Some Brief Announcements: Contest Winners, Newsletter, and an Octodad

Please congratulate these authors on their great work

We Have a Winner

A few weeks ago, in an effort to reach out and attract more bloggers to Steemit, I ran a $300 contest. It was open to any blogger who had an outside blog and posted a blog article on Steemit. The prize would go to the blogger whose post got the most votes. The idea was to encourage bloggers to bring their followers here to vote for them.

https://steemit.com/blogspotlight/@donkeypong/300-reward-for-the-most-popular-guest-blog-post-200-finders-fee

The contest did not attract much participation, but those who did participate had some great entries. It helped incentivize some bloggers to try out Steemit, where they quickly found that they could earn more and reach a wider audience. We succeeded in bringing a few new people to this platform.

Based on a count of the votes, @cryptogee was declared the winner of this contest for his first major post on Steemit. A big CONGRATULATIONS to @cryptogee! Of course, he has become a household name since then, because that post was the first of many that have added great value to the community.

And Another…

There was no finders fee paid out for @cryptogee’s post, so a second place winner also was declared. It was a close finish, but @kingscrown had the second-most votes. Congrats to Kingscrown. Your $200 in Steem Dollars is on the way!

Speaking of Cryptogee…

Separately, as some of you know, I have been publishing a semi-regular newsletter known as the Blog Spotlight. The idea is to highlight original content posts on Steemit that are worthy of attention, but have not gotten the upvotes that they deserve. Everyone on Steemit is a curator, but this newsletter seeks to provide a deeper level of curation for some authors and posts who deserve more upvotes.

While I have been writing these newsletters, another Steemit community member also has had a similar idea. He has posted on the “Unsung Heroes” of Steemit, drawing attention to some people who are contributing greatly yet not yet receiving much attention. He also cares deeply about making sure that good quality content gets rewarded. He wants to encourage and support authors who have not yet become established. And he has a particular interest in the video and photography tags here on Steemit.

Yes, I’m speaking of none other than the same person who won the contest above with his first big post: @cryptogee.

Realizing that we have common interests and can accomplish more together, I have invited Cryptogee to work with me on the newsletter. We have agreed to call the Spotlight. He and I will alternate in posting this newsletter. From time to time, it may have more of a thematic focus (e.g. best new videos or best new writers), but it will always focus on highlighting those who have not received much attention yet and deserve more.

I am thrilled to be working on this with Cryptogee. Please roll out the red carpet for him!

Speaking of Cryptoids and Posts that Deserve More Attention…

Most of you know @cryptoctopus, who along with me is a co-author of the Steemit 101 e-book. He also runs Steemit’s Facebook presence. Even if you wanted to ignore him, he’s had the top trending post on Steemit for the last day or so (what a great story, too; those rewards are well deserved!).

What you may NOT know is that @cryptoctopus got his father to join Steemit. Jacques wrote an awesome introductory post this morning. You’ll be forgiven for missing it if you do not read French, but I believe this is Steemit’s first introductory post in the French language from someone who is new to us.

Please take a look at this one. I have provided a Google translation of it below. Please let @grandpere know that we appreciate this great effort!

https://steemit.com/introduction-fr/@grandpere/de-l-age-de-pierre-a-steem
Note: There is a link issue. If this link does not work, then please go to https://steemit.com/@grandpere to see the post.

(Google translation of this post follows. Yes, I know the translation is poor quality, but it allows English speakers to follow most of this, I hope)

Hello! My name is Jacques. No, I was not born in the stone age but during the 2nd World War I as even a certain age and that is why I am called "grandfather". I saw three generations of people but several generations of technology, social movements, of thought, of "peace and love" for generations x ,, y ,, z. ... and politicians!

In sum, I crossed the generations of "Listen to your father Listen to your child, Play with your child, your child Oriente" in a context of student protests, feminist and environmental movements ... while men walked on the moon!

