How to Fail on Steemit (Briggsy's Unfiltered Thoughts)

I think I need to write a post about why people fail on Steemit. It might offend or anger some people, but growing isn't always a comfortable experience.

Why this sudden Inspiration?

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It began today when I opened up my Steemit Feed; It wasn't a pretty sight.

I thought to myself:

"FFS... how did I end up following so many bots and/or resteemer accounts?"

Then it struck me; in my time on Steemit I have gone from wanting to be a part of Steemit, to actually being a part of Steemit. When we start out as minnows we do all the wrong things, and end up frustrated quickly as we feel like we aren't growing. I fell in all the same traps that most minnows do, but the only difference I can see is that some of us keep swimming instead of giving up or becoming someone's lunch.

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So this afternoon I set about cleaning up my list of people I was following.

I began with the intent of removing annoying bots and resteemers (some of them are designed better than others to seem like real people), but by the time I was finished I had gone from following 600+ accounts to around 120. Not all the accounts I unfollowed were for bad reasons. There were probably a few that I didn't remember why I followed, or the content didn't suit me.

Also, please don't take it personally if I unfollowed you. I get unfollowed multiple times per day and I just assume my content is not their cup of tea. The rest of this post will not be related to everyone I unfollowed, and in fact some people I unfollowed are doing just fine and not failing.

You might be thinking right now:

"why? why unfollow people? You're not helping anyone but yourself!"

But this is not true at all.

As I was going through the list of accounts that I follow, I was heart-broken to see just how many accounts were inactive or dead (probably half of them), after only having posted 3 or 4 times. They just quit; gave up; they tried and saw no reason to keep going.

But that wasn't the worst thing I found... I recently discovered last week that if you right-click on any image while using chrome browser, you get an option in a drop down menu that says "Search Google for image."

The photo above is my own, so it's not going to turn up any duplicates when I click "Search Google for image."

If its a case of plagiarism (like someone posting a picture using the photography tag when it's not theirs), than google will show that it has found other sizes, and you can click them and see where the photos originated from. There's a small chance that someone has a photo that they already uploaded elsewhere in the past and it spread around the internet, but that's usually not the case.

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Then there's the reSteemer bots. I don't need to explain those annoyances.

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Finally, there's the "I Follow you, you Follow me" accounts that have tens of thousands of followers, yet in a months time have gotten nowhere, because having 30,000 followers who are all following 30,000 other accounts means that nobody is winning. It's literally lemmings all running off a cliff.

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So if you're still reading this post and are not growing at all on Steemit after weeks of months of effort, maybe consider that anyone who has already learned to grow does not want to reward others that are not growing the proper way. I am guilty of ignoring this by upvoting every single comment on every post I have made in the past, but I'm wasting my time doing that, because it just encourages bad habits, and I end up with a swarm of minnows that are following me for no other reason than to get upvotes.

If you are putting a lot of effort into making original content, and are frustrated that you are not being seen, try using Steemfollower.com. Seriously, try it. It's probably the only platform built on top of steemit that guarantees you a pool of upvotes if your content isn't trash, simply by upvoting others on the Steemfollower platform every day.

There are other ways to get noticed too, like participating in contests for writing, photography, art, music, etc.. If a contest doesn't exist, try making your own and find a way to boost others that they appreciate.

The best way to fail, is to act like a failure. Begging for upvotes, spamming everyone with the same comment over and over, posting other peoples work as your own, following 50,000 people because you think that will get you exposure... these are ways that guarantee that you will burn out and never succeed on Steemit.

Then again, maybe some people just aren't meant to participate on steemit; maybe it's not for everyone. I don't care if someone downvotes this post, or if someone unfollows or mutes me because this post offended them; I am merely hoping to help as many people as I can to persevere and grow the only way possible - and that's simply by being a part of Steemit.

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if you want to be more proactive in this community, try using steemfollower (sign in is done through steemconnect using your steemit name and your private posting key - found in your wallet under permissions). This Video will explain how the program works. It is a great way to motivate you to produce great content, and to reward others for producing great content.

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As always, good luck, good wealth and good health to everyone on Steemit. Stay positive towards others and help the community grow. Thank you for reading and sharing. Comments are always welcome.