Consistency and originality for differentiation

I remember a discussion I had in a chat over two years ago when I had relatively recently become a dolphin and was closing in on 10,000 SP and thought that I would unlikely ever hold much more than that. This time last year I was on my way to SteemFest3 in Poland and had around 20K, and now a year later, I am closing in on 70k. Oops.

I have been fortunate to be able to buy a bit over the last 6 months as well as maintain my consistency in posting to earn more, and because price has fallen so low, each move however small, has more Steem value. A lot of people look at the value of their holdings in some kind of equivalent currency like dollars, euros or perhaps even Bitcoin, whereas I have adjusted to see things in Steem. Sure, there is not a lot of utility in Steem at the moment, but since I am not selling, price doesn't matter.

At the end of January I will have been on Steem for three years and for the last 2.5 of that, I have posted at least every day once, and generally multiple times. Many of those posts didn't earn much, some earned quite well in dollars when price was high, but with price being lower, this is likely the time that I have earned the most Steem per post.

While people might look at each post now and would like the same, if I hadn't done all of the work over the last years here, my posts now wouldn't be earning much of anything at all. When it comes to consistent support, consistent process is required and, that process has to factor in requirements for support.

I think that for me who has always been observational and conversational in my approach to my writing, once I started actually learning about how things technically worked on the platform, how different types of dynamics interact and then started presenting my views, that was when I started getting more support on average. It has always had its ups and downs of course as that is the nature of the platform and due to my stance on various conditions, I have both gained and lost large amounts of support.

It is easy to get attached to the payout and detach from what is getting rewarded when there is consistent support and I have found that for many here, once the consistency arrives, the quality of content drops away over time and a sense of entitlement starts to quickly creep in.

For me, my content takes precedence over the payout I receive which means my sense of what is worthwhile to write about a any given time is not governed by what will be rewarded at any given time. This also means that regardless if some people have set autos on me or not, what I produce has significance to at least me, and I aim to have it be significant to those who read it also.

I have been doing this a long time now and do not expect many others would produce similar, so it is a process of market differentiation and segmentation and while it might not be appreciated by some, it can be by others. And those others tend to be others who are looking long on Steem in the same way I am, meaning that they are also more likely to have increased their holdings over time.

Some people aim to get attention at any cost, and because of this, the cost they pay could be the attention of those who are actually able to support, and instead they find themselves in a circle of those who are not looking to increase their ownership here, not powering up, not earning, not buying, not voting. It is a different path. For me who is looking to help this place be something valuable, I am going to spend my time with others looking to make this place valuable too - it is only natural.

What I think though is that those who have been consistently chipping away at Steem over time with whatever they believe valuable enough to post about have been able to make significant inroads - If what they have been able to produce is seen as valuable. I see people posting photos and stories who are earning a lot more Steem now than they were a year ago, even though the dollar value on the posts are lower. In time, I am confident that they will see their own consistency to add mass to the chain as highly beneficial for their future experience off-chain also.

I think that my ability for consistency is that while I am looking long for an increase in value, I don't worry about the current financial value at all and instead focus on the content I am producing. It is the position of an artist who has to produce before they are able to sell any work, and they have to produce in their own style in order to gain some kind of notoriety as someone worth watching, worth hanging in a gallery and worth spending whatever the tag says to obtain the piece.

From my perspective, it is the reflection of personal experience that adds a lot of value to a community as it brings in viewpoints that can't be obtained elsewhere. While someone might like to write about the news or review whatever they have read about on the internet, much of what people produce is very similar to what is out there elsewhere. This means there is little market differentiation and very little reason to buy it. This is why an original painting is always more valuable than the copies and prints, and a review is never going to be as valuable as the real thing.

While people like to review in the positive and negative, a review is always a follower, it is always driven and dependent on what is being reviewed and that means that as creative as the review might be, it is a byproduct of something actually created. People like to write and read reviews and critiques, but without a source of inspiration, there is nothing available. This is why original is so important, because it introduces new material into the community and from it, new thoughts, ideas and material can be created in support and critique of it.

It is likely that only a small percentage of people on Steem create the majority of unique content, while many more use what is available as their cue to create layers on top, many not adding anything unique themselves to differentiate and instead just applying the same filters they always use. While I do believe that pretty much everyone is born creative, I do not think that most people exercise their creativity much at all and in time, perhaps lose the ability.

I wonder if it was possible at all to do, what it would look like if a Steem post could be cross-referenced against all other content on the internet and see where it lays on a normal distribution curve in relation to uniqueness. In regards to myself, how many other people are there on earth that are doing what I am currently doing here on Steem in the way I am able to do it?

I would predict that some could, but very few are - and even fewer would be able to do it daily. This isn't about big-noting myself in any way, it is meant to be a demonstration of market differentiation and being able to use talents and skill development to match what is possible to an audience willing to consume it.

It is not likely to be consumed forever as tastes change, but this is the supply and demand dynamics of a marketplace environment and if people who are looking to attract attention in various ways do not consider the marketplace in which they are operating, then what they are doing is producing content and hoping for traction which may never come because they have failed to understand and supply the demands of the market.

I think that over the last years I have evolved my content somewhat and found (or perhaps created) a current niche for myself that allows me to produce content that I like to produce and still be able to offer something valuable to the audience.

For a long time now I have signed-off with [ a Steem original ] as an indication of it being original Steem content, but there has also been the reason that for as far as I know, the type of content I generally produce can't be found anywhere else in any way on the internet, as it is content that is through my lens, my mind, my life and - there is only one of me and therefore, only I who is able to give this perspective as a blend of art, technology and my own methodologies of dealing with life as I know it.

While it might not appeal to everyone, some will appreciate its creation, and I think that this is where there is a huge opportunity for Steem to take its place in the market because unlike the centralized platforms, it really is the people of Steem who decide what has value and with more people having stake, the range that can be supported could be immense.

But, people still need to find their own voice to differentiate themselves in the marketplace, still have to develop their skillset to improve and compound against others if they want to stand out from the average. Reviews and critiques are easy as there is no creativity required, however as a result, it also makes it a highly available approach for content creation and therefore, ubiquitous, unoriginal and the competition in the market can be high.

Just like scarcity for a token, originality increases value.
Are you original - or do you rely on the work of others for your content?

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]