TRENDING vs POPULAR - a Change to the Home Page can Change the Way We Use Steemit

I've been using Steemit nearly since it's inception and I believe there is ONE change that can be crucial for the platform.

I have made a post earlier about the attitude of the online-casino-get-cash-fast that I find really unhealthy for Steemit. But there is some logic behind that and it can be changed.

First of all, that attitude is being stimulated by the steemillionaires and their posts about how to earn money fast.

But it's the way the platform is SEEN that makes the biggest difference.

What is Steemit for you?

Do you think of it as a tool to EARN MONEY (I don't say quick money, let's assume that you put all your best efforts in the posts writing)? Is it a source of revenue for you?

2 .Or do you think of Steemit as a SOCIAL MEDIA with extra benefits of being rewarded with cash? Is Steemit a better Reddit, where you get the content that is selected by readers and have and EXTRA bonus of getting $ for it?

I have a feeling that most of the users choose #1. And that is the problem.

I believe that the platform was created to be a new, better social network and to reward the authors for bringing the good content. But the rewards should not be the very reason why we are all here!

What if STEEM drops in value and you stop getting your $$$$ and $$$ and will start getting $1-2 per post (and it's possible if the new users stop coming at the pace they do now)? Will you continue using it?

I will.

I think one of the simplest reasons why we tend to focus on money is the Trending page that opens every time we go to Steemit.

Whatever you are looking for, the first thing you see is How Much Cash did other posts earn. It makes us benchmark ourselves against cash.

But as you all know, dollar rewards in Steemit do not necessarily mean the popularity. And if we want to see the most popular posts, we have to choose this tab.

Don't you think that changing it might change the way we look at Steemit?

Do you think that looking first at how many likes did the post get make us focus more on the popularity and quality of the content then on the rewards?

Just a thought...

P.S. There might be something that I get wrong, and don't kill me for not reading the White paper;)

I hope that Steemit one day bacomes SOCIAL MEDIA with extra benefits of being rewarded with cash.
But for now it's only a tool to EARN MONEY, unfortunately for the whole system.

Steemit is a grate system and I feel myself like an owner of it (as I understand the concept). I make my contribution and the system give me benefits for it. Better to system -better for every each of us.
So when everybody will understand it, everything will change to

Or do you think of Steemit as a SOCIAL MEDIA with extra benefits of being rewarded with cash

So let's do our contribution rally valued and we all win.

Just hope that everyone will have such a mindset in regards to Steemit eventually

IIRC the front page default used to be the "hot" tab. I've no idea why it changed to trending - perhaps the founders were trying to promote the loads-of-money casino effect you observed?

I don't think it was intentional. Maybe they are just following the trend

Speaking of this, I was just thinking a while ago how funny human psychology works. For years we've been obsessed with likes on Facebook, it's actually a major problem as many people actually lose their self-esteem when their posts don't get enough popularity. And now suddenly nobody cares about likes and everyone is calculating money. I mean, if your post gets 60 likes and 1 dollar, you are more likely to be upset than if it gets 5 likes and a hundred bucks. That's how much our self-esteem costs:)

Mindset; social media first, payout second. I like it

for me Steemit it just communication

It's great! But looking at what people post and upvote, I think it's not the case for the majority

Social media that rewards value with value.

I think the default page should be 'new'. This is in keeping with the incentive that rewards the 'whales' for upvoting new and good authors, or alternatively losing their voting power.

Also, I think the purpose of Steemit is to let people post their shit up and for the better stuff to rise to the top, no matter which side of the political compass it comes from. To improve the rate at which worthwhile information that is not popular gets put in front of people, and gets a chance to be voted up.

I wouldn't say I wanna see new on top. The idea is to get the best content first, and the best is deemed to be the most popular one (I know it's not always the case, but at least it's the best measure we can get)

I used to dislike that trending page too, but now it carries one important message as well : " look, you need some reputation to have your post here"

True - and it's not too encouraging for the new writers, I guess