upsurge in community activity — and, by extension, bringing Steem to more people — as manifested by initiatives like @theycallmedan's recent polls to determine organizations worthy of large delegations, and even @nathanmars's twitter hustle efforts.
Now, a new generation of initiatives are coming online, spearheaded by @steevc's "10,000 Minnows" project which has subsequently given rise to the @steemcommunity witness' challenge to mint 250 new Minnows by the end of March.
Where is our ship sailing to?
Great Ideas, BUT...
Back to "What are we doing here?"
The greater story arc of building a larger "Middle Class" here is certainly a worthy one, even though not everyone necessarily agrees.
The open question, though, is whether we are doing this for its own sake, to somehow move the Steem power base around a little bit... or are we truly doing this as part of an effort to create a more active/interactive and vibrant community?
Hopefully, it's the latter... and hopefully, that means these efforts at "Minnow Creation" aren't purely about pushing people past the "magic" 500SP level... but also about being somewhat selective about who gets pushed, with the broader intent of building a more active and vibrant Social Community here.
So here we double back to the quality question, and I'm not suggesting we look only for quality content creators; rather we should focus the minnow building efforts on sincere content creators — enthusiastic, happy to be part of the process and community, but might create all sorts of sincere content.
Red autumn leaves...
Bottom line: For Steem to keep growing and thriving in the long run, we don't just need "members," we need active members!
But then again, that opinion is predicated on my belief that this is a Social Content Platform. And in order to thrive... we have to be social!
Thanks for reading!
Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
(As always, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 190309 13:17 PST
0926
Looking around in the comments, @denmarkguy, I'm surprised that the folks you mentioned haven't added anything.
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with concerns about where things are headed, or what any of all of these initiatives and councils and alliances are actually ultimately going to accomplish.
And yet, it's hard to say a whole lot of negative things about people who seem to be genuinely trying to help others, or STEEM as a whole.
So, here we are, wondering what's to come of all of this, when so far, at least in my experience, it's just as much about what users are willing to do for themselves, as it is about who's helping who.
I do believe there is some kind of winnowing criteria in some of this, anyway, so who knows. Time always seems to be the means by which we get to see how all of this shakes out.
Sincere content, indeed. I like that phrase much better than "quality content" (which implies that someone can authoritatively determine what defines quality).
Posted using Partiko Android
I guess I just got very tired of the whole "quality" thing (and I wrote for magazines for many years)... so I had to ask myself what matters.
Well — to me — what matters is that I can see "a bit of the content creator" in what they share. Even if it's someone else's article... at least a few words saying "This is the best coverage of ____ I have seen, because ____" and then sharing.
Hmmmm....? What exactly makes the quality content...... "quality...?"
I post about what is going on in my life. My Cat, My business, etc. Some will look at it as quality. Some will say it is the foolish ramblings of a mentally ill man. Both may be right.
So there are good thought provoking posts like this one, and really all of yours that I have seen @denmarkguy.
Then there are "shitposts" who would argue with that.?
But the ones in the middle, the grey area, who decides the quality when it becomes a matter of oppinion?
Am I making any sense? Or am I way out in left field?
Sometimes we need to listen closely to the ramblings of a senile old cat, they may actually be telling us something important.
But @krazzytrukker, you're a prime example of SINCERE content.
You share about your life, and about being a trucker with cats in the cab, and about rescue cats. There's something tangible and interesting there!
That's VERY different from someone who who just types "cute cat photo" into their search and posts whatever photos that search picks up... without any kind of commentary or reason for doing so.
Of all the many people with initiatives in the Steem ecosystem, perhaps @surpassinggoogle with his "Ulogs" idea is doing the most to get people to be "real:" His idea was using the Steem blockchain to create the "HUMAN Internet" rather than just an Internet of ideas and instructional articles.
And maybe "real" is you making breakfast for SammiJo and Jessi...
Agree 100%. But not all of your postings @denmarkguy interest me. They are still Quality. No disagreement there.
The spammy post just to post a random statement or random photo is what i say is a "shit post"
What I am asking is who decides if it is quality? Can it be not interesting to the reader, but still be quality? Is there a certain length or character count / paragraph count it must be?
