Did you come here to get paid for likes?

in steemit •  5 years ago 

Steemit is a truly innovative social media platform, however from the point of view of user comfort, contacts availability, and unique content it still seems at a level of a large discussion forum and is far behind the corporate giants.
Facebook vs Steemit 2050
And yet we are here. Each of us joined for our own reason, but I wonder how much of that motivation do we have in common.

I remember back in 2017 when I was joining in on my first account (@wellwild - to which I unfortunately misplaced the master key) my reasons included mainly excitement about block-chain technology - I was investing in multiple block-chain projects and currencies at the time and it felt like being in on the early days of internet. The feeling of freshness and innovation.
Spirit of innovation
I wanted to contribute and be part of everything as much as I could. I loved the idea of enhanced privacy, complete transparency and people being in control of their own data. When I' heard there are projects that pay the users for viewing ads (instead of paying corporations to display those ads to users for free) and platforms that reward users for creating value through content and social interactions it seemed so utopian to me.

I've created my account and over the span of the next two weeks I wrote a couple articles. I got some likes too, and here likes mean money. At first I was super excited. I thought "wow, that's for real". But as with all utopian concepts the line of flip to dystopian execution is very thin.
Utopia Dystopia

Most of us know, that social media is so addictive, because of the endorphin release caused by our brains reward system, which fires readily when we get our content liked and when we receive attention. If you've ever received a large amount of likes for something you posted, you know what I'm talking about. For many users it didn't take long before this pleasure became the main motivation of creating content.
Social Media Motivation

Social media became a race to share better things - better looking selfie, be on a better holiday or a party, be more trendy with the pop-culture. And all of this at subconscious level was motivated by the potential reward.
In my personal opinion, it flooded the internet with repetitive egoistical low-actual-value information, making it even harder to find really worthwhile content on these platforms.
Social Media Drawning
And as easy it was to forget that we were there to share and not to compete on fame with the likes alone - how much easier it is to forget that when likes mean payouts, especially if you live an poor country?
Money form the screen
I see a lot of content on Steemit, which seems to be created with the point of getting these payout likes. Is it being flooded with this content? It's hard to say, I wasn't here regularly for a while, but there's a lot of it. A lot of careless re-posts of information from media and very little actual passion and originality.
Flashy Sheep

Steemit - to me - has a face of platform where people go to post stuff, not where they go to read and consume. This cripples the potential significantly, as it makes it "creators-to-creators" platform. I feel like there isn't enough actual passive audience. I don't consider myself a passive audience on steemit, I came here to share. I'm sharing because I believe I've got something interesting to show or point out and I can do it in an efficient, easily digestible manner, but the moment I start getting upvotes and payout likes, it's hard not to assume the hoarding mindset and try to promote my posts to get even more of this steroid likes(often by weird means, like commenting on other peoples post, referring back to my post).

I don't have any real life friends who use steemit, so I feel like I'm here alone, I would really like to feel like a part of a community here and not just a random blogger. It would be welcome to have some more "connecting-people" functionality built into the platform.
Alone in the crowd

Of course I wouldn't dare to completely generalize and I'm sure some of you who invested more time and explored it more deeply managed to find loads of value and actual social fulfillment in this platform, but it doesn't seem like it's part of the design here.

So? Why did you come here? What is steemit for you? Do you agree with points I made and do you see these problems as problems? Can you point me the socially active and alive part of Steemit?

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Welcome wildcrafts!
eSteem is mobile and desktop application that improves your experience on Steem.

Download Android and iOS apps. Surfer Desktop application that helps you to gain new followers and stay connected with your friends, unique features - notifications, bookmarks, favorites, drafts, and more.
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Goodday and Welcome back to the great community of Steemit, wildcrafts
YESS You are a new Steemian now!
I saw your #introduceyourself and its nice to meet you. We haven’t met before but that changes right now. Dont let all the replies and bots scare you.
Just comment if you get scared and i Will help out.
If you download the app Steemify for notifications you see what Will happen in your account.
Blogging, building and uplifting eachother is what steemit is and what its all about on this blockchain. The best part is that you could earn money to.

