How much work do you expect from your followers? Do not SPAM your followers with POSTLINGS

in steemit •  8 years ago  (edited)

Everyone knows what a POST is... Do you know what a POSTLING is, and how it's like spamming your followers?

First of all, a couple quick definitions:

  1. POST - Hard work spent (more than an hour) to write a good post, with good content
  2. POSTLING - Easy work (less than an hour) to CHURN out content quickly and repeatedly
  3. SPAMMING FOLLOWERS - Hitting them with non-stop content, and expecting upvotes

Imagine Leonardo Da Vinci, who only created 280 paintings during his lifetime.  Sure, Da Vinci could have created 28,000 but at what point do they become worth a lot less?

Your followers can be considered your fans of your work.  Don't abuse them by constantly throwing content at them like a printing press.   They'll get numb to your work, and stop upvoting you.


When I first joined steemit about a year ago, I had a few favorite authors.  They really did have good work.  I upvoted them regularly because I liked their style.

Then I began to realize something... 

Hey!  They're starting to churn out content just to get upvotes.  It got to the point that every single post made several hundred dollars, and not all of them were that good!

I also hated the fact that everytime I logged onto the system, this same author would have 18 posts in the queue that I was suppose to read and upvote.

After awhile, I just stopped reading their posts.  There was too many, and I began to feel like the author was undeserving of that many upvotes on a continual basis.

I'm not a cow.  Don't milk me for my upvotes.  I won't be that generous all of the time.


Let's consider what you, and most of your followers have in common.  A lot of them follow you to also have you come see their blogs and upvote their content as well.

If you're constantly seen dominating the feeds:

  • EVERY DAY
  • MULTIPLE times a day
  • NON-STOP

...then when you end up doing, is alienating your followers.  That's my opinion anyway.

If I write a good post, like that last one I just had, I take a temporary 2 to 3 day breather.  I won't make any new posts for a few days.  I stay out of the reward pool so someone else can have a chance.

In the next 2 or 3 days while I'm not writing new posts, I'm upvoting other people's comments, and visiting their blogs.  That's when I curate new content the most.

Steemit is like a buffet. 


Grab your plate, and move out of the way so someone else can eat too.

There's more than enough here for everyone.  Don't be a non-stop POSTLING author.  Get paid well on a post? Settle down for a couple days and go visit your followers.  They'll be happy that you did.

Here's the definitions again, incase you scrolled down too fast or used speed reading during this post, because they sum it up:

  1. POST - Hard work spent (more than an hour) to write a good post, with good content
  2. POSTLING - Easy work (less than an hour) to CHURN out content quickly and repeatedly
  3. SPAMMING FOLLOWERS - Hitting them with non-stop content, and expecting upvotes

SPAMMING FOLLOWERS WITH NON-STOP POSTLINGS WILL LOWER YOUR UPVOTES OVER TIME.

(So be nice.  Go read and upvote someone else's content that follows you today.  It's the right thing to do)

 

** CREDIT for the term "postling" is given to @winstonwolfe who gave me permission to borrow it.  His comment one day was:

I've been on lines of thinking like this as well. I think the problem  I'm having is trying to think of "the next big post", while in the  meantime missing out on payouts for "postlings",

To which I replied;

Yes,  those are all good ideas.  There are some people who get annoyed if  someone has too many postlings.  Eventually your followers get numb to  your postings and won't upvote them as energetically anymore. So caution  there. May I borrow your term "postlings" that you've just coined?

@winstonwolfe replied: "For sure. :)  I figured it might click with Steemians in particular."


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Thank you for your post and REAL advice.

I never thought from this angle of view. I hate my own rat race for hot/tranding/rush to post.... yeh? looks like I'm trash blogger....(hard breath)

.... disappearing for thinking and... collecting ideas for a good intelligent post.

Thank you for a cold shower :)

Your sincerity and your comment was enough for me to want to follow you, so I am now. :)

Surprise. I would try my best :)

and now I'm commiting to do this

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

I like to use SteemIt like I would use any other social media site, I am not working on becoming an Author. Sometimes, I want to try and express something, sometimes, I want to share an idea, sometimes I want to be funny.

I am fine with all the different ways people use the site. It makes it more interesting to everyone.

Not a single highly successful social media site features a bunch of mid-length essays. They are a mixture of stories, thoughts, jokes, etc.

There is a guy I follow who posts a lot of stuff a day, but some of it is funny and interesting and if my response gets a response out of him, I love his sense of humor.

I know the way I post might be a turn-off to some who run voting bots. I am okay with that. I have a very different way of curating which kind of comes down to, what do I find interesting. Some of it isn't even that interesting to me, but I think someone would find it interesting.

Thank you for expressing how you vote and what you weigh, my criteria is different as the community grows, this ensures we spread our votes around differently. It's a beautiful thing. :)

Cheers.

