If you've been here for any period of time, you've probably asked yourself this question and as common as the question is, a question I've been asking myself again these days. There really doesn't seem to be any one-size-fits-all answers.
What's serious to some is not always serious to others and what works for one will cause someone else to fall flat on their face. I seem to have a different answer every week. Like many of you, I have changed my approach multiple times during this 4 year journey.
When I started here, I spent a few weeks just playing around and testing the waters before deciding to put some really serious effort into my posts and started a series called "Optimism at the End of the World", hoping that I'd attract more attention and upvotes.
Yeah, I know, it's not all about upvotes, but I think most of us, first and foremost, just want to feel validated that we aren't wasting our time. There are so many things I want to do with my life, I only spend a lot of time at Hive because the friends I make, the knowledge I gain, and the overall contribution it has towards my financial freedom and ability to share my work with others.
That's a lot of reasons to stay right there, and all good ones, but they aren't always easy to quantify, and comments and upvotes are the two easiest ways for us to measure success, imperfect as they may be.
After you have been here for years, you know very well that post quality isn't the only factor for what brings success on Hive. Engagement on others posts and making friends on discord, as well as doing things that others feel benefit the ecosystem all help, arguably matter more than the quality of posts.
When I post my fiction, it usually does really great with the upvotes...and no one reads it. When I post casual blogs, I get a ton of comments, but I never go trending. Essays can go either way, depending on the content, time of day, and a ton of other factors.
As many new users, I still ask myself "How much should I really care about the contents of my posts?"
My answer to that always seems to come back to "as long as it's fun and not an attempt to milk", it's all fair game. The number one most important thing for me is that I enjoy the process of writing and sharing.
That seems like an easy enough answer, but it can get a lot more complicated than that once you actually start to gain a following and support, and the eyes of the big fish.
Since transforming from an old @whatamidoing into a young @selfhelp4trolls, I have been debating whether to keep things exactly the same as they were or changing them up. There are a few reasons for this. The first is that I am producing a lot more work off-chain, and I'm thinking of using this as a blog to link people to if they like my work.
I'm starting to take my Youtube channel more and more seriously, and no, not because I have any inkling that I may want to move my efforts away from Hive. I just see it as the best way to simultaneously bring more people to my work AND to Hive. On the channel, I talk about self-discovery and Spirituality, and will probably branch out to talk about Japan, culture and language as a whole, nerdy stuff like games and anime and also Hive and blockchain. Obviously I post all of these to 3speak as well, usually beforehand.
I am also serializing my first novel Confessions of the Damged into mini-ebooks and may use my music performances as I+Everything to promote the novel as well as do some podcasts and collaborations. I am just having fun doing all these things whenever and wherever I am inspired to and somehow feel that they will build upon each other.
I am trying to figure out where this blog fits into my collection of work. I would like my Hive blog to be where all my readers, listeners and viewers learn about new things that I'm doing, and random ideas that I would like to share in essay form rather than fiction, music or video.
At the same time, I've gathered quite a following over at my @whatamidoing account, and could easily use one account for more random, casual posts, and one for more serious stuff.
The problem with this is that I gained most of my following here from the casual, day to day blogging I did. Most people who have read my fiction or listened to my music only did so because they knew me from my casual blogging, not the other way around. That casual blogging and randomness may be the best tool I have for connecting with others here.
I may have given some people the idea when I started this new account after 4 years on Hive that my posting habits were going to be very different from the old one, or that perhaps I'd be writing only trending-worthy articles. That wasn't my intention at all. At least not at first. As I stated in my first post with this account, it's mostly about marking a new era for me and also as a way for me to connect my work off-chain with my work on-chain by using the same name.
And then @acidyo, who has always been an occasional supporter of my work made a sarcastic remark where he seemed to tease me, saying something like "you just changed you account". It got me thinking that maybe I should take this account much more seriously than the old one...that maybe I might even get on his, or other whales auto-voter since I have proven many times that I have a lot to offer the ecosystem. Maybe if I just shared my absolute best posts, perhaps, I'd reach the level of popularity that users like @taskmaster4450 or @tarazkp have, where almost all of my posts are read and upvoted to trending. If I can do that I will never have to worry again that I may be wasting my time.
To become one of the top authors at Hive no longer feels like an overly-ambitious goal for me. I'm really just a few steps away. I write a lot of good shit, I get a lot of good comments, people generally respect me and sometimes I do go trending. All it would mean is more consistency in the outcome, less of those "damn, nobody read this one...."moments. An awesome feedback loop of contributing the best I have to offer, and consistently getting back fuel in the form of thoughtful comments and big support.
