I worked really hard in 2023 to earn about 150,000 BLURT toward my goal of 1 million BP by New Years. Looking toward 2024, I'm wondering if there's a way I could achieve most of my goals here, and continue to grow, without investing so many hours every day. I decided to look at my 3 sources of income, and some scenarios for how they could be adjusted.
3 sources of income on Blurt
Technically, we ALL have 3 sources of income on Blurt: Interest, curation, and creation. Here's how they break down for me, now that I've earned and invested my way to 1,000,000 BP...
- Automatic compounding interest (0 min) - 50+ BP per day
- Curation rewards (5 to 60 min) - 250 to 350 BP per day
- Post/comment rewards (10 to 180 min) - 300 to 400 BP per day
If the intention is to maximize rewards, adding the maximum in curation and post/comment rewards to the automatically-generated interest would be the way to go.
What's interesting is that in both cases, it is the lower time estimate that yields the higher return. For example, I can pull in 400+ BP with a 10 minute post (such as an automatically-generated "curation report"), but only 200 BP for a post that took me 2 hours or more. This is pretty consistent for me. I can routinely make more money for less effort, if I so choose.
The cold hard truth I've learned here on Blurt is even for a well-known creator like me, truly original content often doesn't do well. Anything controversial, political, personal, or with a narrow topic, usually doesn't receive the votes something more generic would. Often, pouring hours of your heart into detailed writing will yield an impressive article - one which you feel accomplished to put out - but not necessarily a corresponding payout.
Meanwhile, with a few clicks, we can now pump out very long posts that end up on the Trending page, with large payouts, day after day. If I want to make the most money, what I need to do is take the focus off my message, and start producing inoffensive unoriginal material. Thus far, I've been reluctant to take this course. It has been a long slow grind for many years to get where I am now (crypto net worth $2400 USD). How am I going to proceed? I haven't decided yet.
It's the same for curating. With my million BP, I could pull in well over 300 BP per day in just 5 minutes of curating. All I would have to do is call up the Trending page, and vote for those posts. That's because Votes on Popular Content are Bigger and Voting Late Doesn't Matter. The settings on Blurt are such that we are rewarded for voting with the herd, rather than the intended original purpose, which was to quickly locate and elevate the best content. Now, we reward curators who wait until just before payout, and simply pile more payouts onto content that is already popular.
Scenarios
Low-effort posting and curating (15 min): 800 BP per day
High-effort posting and curating (4 hr): 600 BP per day
High-effort posting, low-effort curating (3 hr): 700 BP per day
Low-effort posting, high-effort curating (1 hr): 700 BP per day
Low-effort posting only (10 min): 450 BP per day
High-effort posting only (3 hr): 350 BP per day
Low-effort curating only (5 min): 400 BP per day
High-effort curating only (1 hr): 300 BP per day
No posting or curating at all (0 min): 60 BP per day
I just finally grinded (ground?) my way up to a million BP, making me a curation force on this platform.
So there's no way in hell will I be giving up my curating! It helps the creators I support, it benefits the platform, and it provides me with income. So I can cut out any scenario without curation:
Low-effort posting and curating (15 min): 800 BP per day
High-effort posting and curating (4 hr): 600 BP per day
High-effort posting, low-effort curating (3 hr): 700 BP per day
Low-effort posting, high-effort curating (1 hr): 700 BP per day
Low-effort curating only (5 min): 400 BP per day
High-effort curating only (1 hr): 300 BP per day
High-effort curation, with little or no posts, doesn't appear to yield much in return. An example of that kind of account is @r2cornell. (Perhaps it's no wonder he's making changes to his curation project!) High effort for the lowest yield? No thanks.
I'm also not at all interested in the top scenario (low-effort posting and curating). Despite this yielding the highest draw from the reward pool, at 800+ BP per day, it doesn't help me get my message out, doesn't fulfill me, and doesn't help the platform. I wouldn't be comfortable taking that approach. I'd feel dirty.
That leaves:
High-effort posting and curating (4 hr): 600 BP per day
High-effort posting, low-effort curating (3 hr): 700 BP per day
Low-effort posting, high-effort curating (1 hr): 700 BP per day
Low-effort curating only (5 min): 400 BP per day
"High-effort posting and curating" is what I've been doing, for many years now. It's the most time-consuming of all the scenarios (I often produce and manage my blockchain content for 4, 6, even 8 hours a day), but only moderate when it comes to rewards. That's why I'm considering a change in 2024, and the reason for this post.
Low-effort curation (like voting on all Trending page posts) might be acceptable to me. 400 BP per day isn't very much, although it would only take me about 5 minutes. But no posting? It doesn't help me get my message out, doesn't fulfill me, and doesn't help the platform. Nah.
Leaving just 2 scenarios:
High-effort posting, low-effort curating (3 hr): 700 BP per day
Low-effort posting, high-effort curating (1 hr): 700 BP per day
Since both tactics would make me about the same income, all that matters is how long they take, and if they help me or the platform.
"High-effort posting, low-effort curating" would mean I continue posting as I've been doing, but start curating in fast, lazy ways that make more rewards. I'd save a little bit of time over my current situation, make a little bit more money, and be helping the platform less. Hmmm.
"Low-effort posting, high-effort curating" would mean I continue curating as I've been doing, but start posting in fast, lazy ways that make more rewards. An example would be a manual curation project, with regular "curation report" posts. I'll save a huge amount of time over my current situation, make a little bit more money, and feel less fulfilled that I'm not getting my message out as much.
That doesn't sound bad. The time savings will be huge - I currently devote to Blurt almost ALL my time that isn't already taken up by my health problems and 2 young children. This would give me back HOURS per day.
Not being able to get my message out as effectively is a drawback, for sure (fast auto-generated posts aren't good for that). But with the time saved, I'll be able to work on larger projects that take longer to put together. I won't be popping out a daily post of original content anymore, but every few days I'll be able to produce something significant. Overall, I might actually be able to produce more meaningful content this way, while simultaneously making more money in less time.
Okay, I'm in. Let's do it!
In 2024, @DRutter will transition toward being a Blurt curation project, with daily curation reports, and occasional high-quality original productions.
I'm still working on finalizing my million BP goal! The big tally and summary will be posted on New Years. If you'd like to help, votes on @MediKatie posts are appreciated, along with votes on my posts that will pay out before the deadline:
Thank you to all the quality creators and curators here on Blurt!
DRutter
