Minnow Vlog 🐟🐟🐟: What is a Healthy Size for your Social Circle on Steemit?

lukakorba (63) · 7 years ago

Not too many, depends on your niche to be honest. It is most effective to engage with less people but on a deeper level, than with many vaguely.

$0.28

flauwy (73) · 7 years ago

Hey @lukorba, I agree that you can go deeper with less people. The question is how many if we want to put it into a number.

$0.05

amec (58) · 7 years ago

I think 50-100 is appropriate. ...i belong to a whatsapp group of about 120 active members and i know almost everyone and we interact very well

$0.24

3 votes

flauwy (73) · 7 years ago

Hey @amec, thx for the comment!

I think that number is possible as well. But Whatsapp is not quite the same as Steemit. I am not sure but I guess it is tought on STeemit since everyone is cluterred and you need to manually check up on everybody.

$0.00

amec (58) · 7 years ago

Am well aware of this @flauwy,i just used whatsapp to explain my views...interaction on steemit depends on the relationship you have with the people you follow or follow u...an example...whenever i log in to steemit,i always check the blogs of about 20 guys i know or maybe cox am a fan of their content...i know their usernames off hand and basic information about them. Like @surpassinggoogle ...i went to google and other sites to know more about him! .why? ?
Because i love his personality. ...in short what am trying to say is if u know personally know ur followers...lets say they are friends and family,u can easily and effectively manage a good relationship with all of them on steemit.

$0.00

tngflx (61) · 7 years ago

Dude im on the ssme page as you. But i feel youre barking on the wrong tree. Most of people herr are not to build relationships theyre posessed with money. For 3 months Im here I only found 2 good follower who really have the same thought. Others are basically just good job, well written kind of stuff. If youre lucky some wrote long reviews but then lost in contact. Everyone are so profit driven. Im also but i still want good relations. And its a precious gem to be found yet :(

$0.03

dandesign86 (68) · 7 years ago

I agree there are not so many followers which we have a real personal contact with. However, I find that the best chance to increase that chance is to have a smaller group of people which we follow and thus we have enough time to create a more interesting relationship than just "nice" "beautiful" .

Either way I understanf exactly What you are saying and I am on the same page as you. But I guess it's like they say - money talk. Sometimes unfortunately it talks the loudest ..

$0.00

chapterclosed (50) · 7 years ago

well let me see your blogs maybe i can be your next like minded friend ??

$0.00

tngflx (61) · 7 years ago

hah you're welcome :)

$0.00

kunani (57) · 7 years ago

Yes... you are correct,we can make good one.

$0.00

flauwy (73) · 7 years ago

You seem no to be the only one according to others comments. I do the same. Mayb this IS the best strategy. Steemit should give a favourite feature like we have on busy.org. That helps to check up your friends.

$0.00

kunani (57) · 7 years ago

Yes.....it's really difficult to manage and maintain all mates, we can keep a little touch with around 50 members per day.

$0.23

flauwy (73) · 7 years ago

As a power user or as a regular user?

$0.00

kunani (57) · 7 years ago

i d't known about the different between power user and regular user, Give me the clear please.

$0.00

majes.tytyty (78) · 7 years ago (edited)

Naturally, the more followers the better – at first glance. So of course most Steemers are going to try to attract more and more followers. One way they will do so it to Follow as many people as possible.

Which is all fine. But for me, I'm more concerned with creating quality content, and then if someone finds my posts interesting or informative, then they will follow me.

(I've been active on Steemit only for 2 weeks now, and that is clearly what is happening; the more decent posts I make, the more followers I attract. The numbers aren't huge, but that's fine with me.)

As many respondents have noted, too many followers might not be the ideal for everybody. I've been trying to keep track of my followers, but even after attracting a limited number of followers, I realize that it could get a bit stressful (for me, anyway) to keep up with them.

Of course, they can follow me without my interaction, but I believe it's best for Steemit if Steemers do what they can to create an interacting community. That's rather difficult to do if you have 10,000 followers. :-)

Anyway, thanks for the post, and the "How to survive" vid on YouTube. Both were quite helpful, especially since I'm only 2 weeks into the aforementioned "survival" stage.

