My Curation Experiment: Getting a Brand New Account Into the Top 20 Curators List in Under 1 Week.

My Curation Experiment: Getting a Brand New Account Into the Top 20 Curators List in Under 1 Week.

Since my last curation post (What I have Learned From Being a Top 10 Curator), I decided to try a little experiment and see if I could get a new account into the top performing curators, and if so how quickly. A major part of this experiment was that this second account was to do one thing only – follow my main account 100%.

I decided to look into this, more for my own informational purposes, after reading many posts from people following some of the more popular curators (NOT necessarily the most successful) and see if, even temporarily, I could outperform these other curation lists.

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My New Experimental Account - @naq1

I started a new account @naq1, and seeded it with 500SP. The amount of Steem Power is actually irrelevant, but I wanted enough that the growth was statistically noticeable over a short time period. The key to understand here is this is really measuring the percentage growth of the account. That is the statistic that determines who gets onto the top curators list.

I started this new account on the 28th of January, and initially used AutoSteem to set up an autofollow of my main account @naquoya. This ran very well, and in a future newsletter I will go further into how to use this website for implementing something similar. I eventually set up an account at Streemian, for both of my accounts. I started a trail for the @naquoya account, which is available now should anyone else wish to join it, and set the @naq1 account as its first follower.

So half the week was using AutoSteem and half the week was using Streemian. I did this primarily to understand both services for myself, their strengths and weaknesses. But also I wanted to set up a trail of my own for others to join.

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Experiment Results

As you can see from the following images, I was able to get the naq1 account into the top 20 curators list. Both of these images were taken just a few hours ago (3rd February 2017), the Steemdb.com page shows you the daily curation returns, so you can see the daily progress being made here. The Steemwhales.com list shows you the actual position reached when the image snapshot was taken. Both of these sites can be visited in real time to confirm the accuracy of this information.

So by utilising either of the above mentioned autofollow tools, others can now follow my votes, if that is what they wish to do. If you are wanting to increase your curation returns, but also retain some of the voting power for yourself to vote on the posts you like, then I can suggest a percentage allocation – for example 50% - 75% towards the autofollow, and keep the remainder for your personal voting. AutoSteem does not follow comment votes, or downvotes, and Streemian lets you set this aspect up.

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Steemdb.com - daily curation returns since account creation

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SteemWhales.com - 6 Days to reach Top 20 for @naq1 (the account is not yet a full 7 days old, so the data is only available to view up to 6 days)

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Joining My Trail

Now I should mention that I don't expect anyone else will experience these results. This was because @naq1 was the only (or certainly one of the few) followers of my votes. If many start to follow it will lessen this effect. But what I do expect will happen is that many of you will see a doubling, or tripling of your current returns, whilst still being free to vote as you choose with the remaining vote power. I never go below 80% (except the rare couple of times in the last 2 months).

If this is something that interests you then if you have an account at Streemian then I now have a trail there. If not then AutoSteem will work for this also. See @unipsycho for more details on how to go about this, although I will look at having a tutorial on this service in the very near future.

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Curation Newsletter

I want to look at a regular curation newsletter, probably on a weekly basis. I think there is a lot of misinformation, and confusion, on how curation works, and how to benefit from it. But also how to utilise it to enhance your Steemit experience. One of the greatest benefits I have received from increasing my curation efforts is the new (or previously unknown to me) accounts I have discovered, as well as the many wonderful articles, stories, poems, and photographs that I encounter on my journey.

In the newsletter I will cover tips, tricks and tutorials, as well put a spotlight on a new account, hidden gem, or regular account. I will also include any relevant curation news.

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This Weeks Top Curators

These images show you the top 7 and top 30 curators by % return on their Steem Power. These images are from the last few hours (3rd February 2017).

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This Weeks News

And lastly, this week I passed the 500,000 curation score. I remember looking at my score in early November where it was less than 20,000, and wondering how others achieved their results. Well somewhere along the way I worked it out for myself, and now have passed that significant milestone. The curation score is based on “curation rewards per Million Vests”, which is why the number of Vests isn't significant, but the return you get on those Vests is.

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My weekly curation returns since joining Steemit in August.

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This article is my own work, written for Steemit Image Credit: all images mine, except Curation Wizard which is thanks to @elyaque

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Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you liked it please give an upvote, and feel free to leave a comment. Follow Me

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