And is there a grey area where it can be a "quality shit post".....?
Remember i am noob. You have been doing this a long time.So I am just looking for your thoughts on this quality issue.
This is my thought fool look..... or maybe just dazed & confused... lol
if we had a 'consumer base' for quiality content then it would win over. the problem is, we are all here creating, and not comsuming. we need to bring in like 100 people to find one good creator ( if not way more). I think a problem I would like to try and tackle after this 250 new minnows is finding content consumers, but thats for another discussion.
there are many strong arguements for building a solid middle class on steem. not only does it provide motivation as its seen as a milestone, but it also gives time for the steem ecosystem to grow and flourish.
Making 250 new minnows in a month is going to be extreemly difficult. it already has me and the team flat out contacting people. lol dont put us under pressure we have till the 5th of april, that will be a month. we are still in week 1 and I am so delighted it has provked posts like this :-)
/ᐠ=ᆽ=ᐟ\
On this one I think and believe that is the goal of @steemcommunity, to make a more active/interactive and vibrant community.
As for quality it really is all in the ey of the reader/viewer. I see steem blockchain as a social site/experiment, I am having a lot of fun on here, yeah there are bad days, bad players, and toes get stepped on, and everyone has a different concept of what the steem blockchain is. I choose to see the social side.
That paragraph pretty much says it all.
What are we building? That’s a great question. And what value does this platform add/is this platform adding/can this platform add to the world? That’s something that I think should be questioned too.
Expansion for expansion’s sake is foolish. Expansion should have a purpose that is rooted in service and adding value to the lives of others. I often have the feeling that many of the initiatives you mentioned are rooted in expansion for the benefit of us, the early adopters. If Steem goes to the moon, those who have gotten their foot in the door will be rich, so let’s expand, expand, expand. The idea of becoming rich is a heavy motivator around here, I think. But it isn’t the only one.
Steem is an interesting experiment. I really hope it can one day replace PayPal and give people a way to transfer money without fees being taken out. Of course, without acceptance of Steem as a currency, the fees will appear in fiat conversion, but it would be nice to see some alternative to PayPal for everyday people and vendors that didn’t deduct fees from daily transactions.
Thanks for this post. I've been seeing and hearing all this talk about quality content. What actually is considered quality content? Like you said this is a social platform. All that talk will turn people off from this platform. If they feel hey I'm not that interesting or I can't make post with numerous paragraphs. "Why should I bother to post?" I'm also noticing some of these accounts with a large amount of followers and not following near half that amount back. Also post with plenty of upvotes and money, that don't reciprocate those earnings to the people in the comments. After if I'm not mistaken, it's free to upvote right. Anyhow sorry for my rant.
Posted using Partiko Android
@babarakas43, "Quality content" is — to my way of thinking — an overused cliché people like to bring out when they don't feel good about truthfully saying that they despise "shitposts."
Honestly? Quality content only matters if you're putting together a magazine for a discerning audience. We can even tighten that noose a bit further and say that it only matters if you're putting together a literary magazine.
This is social media. Within that frame of reference, there's still "sincere" and not-so-sincere. A sincere post can be just a photo and "this is my all-time favorite photo of my dog/garden/kid" and we're done. In IN-sincere approach might be to randomly pepper your feed with arbitrary memes, in hopes that one or more catches an upvote above the dust level.
There's the primary difference, for me: Sincerity means you actually want to create something (and get rewarded), rather than simply seeing this as a glorified ATM that dispenses a few cents if prompted in a right way.
I don't follow anywhere near as many people as follow me. Further to that, I only follow people who create something I find interesting and worthwhile. On the flipside, 80+% of the people who follow me are only doing so in hopes that I'll go vote for their posts... they don't care one tiny bit what's in my posts.
Hey thanks for the sincere response. I definitely agree with you. Hopefully as the platform grows, some changes will be made. Until then we all post what we feel and let the chips fall were they no. No pressure to post the so called Quality content. I also agree with your point about the followers just following for personal gains.
Great post, I believe we need to bring passionate people that love to share and create their content here.
To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.
Brought to you by @tts. If you find it useful please consider upvoting this reply.