Fortunately, I love creating the content that I'm making, and I spend over 8 hours / day doing so. And I have more and more ideas for posts, as well as series of posts.

Full Steem Ahead.

$0.10

joalvarez (68) · 7 years ago

I try to become friends with 50 Steemers who I really like and have things in common or who I can learn from, like you. I actually write them down in my so called "Steemit Book" so that I try to check their posts every day and comment on them. I always comment on posts I like or that inspired me.
I think the best time to comment is right away or within no more than 9 hrs because usually, people don't respond to your comments, but I still comment even on couple days old posts, just because I like them. It seems that when I comment on new posts and new to me Steemers I get to get more followers and upvotes. But I still try to get a closer relationship with the 50 ones I have by commenting, which doesn't really seem to be very effective for my upvotes, but I just want them to get to know me and because I like their posts, because they inspire me or I can learn from them, then that works for me.
I just try my best that I can, I really enjoy Steemit, I learn from it, I make friends and of course I want to make money, but if I just keep loving what I do and be consistent with it, working hard at it, I know one day it will pay off.
Love your posts especially when you make videos because this way it is more personal and it feels like we can know you better.
Thanks @flauwy. Sorry for this long comment.

$0.00

otage (70) · 7 years ago (edited)

Downsizing For Growth
sun divider.png
I agree, especially if you are just starting out, you need to strike a balance with quality and quantity to make solid relationships and put out good content on Steemit. The platform can be all consuming and tools to manage feed, bookmarks, favorites are not yet available. The real power players here seem to go all out all the time and don't show the balance, @papa-pepper for example. I believe they must be incredibly efficient multi-taskers. For instance @stackin responds to almost every comment, hundreds per day. He said that he accomplishes this by making replies during his morning workout when he is on the elliptical machine. Also, he has a lot of experience on social media and he has built a system. He is a great motivator and once everything is in place he can really take it to the next level with exponential growth. For small fries like me I believe the building blocks need to be put in place as a foundation for growth. Thanks for your great insights!

$0.00

cloudspyder (59) · 7 years ago

I dont know. Me honestly I only have a quite few friend in real life. There number dont exceed ten. But virtually a lot but do not know them personally.

$0.00

flauwy (73) · 7 years ago

Same for me. I would say I don't have more than three friends. But I am German and my understanding of friends is very different to the US mainstream idea. Online it is totally different and I enjoy having plenty of people to talk to here.

$0.00

trishlarimer (42) · 7 years ago

Interesting approach, @flauwy, especially in a world that seems to think more is always better. Maybe it is not. As a newbie here on steemit, I have basically just looked around on my feeds for articles/photos that have caught my eye, following the person if I like what I see. I have also taken the approach, honestly, of following those that have followed me, thinking that perhaps they have done the same with me. I think though, there will come a point though that you reach a saturation level, probably eminent with an older, slower gal like me :) And that is ok. I am here to enjoy as well as produce what I hope will be quality stories, insights, photos or even recipes.
I think you are wise to consider this. I enjoyed watching/listening to your video and your insights. Thank you!

$0.00

happyme (68) · 7 years ago

That is a very interesting topic!

Let me begin by saying that I have been volunteering for quite a few years and have encountered a volunteer coordinator that has the ability to remember details for roughly 3,000 volunteers that she interacts with just once per year. This lady has incredible recall for names and the details associated with that name like what position they volunteered at and if she actually meets them can remember what they look like and attach the name to the face!

Someone like that would be able to handle a lot more followers than the average person.

Then there is the opposite side of the spectrum for people like me who have trouble remembering names of people I may see on a daily basis!

Although there are extremes on both sides, studies have indicated that for monkeys, their social group is limited to 50 and humans can handle 150. I found this when looking up the term, Monkeysphere. I encourage everyone to look at the research, because our current mentality is that densification is inevitable and that we MUST create more housing in ever-denser cities to make room for the growing population. Studies with rats show that over-crowding leads to deviant behaviours and eventual extinction. Is that what we want for the human species? Is this what we call progress?

Anyway, for me, I spend way too many hours on Steemit (at least 10 per day) and I can only handle maybe a couple dozen people at a time, so I'm glad that only a few of my followers engage on any given day.

