What is Your Post Actually Worth?

I've been seeing a lot of sentiment from some of the high-tier whales (especially the ones who have invested some level of physical capital) that a post on Steemit is only worth the level of attention that it brings to the platform. I've been meaning to respond to this sentiment for some time, but various things (my upcoming Big Post included), have prevented me from doing so.

Get Steemit Seen

People who believe that a post is really only worth the amount of attention it brings to the platform seem to mostly believe that this approach is the one that will best increase the value of Steem. This is a way of looking at things that, I believe, unwittingly misses the point of the platform.

Now, I have nothing against people with large amounts of Steem who have put a proportionate amount of money or effort into the platform getting a return on their investment - they should see a return. But let's think for a moment about what this approach means for the inherent value of Steemit as far as new user attractiveness and retention.

Steemit is Barely Boiling

Steemit is still in its infancy, a closed system. So the amount of people that are attracted to the platform from outside it by articles alone is likely small compared to word-of-mouth and mentions outside the platform.

In other words, at present this isn't really a valid criterion for determining the worth of a post.

Moreover, how in the heck would you even measure such a thing? Just because a post garnered attention within the platform doesn't mean that it also pulled that much attention from outside of it. Conversely, just because a post didn't get many views or upvotes doesn't mean that it did not pull more notice to Steemit.

A Snowball's Chance in Hell For New Users

The main issue isn't that this isn't effective, though. It's that (I believe) it hurts the platform instead of helping it. One of the articles written by a whale that expressed the viewpoint above said something along the lines of "if only 100 posts bring new investors and readers to the platform, then those posts deserve all of the rewards and the rest on the platform deserve nothing."

Edit: actually, never mind. I managed to find the article in it's entirety. Here's the line I was attempting to paraphrase above:

If for example Steem needs about 100 good post every day to keep the current viewership and attract more users, the 10 000 other posts of lesser value are not needed and should earn almost nothing.

I think that this is patently absurd (it doesn't help that this post, which I doubt attracted many new users [more likely to scare them off if anything] made an absurd amount by the posts own logic).

First of all, investors that are strictly looking to see a return aren't coming to Steemit for the articles, you can bet on that. And the cold reality is that readers that come aren't really, for the most part, coming for the articles, either. Sorry. That's not to say that Steemit doesn't have quality content. It does. Currently there are other sites that have Steemit beat in terms of raw, consistent, quality. Steemit certainly isn't going to pull those readers away based on the strength of its articles alone (I'm not saying that we don't make good stuff here - we do. But it's not easily accessible to new users).

New users are coming because of what the platform as a whole promises, not just the articles alone. They're drawn to what it represents and as an avenue to pursue their interests while receiving compensation. They're coming because of the community. And if the community has rewards pouring into only one percent of contributors, I would argue that that's not much of a community at all and it isn't going to be very appealing to new users.

From the Top of the Mountain It's Easy to Miss Details

There's another thing that I believe is a problem about thinking that posts are only worth as much as the money they attract to the platform: ...this would mean that many of the current whales themselves (including many that post regularly perpetuating the idea that posts are only worth what they directly bring to the platform as far as new users and investors) should not be receiving as much as they do. I've seen higher quality posts score around ten bucks in payouts and lower quality ones (i.e. shorter, less well thought out, less appealing looking) score hundreds. How does that 'bring value to the platform'?

Dolphins Will Save Us All

Whales are great, but they're limited compared to the explosive growth of Steemit. Thankfully, many of them have realized this and begun to delegate power. And nowadays we have a slowly growing pool of dolphins who faithfully tend to users old and new. This is especially important for users like me - old enough not to be able to benefit from minnow and redfish communities and initiatives, but still new and small enough that every single upvote counts.

I'm not sure I've ever received a post from a whale (back when I started the minnow initiatives consisted mostly of accounts on the dolphin level). This is a train run by dolphins... which I'd actually like to see.

So... What IS Your Post Worth?

It's a hard question, and one that we as Steemians are going to have to revisit again and again. There's no simple answer or silver bullet. If the Steemit ecosystem finds it valuable, that's a type of value. If the net at large does that's great, too (though again, there's no way to measure this and it certainly doesn't mean less viewed posts are worthless).

A really good metaphor that helps me wrap my own mind around it is that we're all neurons in a hive mind represented on a blockchain. Our upvotes reflect what we want more of from the platform. Niche genres, thoughtful reflections on the platform itself, crytpo analyses, music, culture, travel, and on and on. Neurons you use less often in your own brain aren't worth 'nothing'.

Like any developing mind, these preferences will likely begin to grow and expand over time as the 'topic horizon' of Stemit broadens. In that respect the payout of a post may not necessarily reflect its true worth. Each post cultivates a certain audience, and adds to the author's skills in whatever niche he or she focuses. Mark my words: the ones that are most successful today won't necessarily be the best to write tomorrow.

Going forward, I think that the thing that will draw users to this community will be the thing that drew me: the promise of being well compensated and the opportunity to contribute meaningfully and permanently to something with a lot of potential.

Follow: @jenkinrocket

Author's Note: At this point I'm basically pulling a Tim Urban (author of the blog WaitButWhy. Writes prolific, awe-inspiring articles but suffers from severe procrastination. Has disappeared for closing in on a year. Sure you're happy to know all that). I'm going to try really, really, hard to have my big post out before month's end. I'm close, oh-so-close....

Big Post Progress Meter:

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