It's good to see that your account has increased. You mention it was through tips...Did they come out of the blue or were they in response to something you did? I would imagine they were the latter, responses to some actions or activity from yourself. If that's the case you should do more of that as it seems to be working.
I understand what it was like for a new account, I was one myself three years ago and finding people to interact with was a trial and error process, it's like anyone pioneering in a particular area; Mistakes are made, then adjustments and one moves forward, possibly to make more mistakes.
I find it interesting though, that people whinge and complain about being new and small, and yet fail to engage with someone (let's say me) when the opportunity is freely given. On Friday I even offered 40 hive, just for a comment left, and yet so few smaller accounts engaged with it...So, the hive will go to a more established user who read the post and engaged.
And therein lies the issue...People are quick to complain about what they don't have, rather than work towards what they want. There's no free rides here, although I offered one on Friday and still it was not accepted by many at all. Back when I was very new I would have jumped at the opportunity to won some free hive from just a simple comment.
Knowing who to engage with isn't the issue, I see that as another excuse. Engage with everyone, work out who engages back and do so some more. Engagement isn't about targeting big accounts or curation projects for reward. A user doing that will almost certainly get no reward from it.
If I have misunderstood your comment fell free to clarify, but please don't forget that three years ago I was no different to any other user starting from scratch, so, I understand. There is no free ride here, only the one that a user creates for themselves.
The good thing is that you seem to know the right way to go. Well done.
I agree with what you said. For me it has been a journey indeed to figure out who responds to my comments and posts.
The tips came as a result of meaningful posts and comments indeed, so I’ll certainly continue with that.
Too bad I missed your 40 hive for a comment post. I would’ve certainly jumped at the opportunity.
You haven't missed that post. Look at my blog feed and you'll find it clearly titled.
Keep up the good work.