This post is an experiment. I am throwing 5 SBD promotion dollars at this post to see if the Promoted Feature will reap any recognition or rewards (or at least some good conversation). I also am focusing on the trending topic "Promoted".
In this discussion, I am not providing solutions or even ideas to Steemit, I am merely opening a discussion about observations I am making. I can voice my opinions as I am a dedicated Steemit user. I have been posting once or twice a day for about five weeks now, and have been experimenting with times and lengths and quality and content of posts. Point in case: I am a participating member and not just a newbie trying to catch some Steem bucks (well, that would be nice, I would not complain If I did!)
Steem Promoted Feature Pros and Cons:
Pros: There is a TON of Steem in circulation, and the Promoted Feature will get users to spend Steem as opposed to cashing it out into Bitcoin. Taking more Steem out of circulation may cause the value of Steem to rise or at least stay stable. Simple. It could be a good way to gobble up the plethora of Steem being created and sold.
It could also be effective as an attention grabber of whales IF they decide to look there for fresh content.
Cons: Will the Promoted section be another smattering of posts that users throw a few Steem bucks at and hope their arrow hits the bullseye? Or will it actually be an effective means of getting some real Steem recognition? I can see the Promoted section being completely overran within a matter of days, especially if the price of Steem stays lower.
How do the metrics work? I am assuming posts that show on the Promoted section are in ranking of how many SBD are thrown at it. So will it be flooded by users only applying a penny towards promotion?
Will users be turned off at upvoting Promoted content? Unsure about this one. How about whales?
I think eventually (or not so eventually) Promoted will be pretty much just another category.
A Perspective: Steemit is comprised of a sea of posts. Think about it as each post being in a stack of papers, this stack of papers would be HUGE. Thousands and thousands of papers piled on top of one another, with the newest ones being on the top and the oldest being on the bottom. The categories at least give a little order into what stack your post lands. The Promoted feature is just one more stack of papers that will eventually pile up into oblivion. There could be extremely valuable content on any one of these papers! But how do we manage to find these treasures among piles and piles of pieces of paper?? I do not have the answer. I am just an observer.
Right place. Right time. That is kind of my Steemit motto.
Obviously, this is all one grand beta experiment. Who knows where this platform will be in 6 months, 1 year, or even a week from now.
I am happy to be participating in the experiment.
Cool
Steemon
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Thanks for your insight, experience and the stack of papers analogy! UPVOTED!
My experience on Steemit has somewhat paralleled yours in terms of my rating, time spent here and experimenting with quality of posts! I put 10SD towards promoting my last post which I believe was a good quality article. My post is positioned a few above yours and I really wonder how the ranking system works in this section. I did attract one "whale" who UPVOTED me with his voting power set at 39%. I will post a more detailed account of the results once I have been paid out.
In any case have a look at my post and if you like it don't hesitate to upvote. :)
https://steemit.com/life/@kus-knee/the-old-dog-discovers-a-treasure-well-worth-digging-for
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Wow that is a really great post you created. I am wondering if the whales will be scoping the Promoted feature; after all, they did create it. lol
I will most definitely be checking out OpenLibrary, super cool!
I am also curious how your experiment will be working out. I will be following you to read your observations.
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Ok thanks for your comment and encouragement I'll follow you and maybe we can help each other and learn form each other's experiences.
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Yeah that would be great. I feel a little bit lonely here on Steem so it would be nice to have someone to reflect on the experience with. I mean, I chat with people here and there but its flighty.
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I am not a fan of burning steem to promote another steemers post. I much prefer what this steemer is suggesting:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@bigsambucca/powering-up-other-steemers-another-way-of-tipping-back-into-the-community
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I came to steam for the social aspect and the possibility to express my creativity.. so far it only has been the "next buzz feed"...
I could use this "promote" feature.. but I doubt it will make steemit any more social
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I agree. It could be a better way to increase visibility, maybe ... but make it more social? I think not.
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This is a good idea and similar efforts have been successful in the past. The one question I have is: When someone trades STEEM for BTC, the STEEM doesn't go out of circulation, just becomes property of a different owner right?
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It does get sold to a different owner pretty much like a currency exchange. However, the Steem used for Promoted goes into the @null user and is essentially a reserve. So it is not being distributed back into the market, which could cause Steem to stabilize or go higher, depending on how much is spent on Promotions.
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But why will I check the promoted category? I mean it doesn't show quality but deep pockets. I am not interested at all.
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I was never a fan of watching the QVC Home Shopping Network or the late night TV infomercials, either. But I guess there are plenty of people that do. But value and price are not the same thing, are they? As long as we aren't seeing Promoted posts in our feed or it's not messing with what we find when we focus on tags and hashtags searches, I'm hoping we can just ignore the whole thing.
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Lol, ignorance is bliss! I like to watch the gem shopping network late at night when I can't sleep, although I usually don't buy anything. Sparkly . . .
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It's so neat to see this ecosystem change and different parts of it adapt (or not). @kaylinart has an interesting perspective on this in one of her recent posts, too, thinking about advertising campaigns, coupons, bringing real external money to Steemit, and why we might want to check the Promoted posts. I think I just better start posting rather than trying to figure it all out first. That's my key personal insight for today, lol.
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I didn't realize anyone could promote a post, not just the owner. That's pretty cool. Maybe one day advertisers will catch on, steemit is still in its infancy for sure.
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That is pretty much how I feel. How the heck does it promote quality? I thought that is what Steem was all about. Finding and curating quality nuggets, not stimulating upvotes by the means of throwing steem dollars at a post. Essentially, its a category that you have to pay to get into.
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Yeah after reading different analysis I will stick with my decision. For me steem won't be "mainstream "
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Hello @queenmountain . I honestly think this promotion is nothing more than " pay to work " or attempt to "embrace the wind " and in no way influence the upvotes in any post , in view of what will make a difference in earnings $ in posts is not the promotion, but the voting whales.
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Yup it is all about the whales. Being that there are about 50 whales vs 70,000 users, well how do you capture their attention among a sea of posts? Among massive piles of paper? I don't think a Promotion feature is going to cut the cake. I am happy to hear that the Promotion Steem is going into a reserve account. I hope they eventually use the reserve Steem for something productive for this community.
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We're talking about a centralized network , where the central power is in the whales. They who have the power to turn water into wine . Here you can have 1 million users , but who decides who will be in heaven or hell are the whales. That's what has to change and a " Promoted " button certainly will not change that .
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Nicely put. In theory, Steemit is supposed to be decentralized. But in reality it does not seem to be that way.
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