Born in the countryside, I experienced the heating stove, I saw up the phone - we stuck on poles ears to hear conversations - electricity, lamps and radio battery ( well before the "walkman" and "iPod"), in black and white television and color, HD and UHD4K, micro-computers, the internet, smart phones, and now Steem bitcoins! In sum, my generation has evolved technologies at a rapid pace in a short period of time. No wonder many of us to be a little mixed up! As an army, there are always those who do not have it!

There are 1 month, my son ... 30 years told me about his interest Steemit. I will tell you later who he is, but you probably know all of his writings. I was saying, he told me about his interest and good father, I wanted to know and understand what motivated him. I know nothing about crypto currency, whatever, but I hung the content circulating. Now I'm hooked! I look at the new content, morning, noon, evening and often late ... sometimes. Luckily I'm retired! Otherwise I would need therapy!
... A new concept in social media?

At first, I found interesting the concept of "reward" associated with a vote. In many social media, we can put the "Like", the "Like" but no significant effect if it is only to satisfy the ego of the person who submitted the post. But a vote, it is a choice and if this choice is shared by many people, the reward is greater. Thanks! That changes everything! We always like to be part of the "winners" or vote "the right side" as say the people of my area.

Such an approach can only help to improve the quality of content. Certainly there is the aspect of gain that can lead many people to embark on the adventure, but it seems that they will be quickly disappointed. They do not know all the work there is to do as the @cryptoctopus says. Voters want to maximize their vote by partnering with value-added content. Who wants to lose a vote ... and a reward?
Although Steemit is in its infancy, there is already a great variety of topics, articles well fleshed, and frank discussions in a meaningful atmosphere of respect for the views of others. It's refreshing to encounter such a community that seems to want to participate in building a positive company and future-oriented. Several politicians ... and several journalists were benefits to be inspired!

In sum, Steemit seems to be on track to create a special niche that will differentiate it from other social networks. After the wave of July 4, after questioning the crypto, the STEEM, STEMM POWER and STEEMS DOLLARS, other topics will be of interest.

Creating or original content?

@kevinwong ewarding asked the question "Original" Content Creators in a Mashup / Remix Culture
For over 5000 years, it is said and done ben things. Can we still invent the wheel? Why not? Regularly there are new discoveries or explanations to phenomena unknown yesterday: the Higgs boson, the exo-planets, etc. The western alphabet contains 27 characters.

With these 27 characters, we can make words, with words, phrases and sentences that we accumulate an astronomical amount of data in the computers that consume much of the energy produced on the planet.

With a sequence of four numbers we can get different results depending on the operators used.

Ex. 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10
(1 * 2) + (3 + 4) = 9
(1 + 2) * (3 + 4) = 21

We could make many other combinations, yet we still use the same numbers and the same operators placed differently.

It is the same when we play with the concepts.

Ex. Individual, group of people, man and woman power. Thus, a company will have a different governance as the combination of these concepts:
(Individual + power), group of people, man, woman
Individual (group of individuals + power), man, woman
Individual, group of individuals, (Male + power), wife
Individual, group of individuals, man, (Woman + power)

The combination of the concepts can be developed in the manner of fractals as mentioned in the articles @vadimberkut8 and @complexring

I'll come back on this issue to better explain my point of view.

My contribution

If I am interested in this social media is that I believe in its potential to change things. He soon bring together a community of thinkers, designers from the 4 corners of planets as luggage, philosophies, cultures and different interests. This is a first in the history of humanity that so many people can simultaneously, in real time, access a single platform.

So I will deliver the "stray thoughts" on different subjects, reflections of a man who lived at a given time, a time of "quiet revolution" where paradigms were upset by technology, social movements and access more easy to information.

It is also a testimony, a legacy to my children, to my family. I would not have written a biography but this new tool has the advantage of being able to write on a daily basis without waiting for the publication and launch of a book.

With the experience gained, I want to live another 100 years to see what will happen in the coming decades.

Now take a good coffee!

Please go to https://steemit.com/@grandpere to see the post.