Not a single highly successful social media site features a bunch of mid-length essays

The point wasn't so much the length of a post -- it was more about posting frequently non-stop, to try and get your followers to non-stop upvote content by the same author.. because someone could be unknowingly upsetting their audience if it turns out they see the person is in this for greed sake and nothing more. :(

P.S. There's a twitterized version of steemit called ZAPPL coming soon which will fulfill tiny posts.. I don't know much about it yet, other than it may fill that niche.

I just made a small research for ZAPPL and it looks really promising. Thank for the info, i will search it further today but i think it will be a really good addition to the whole ecosystem :)

Superb post on an interesting subject. I think "postling" should become a well known word in the Steemit vernacular.

I can see why many people make more posts with less effort. The incentives are there, with Steemian trails and Steem Voter, as well as some authors getting decent earnings out of sheer popularity.

I do think there is a place for "postlings" but perhaps that place will be Zappl when it comes out.

I would like to see the whole Steemit system incentivise quality posts more. An adjustment to allow risidual rewards on posts would be a good start. It seems rather unfair that a well researched essay flies down the pages as it competes with selfies, one liners and YouTube video links.

It's funny. Quite often many new users, OR the huge whales-who-publish-excessively fight me on this... Both of them seem to be quite happy putting as many postlings out as they can..

Followers and upvoters are getting wise to it, and aren't as actionable as they use to be when the same author keeps shoving things in their face like a printing press out of control.

When someone of your stature, and experience sees validity in this, it 100% re-confirms that this isn't just my opinion, but a valid one. Thanks for speaking up about it. Ahhh... I can breathe a sigh of relief now.

Selfies, one-liners, and youtube video links WILL be great for ZAPPL (and for those that don't know what ZAPPL is going to be when it is launched, take a look at this)

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Eighteen posts a day is quite excessive! I don't mind short posts, though, if they're not from the same author all the time. I write short posts occasionally too, kind of like quick status updates. But you're right about feeling spammed by the same author. I have been known to unfollow people for doing that. I'm not going to say it's wrong, but it is annoying.

Was just thinking about this dynamic yesterday, glad you wrote a post about it! Agreed, there are couple unfollows I had to do as it was getting out of control.

Me personally, I try to post value add content as often as possible. There are streaks where many ideas and noteworthy items are present for a stretch of daily posting.

The there are stretches were writers block is present and there isn't much going on.

I agree and love the buffet analogy :-)

Thank you for the advice. I try and spend time on my posts, but in my eagerness I might be guilty of postling today.
However I have also been spending my time commenting and upvoting in the hope of raising my reputation.
All new and exciting :)

You're the first commenter to use the term "postling" --- thanks... Maybe eventually this word will be understood, because it does represent a concept we've all seen at one time or another. Upvoted your comment. :)

Agreed! It's awesome when you come across high quality content posts that over deliver. Though I'm still new and finding my way around Steemit what you've outlined here is what seemed right to me. Work hard and create the best work possible to contribute and then to take the time and support and enjoy the community.

You're going to be one of those authors that surpasses me in followers, and in reputation. I just know it. I'm good at spotting talent early on..

Your post titled Life Off The Grid In The South Pacific was a pleasure to see and read.

You're pretty good at sharing a story with lots of visuals. Fantastic stuff!

Thank you so much, you made my day with that awesome comment! Still have a long way to go before I'm getting anywhere near your level of success, congrats on what you've done here. Very inspiring to see, I'm excited to be here on Steemit.

So glad you enjoyed Life Off The Grid In The South Pacific, it was an incredible experience and fun retelling and sharing the story.

It's an interesting take on this. I think there's probably a good mix somewhere between full-on posts and occasional steady postlings just to keep folks up to date. At the end of the day I'm on Steemit to be a part of a fascinating experiment. If I make money, that's great. If not, it helps me grade content that I might use on the Paleo Treats site. Either way, I win.

I heard a great quote the other day: When you win, you win. When you lose, you learn.

Keep on charging, I like the writing you're doing!

NFH

Mostly for me it is about keeping my Steem Power at a level that makes the votes seem effective. When I see that a particular author likes to post often, I'll turn the voting percentage down and still keep voting all their posts.

I also look at how much they are making each post. Once I see that someone probably doesn't need my votes anymore I stop voting. After that I go looking for someone who doesn't have a following and doesn't get many votes who I can help to get them on their feet.

That's my personal choice of how to do things.

Once I see that someone probably doesn't need my votes anymore I stop voting.

I found myself doing the same thing. :) Then I thought.. wait a minute, that's probably going to happen to my posts too. My solution was to post better stuff, but less frequently, and that seems to have worked well for me.

From what I've seen in my first few days on Steemit, this is a mixed social media platform. I have written real books, written personal blogs, written on blogging networks and article websites as well as on platforms such as G+ and FB.

Currently, Steemit has a feel more like G+ than FB. Sometimes it is appropriate to post short snippets with a link to something interesting. Your followers should only get jarred if your general area of interests suddenly changes.

I may be scanning some science journals, find maybe 6 articles that I think worth sharing with a snippet and link, then write one longer piece. Is that so wrong?

Loading...