I love blogging, But always be carefull with all your passwords, Never give those up !!
https://steemit.com/community/@brittandjosie/4-o-clocky-steem-keys-key-to-your-succes-so-secure-them

The Steemify App I use is great, it is available in the Appstore and free, go cheque it out. Or read this blog
https://steemit.com/busy/@exyle/using-steemify-to-stay-up-to-date-about-the-blockchain-like-project-destiny-please-consider-blockbrothers-for-your-witness-vote‬
I wish you good luck with steeming and I Will See you around🍀
Good luck with your journey and may you find here what you are looking for.
Just remember that all good things come in good time and never giving up is THE key to big succes on Steemit.

Please vote for a witness to. You have 30 votes and if you dont understand let me know and i Will help. Also you could join the SteemTerminal Discord.
Or visit @heyhaveyamet #HHYA and My friend @xcountytravelers for more newbies exposure in the beginning very important.

Let me know if this was helpfull or you need more help, I am in Discord too @ brittandjosie3488
Greeting from the Netherlands
@ Brittandjosie
steemterminal discord invite
https://discord.gg/pxBj9b

Thanks for reaching out. I tried to open your discord invite but it has expired. Plus I don't really use discord. Ever heard of steemchat? :)
I already got myself a secure password back-up, not making the same mistake again.

I asked someone about voting for a witness and they advised me that if I don't know who to vote for, I shouldn't bother voting.

I ended up voting on @aggroed @stoodkev @yabapmatt so far, but i still got 27 votes.

How do you find your candidates?

I'm visitng netherlands right now! Love this country. I'm in Maastricht, atm. Been in Amsterdam and in "Den Haag" by the sea. Amazing people live in Netherlands.

Greetings from a Londoner!

Hi wildcrafts, well thank you indeed Holland is great and you went to Scheveningen I guess Den Haag by the sea! The person who advised you about the witness voting clearly isn’t aware that without witnesses there wouldn’t be a blockchain! But that’s just ignorance. There are lists and you can also proxy your votes. Well if you are interested
https://steemit.com/witness/@brittandjosie/did-you-do-your-witness-voting-yet
The 3 you got a very good choices btw and here is a new invite we do this via discord that’s the easiest way to meet and learn without costing RC
https://discord.gg/R9wQGB

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Welcome to Steem wildcrafts! Partiko is officially the fastest and most popular mobile app for Steem. Unlike other Steem apps, we take 0% cut of your earnings! You can also be rewarded with Partiko Points while using Partiko and exchange Partiko Points for upvotes!

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Thank you so much for your interest!

Welcome to steemit @wildcrafts.

Welcome the new steemians. Have a great day!

Welcome to the Steemit community @wildcrafts!
Since you were here before, then take these as a simple refresher, enjoy!
We sincerely hope you find everything you are looking for and have found a new home here.

Eight suggestions to consider:

  1. Guard your passwords carefully, and only publish with the posting key,
  2. Use your active key only for wallet transactions, keychain and steemconnect,
  3. The master password is only used to reset compromised passwords,
  4. DO NOT lose your passwords; copy and store offline,
  5. Do not publish other people's work, be it photos or written, without credit,
    be sure to source all of your work, even if it is your own.
  6. An introduceyourself tag is used only once, and
  7. When you open your steemit.com, in the upper right corner of the page there are 3 bars. Click on those, and then on the "welcome", and you will get a lot of reading material that will help you.
  8. Do NOT open any links in memos or comments that you do not know who they belong to. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is, so the old saying goes. There is nothing free here.

I found you because @xcountytravelers and @brittandjosie from @heyhaveyamet presented and promoted your publication to get more exposure and help you grow faster.

If you find yourself overwhelmed and need some guidance, or if you have any questions, there are informed Steemians available who can help you; you can click to go to the Steem Terminal in Discord here:

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Have fun and happy Steeming!