As for the idea of profit: It isn't so much the number of people that you engage with, but rather the Steem Power they use when voting on your posts and comments! You can have a hundred plankton voting for you and receive just 10 cents, while 3 whales can fetch $50 for you!

The question is: Are you here for the money or for the social aspect? Where will you allot most of your time? If your friends are all generous whales, then you have got it made!

$0.00

flauwy (73) · 7 years ago (edited)

Hi @happyme, awesome comment. Let me start disecting it:

You have opened Panadors Box with your memory remark. ;) Not sure if you knew that but I am a professional memory coach. When it comes to names memorizing I know exactly how it works and that EVERYBODY can become incredibly good at it.

However, I don't think that names are really relevant on Steemit. You see them and then you recognize them. It is not that you need to memorize any names here and there is no face for them either (maybe the avatar if you like). You can also bookmark them and so on. So memory plays a very marginally role in this, in my opinion.

In regards to overpopulation and cities: Well, after 33 years I left the big city and I never want to live in one again!

In terms of profit you can just aim for whales but I think that is a pretty one-sided strategy. I am here 100% for the money. Sorry to say that but it was my original intention. Now that shifts a bit but because I am already paying my bills with Steem. I rather have 100 followers with 0 in their Steem Power but who engage with me than just 5 followers with high upvotes who never engage. i do need the money but I also need the feedback or I lack motivation. Whales tend to not comment because they are usually bombarded with requests.

$0.03

happyme (68) · 7 years ago

Hi flauwy,
I didn't know that you are a memory coach. That leads me to ask the following question: Have you ever heard of prosopagnosia? It is a condition where people lack the ability to recognize faces. I used to believe that if someone had reasonable intelligence then they should be able to remember a face or a name or a number. Yet here I was, an honours student that could not memorize the names and dates of things I had to know for my history lessons. I just couldn't understand it! All my life I wondered why I had this difficulty. Then just a few years ago, I read an article in our local newspaper about a woman who couldn't recognize her own husband, children or even her own reflection. What she said resonated with me and I contacted the newspaper and had her contact me. Since then I have learned a lot about the brain and its many specific areas that do specific tasks. If there is some damage or deficiency to those areas, there isn't a whole lot one can do to make them functional again. At least not at this time from what the experts in those fields have found. You can train a mule to carry a load, but you can't train a dead mule to do it. If the mule is sick, you need to make the mule well first before asking it to carry your load. I made a post about prosopagnosia a long time ago.

As for the relevancy of remembering names on Steemit, I think one would need to remember certain things about a person in order to connect with them, otherwise everything is just superficial and there is no real bond made. Bonding is a critical aspect of socializing in my opinion.

You made a wise choice to leave the big city. Your health will thank you for that.

Thank-you for your honesty. I suspect the majority of people started out here for the money. Some stay for other reasons. It seems you have found one of those reasons. Personally, I find the mental stimulation I get from conversing with the people here on Steemit very rewarding in itself. There are many interesting topics (like the one you started in this post) that grab my attention. The monetary rewards are simply an added bonus! However, having said that, I must be honest and say that I love to share, so it has become kind of like a video game where I need to get to the next level, but in this case that next level is so that I can give bigger up-votes! All my earnings go into Steem Power so that I can give out more. I have no intentions to cash out. I have enough to pay my expenses and don't need the extra income. (Lucky me!)

$0.00

flauwy (73) · 7 years ago

Yes, some elements are surely memorized if you start bonding with a person. But I never do that on purpose even though I could.

In regards to Propagnosia: I have heard about that in Oliver Sacks book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Not sure if that was the same thing. I have never encountered a person suffering from that. So far everyone was able to apply memory trechniques and easily gets ten times better. You should at least give it a try before you dismiss it for potential medical reasons.

I also like all the nice side-effects of Steemit. But is is the money that makes me write most of my posts because it is all I have.

$0.00

runicar (72) · 7 years ago (edited)

Good point, I struggle a lot with that. I manage my social circle with removing and adding people to my follow list daily. I try to keep in touch with 20-40 people on steemit. Don't know why but you are on top of my list of people I want to keep in touch with. Maybe it is because your videos are so useful and inviting. Keep up the good work!
btw swetssssj is sponsored by a whale, that's the only reason she gets such huge payouts.

$0.00