Most of my "followers" hardly ever read my stuff as it is, and I'm far from prolific. 😏

I get it. I am not one to actually read through my feed very often. I tell people that it is OK to go to one of my articles and post a link to your own content, especially if it's relevant. Or, just post a good comment. You'd be more likely to get an upvote from me that way than by posting in my feed if I followed you :)

I am clearly in the minority here, as I pay no attention to monetary data regarding my posts, or anyone elses. I look at posts I find interesting, and upvote the best.

I'm new here, and I am not money motivated. I'm here because I am disgusted with the groupthink, censorship, and vapidity of most social media. I pay attention to posts that discuss improving your value to your readers, because I want to post things that people consider valuable.

Not value in terms of money, but in terms of utility regarding understanding the world we live in.

I doubt I'll suddenly become interested in the remuneration potential of Steemit, but I reckon it's good to know that others consider it, and some folks probably focus on it.

I just wanna know what's real, and let other folks consider the evidence I find relevant, so they can understand better what they think is important.

Thanks!

Thank you very much for you comment.. it says a lot, and I enjoy hearing people that see the rewards as not the primary purpose of this system. That's how I think too. I'm often accused of such, but if that was the case, I wouldn't have written a post like this... because those huge posts would believe that me merely pointing it out make the elephant in the room more obvious. However, those same whales would have been smart to upvote this post to gain readership so it would avoid multiple people following suit.

What's good for the system, is good for the system, and the people in it, from all sides. That's just the way it is... :)

This is sooo true, i keep getting new steemians who post their links all the time on my articles, and I'm educating them saying dont do that its not what this community is about! :) thanks for the article!

Yeah, spam commenting is far worse than postlings, I think. Indeed, if the spam links are completely off-topic I'm tempted to flag such "content". Although I've yet to find a detailed article on how flagging, even when justified, can have repercussions for oneself.

yes i warn them once, if they dont listen i flag it!

I don't know how a person can post 18 a day. I thought steemit has guidelines and penalties to do 3 a day right?

I'd explain how. But I'd rather not give a recipe on how to abuse the system. :)

What about comments? I like posting comments when I see a good article. :)

Comments are always welcome when they are on-topic, and are interesting to the author and other readers. :)

The way the internet and platform should spread without annoying spam

here's a meme we created. Thanx for new term word on steemit ;)

That is true!

All this is well said and I agree, nevertheless I think that from time to time a little "postling" does not hurt. It is like alcohol, to be use in moderation ;-)

Postlings generally aren't in moderation. That's when it can be a problem. :)

Welcome! Your next article is expected.

Agree, very interesting point of view... how much posts should we make a day?... i guess it will depend on the content, what kind of post...

There isn't a magic number. I suggest more than 2 is excessive... Other people happily post 5 to 10 a day and get away with it.

Use your conscience and do what you feel is right.

Sometimes i feel that 1 post a day is too much (at least my kind of posts), i post music cover videos on guitar... Maybe i could diversify my content, and that way posting 2 or 3 posts a day with different content would not look like postling or spam...

A very good post, I would add that if you want many followers, dont resteem all the time, it become very anoying after a short while, when you get 10+ resteemed posts each day from people you never folowed

Yes, I agree. When I follow someone, and they resteem something.. it better be a really good post, because I don't want to see non-stop resteems of topics I'm not interested in...

Good read! Very true some are well known even just a selfie would do. No content . We need to share with each others time o guess

Thanks for the valuable information about the system. Your post is very much knowledge base and valuable for new users like me. Upvoted followed.

Wow you really hit the head of the nail on this one. The post spamming needs to stop. Our feeds simply clog up because of it, and the guys doing it only end up diluting their value = no one wins :)
Upvoted and followed

Your story has been selected for inclusion in Steem Stories a Medium publication. Just reply yes or no, so we can get it in there. Thanks

no

(Not as a copy/paste to medium. However, I do invite you to write something up about the subject and link to it here as a reference article, so if people want to see all the comments that go along with the article, they can come here to get the original.. plus it helps Google to index this as the primary source of the information instead of medium.com)

Steem Stories on medium is a good concept to bring people here, but I think the articles on medium need to be unique even if they carry the same subject matter and not copy/pasta.

Makes sense. Interesting read!


yes its true

Very well said. Your credibility is inversely proportional to the number of Postlings!

EVERYONE MAKE SURE THEY asK intelliguy their permission to upload something on steemit or ELSE!!

Never knew what a "postling" was thank you for the definition. That is very true you can't just churn out easy things and expect a lot for it. This is the classic quality over quantity argument. I agree 100% I would rather read something good every once and while than a lot of "simple" posts everyday. What's also great about this post is my first post on Steemit did better than I thought and now I am just spending the next couple of days exploring Steemit and seeing what great articles are on this platform. :) I was really happy to see that I was doing exactly what you were suggesting in the article. Good to know I am on the path to great content and not baby postlings. Great article keep it up. I have already followed you but if I could follow you twice I would. But I can't....don't be greedy @intelliguy lol jk