Pros and Cons of Steemit as a Content Platform

To continue the steemit-meta-wankery that's all the rage here, I wanted to share some thoughts about the pros and cons I've discovered so far on Steemit. 

First, a little background. I'm a techy (20+ years in the industry), but have also been a blogger for 20+ years, way back before they were called blogs. New technology doesn't scare me, and I do tend to be an early adopter, even if I have a healthy skepticism about the new hotness.  My blog has typically been about technology and business, and I haven't used it to write about life stuff in some time, so it's more of a technical resource than it is a lifeblog. 

I don't really want to get into a critique of the platform's implementation - I already did that here, and  Steemit user @joannajablonka covered lots of great points here.  What I do want to talk about the good and bad stuff about Steemit as it affects how I feel about writing. 

Pro: I Produce More Content Than I Did Before

If you don't count Twitter, I find myself writing a lot more than I ever did on my own blog. It's easy to think that the reason for that is the potential to make money, but I think it's more than that. When I post to my blog, readers who are subscribed for notifications will get an email with my latest blog post. To me, that means that every blog post I write has to be worth invading their inbox. 

I don't feel that way here. That's not to say I'm mailing it in or creating shittier content here - but as much as I love my curried eggs recipe, I'm not going to post it to my blog and send thousands of people an email about it. I posted it here because it seemed like something people might be interested in.

It feels to me like Steemit fits in a nice space between the formality of a proper blog, and the more relaxed nature of social media. This means that when I have an idea that's a little too long for Twitter, but not "important" enough to bother my blog readers with, I Steemit. 

So far, I'm really liking the fact that I'm writing more (and making a few bucks along the way.) I don't expect to retire or buy a house with my earnings here, but people don't comment on blogs as much as they used to, so the validation of an upvote makes me feel good about writing. Not because I need to feel "liked", but because it means that at least a few people found value in the effort I put in to make something.  And hey, that matters!

Con: Greed Makes Me Compromise

That's a little hyperbolic, but I *am* finding myself considering posting about certain things because I suspect they'll perform well here. It reminds me of back when I was a teenager, and was selling my art work (sculptures, paintings, etc) at a store in New Hope, Pennsylvania. I found myself less interested in making art as I did in making what I thought people wanted to buy.  There's nothing inherently wrong with that - I make those kinds of decisions every day as I run my business, but it feels weird for me to compromise my art.

I haven't posted anything yet simply because I think it will do well, but the thought pops up occasionally. And that's weird. I suspect that will die down as time goes on. Right now it's still exciting for me to check on my numbers, but in another month or two, that novelty might have started to wear off. 

I don't think I'll ever be at risk for creating trash content just for upvotes. My pride is such that I don't think I could do it. But I trust the Steemit community to keep me honest. :D