One of the topics of conversation that came up a lot in the early days of Steemit revolved around whether it was even possible to have an equitable rewards system based primarily on merit.
Of course, that's not a discussion limited to our little ecosystem here... it's something that applies across the greater society.
In most cases it turns out that — no matter how idealistic the creators of a system might have been — power and influence structures with a handful of power brokers at the top and then "everyone else" seem part and parcel of how humans organize themselves.
Even if you put up limits and boundaries, it seems that the Pareto Principle (loosely stated, that 80% of the outcome is the result of 20% of the input/effort) invariably controls the situation. In many cases, the spilt isn't even 80/20, but 90/10 or even 95/5.
Idealistic or not, the microcosm known as Steemit soon enough discovered that the small number of players we call "whales" controlled the vast majority of the action... proof of the old business truism that "it's not what you DO, it's who you KNOW that matters."
So to return to the issue of whether true "meritocracies" even are possible it sadly seems very unlikely. There are very few places in the world where simply working hard and excelling is enough to get someone ahead. Even in a field like athletics... it's not necessarily just skill/talent that gets you to the top, it's also having the right trainers and managers and publicists.
As a writer I learned a long time ago that simply "being really good" was never enough, by itself. And — in fact — in most creative fields, having a "gimmick" is almost more important that simply having a gift for what you're doing.
We might find ourselves wishing that we could be part of a true meritocracy... but let's not forget that it's a part of human nature that we're more likely to favor our friends, for example. As soon as we admit that, the idea of a pure meritocracy is already being shaken.
And so, it's also very unlikely that a community like Steemit — no matter its intentions — could ever hope to simply reward and "sort" it's community members purely based on merit.
Just something to consider, next time we bellyache about an unfair rewards structure: It's something we often do to ourselves!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you're having a great week!
How about YOU? Do you think a system that ranks purely based on merit is even POSSIBLE? Or will such systems always be swayed by our biases, and by certain people rising to disproportional power and influence? As always, 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!
(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — NOT A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 20201202 22:21 PST
x063
Absolutely agree with you, reward system is far from ideal. But like everywhere the engagement is something that always rewarded. Being a new user it is important how to be visible, nowadays the Steemit Team created its ecosystem where such people can build up their relationship with appropriate curators or communities and start up their blogging. There is a bigger opportunity to build up the Steem Power through challenges and comments. I think motivated people like young people who anyway spent majority of their time in Internet have great potential to grow on such platform :)
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Because I am somewhat of an optimist and idealist by nature, I still have hopes that what we're doing here is at least a step towards creating a better way for everyone to interact with each other. Even if Steemit itself does not become "the next big thing," I still feel hopeful that it can be a learning place and model for those who build new ventures along these lines.
In the meantime, I am just happy to be part of this adventure! And the rewards here — "ideal" or otherwise — are certainly better than on Facebook or Twitter!
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