Spam -- we all see it, and we all hate it. Add a blockchain -powered social media network like Steemit into the mix, and the incentivize package, if you will, for spam only increases exponentially.
Most Steemit users I encounter have reassured me that when Steemit goes out of beta, spam will no longer be a problem. But now I fear that the proliferation of spam will outpace the ability of Steem to arrive at its true potential.
Here's what I mean: most people do not have the time nor the willingness to put any effort into a post if it will only net them a few cents. In fact, for the truly talented, such meager revenues are insulting. At a certain point, people will either give up or resort to spam, or spammy behavior.
Neither approach is desirable as any social media platform needs engagement, and proper engagement at that. But the Steem platform needs to overtly demonstrate why their network is superior to the plethora of competitors.
To say that "you can make money on Steemit" is becoming a less valid argument. If I'm only making 50 cents a post on average, then I assure you that someone with a 30 rep score is making pennies and nickels for their efforts.
That, my friends, is what we call in the industry "bullshit." The allure of going instantly viral on YouTube, Twitter, or Facebook is far greater than making thousands of dollars on Steemit, albeit one nickel at a time!
At this present rate, Steemit is actually not incentivizing intelligent content (outside of the whale circle jerk); rather, it's promoting the very thing it hates the most -- spam!
But to resolve this issue is a two-way street. In order to stop spam, the network must find a way to reward intelligent, deserving content.
Well I really don't know how you adjust it. You don't want to reward every tom, dick and harry with immediate awards, just for showing up. At the same time, as a minnow, you're looking to increase your steem power, so if a spamish post nets 5 cents as much as your well reasoned blog, you grow faster with much less effort just by sloshing around your garbage trying to lure in some random votes.
Maybe you could weight the post based on the length, although there are ways to screw with that. Or even you could limit rewards for posts that have repeat content, some kind of algorithm to detect it, although this would be difficult as well. Could be that the whales would need to be incentivized to upvote lower rep members. That could be weighted on an inverse scale, higher rep equals a bigger knock to voting power/less reward and vice versa. There could be a way, but it will require some incentive change.
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I have only been on Steemit for less than a week and yes I can already see a lot of this happening. Seem like a lot of "borrowed" or re-purposed content on here and not many original content producers.
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