"If one of these big guys put me on autovote...." Stop right there though. So I want to start pandering my work to whales now? Is that who I am? And is it really worth complaining with 5-10 comments and $8-15 upvotes?
Even if we have a few good whales and curations projects, am I going to start writing with them as my main target? Or will I keep writing to the people I've made deep connections with here?
I think one of the biggest reasons I have come as far as I have is that I've always been honest (brutally meta, even) and have never let the prospects for bigger rewards stop me from doing what feels right and natural to me. It's how I had the balls to start the #nobidbots tag back most of our rewards system was at risk of becoming totally meaningless and most of the whales were in on it or resigned because they didn't think enough people cared about quality content. I would argue that may have been one of my biggest contribution to Hive even though I doubt many people realize how much I contributed to that.
Being myself and not worrying about whether or not the whales were into it is how I became known to @abundancetribe and @naturalmedicine, the initiatives which have given me the most consistent support over the years. And even if @acidyo probably thinks a few of my posts aren't worth his vote, I didn't become someone that he follows by always kissing his ass. He must have seen that I was producing enough gold or doing enough for the platform to warrant the occasional massive upvote.... Actually, don't tell him I said this but I always seem to have more success in tickling his upvote finger when I tell him (in nicer words) to go F himself (Make no mistake, he is one of the best whales we could ask for, but as with anyone who holds power, he occasionally needs a good loving middle finger).
Yes we are getting very meta with this one.
I love being the one who says the shit that everyone is thinking, and not caring much how much trouble it might get me into. I only have the best intentions. I love being the one who makes content that looks lazy and “unprofessional” on the surface but is filled with gems from start to finish. I love being someone who can be honest about all the ways I’m fucked up while also insisting that I have a shit ton of greatness to share. I love showing my vulnerabilities even at the risk of losing some respect because then I know that when you do respect me, it’s always for the right reasons.
I like breaking every unspoken rule and showing that it can be done without being disrespectful or destructive.
I like fooling people into thinking that I don’t know whatamidoing.
So rather than trying to make every post a trend-worthy post in the eyes of others, like I was almost swayed into doing, I think I’m going to keep doing what I’ve always done, but do it better.
I’ll still share random thoughts and I won’t format every post to be on the cover of New York Times or The Onion. I will be uncomfortably inconsistent with both content and tone, because I can be many different people with many different perspectives at the same time.
The fact is, even if I do everything the same as before, the best I have to offer and the worst I have to offer is all better than before. And as much as many curators want to promote trending content that impresses people from off-chain, it's really difficult to predict what will impress people from off-chain, and having more content meant for people already on-chain will become more and more important once we grow in size. I want to connect with who is watching, not some theoretical people that may want to join Hive but aren't sure. And actually, what impresses the former, will often impress the latter, whether a whale sees that or not.
I WILL still try to step up my game though. I will try to make all my posts trend-worthy in MY eyes. I will feel great about all my posts, whether they are random musings, tough answers to tough questions, calls to action, building community, sharing passion projects or a shout out to other beautiful souls and amazing works. I won’t worry about trying to fit someone else idea of "trend-worthy". I’ll speak as if I’m already a household name, because I’ve already earned it at Hive and let people see exactly what goes on in my head sometimes, because that’s what I like to do and it seems to be what all my favorite people like to see from me.
That post I mentioned above that Acid teased me for, I have to admit, was not exactly inspired. If I ever want to post something especially lazy, I still have that @whatamidoing account.
Please excuse any and all self-promotion I drop here and there. It’s just that my music and novel and YouTube content, despite all their many imperfections, are awesome and deserve the same level of love and support that I’ve gotten in this community over the past few years, and dare I say, maybe a whole lot more. I'll do my best to make it quiet and seemless.
I'd like to engage with inspired posts too, regardless of what form they take...posts that you feel good about sharing, whether it's your daily life, your artwork, sarcastic musings or Hive/Crypto commentary. If you aren't excited to share it, I probably won't be excited to read or watch it. I think this is the best answer I can give to the question in the title.
Let me know your experiences with trying to figure out what deserves a post and what doesn’t. I’d actually love to hear that
I love everyone who ever reads this. I love Hive. I love myself and what I share and I love this world. ❤️
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🎬Self Help For Trolls
🎸I + Everything
📕 Confessions of the Damaged Coming March 15
Come join us in Hive Cross Culture where we talk and share ideas about Culture, language and travel and share any bilingual content. Join our discord
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I'm also getting much more involved with Natural Medicine, Hoping to help them connect and reward autonomous and conscious communities around the world.
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Definitely sounds like you've pretty much nutted things out XD
Whatever I post is the best I can do at the time with whatever time I have to do it in. I try slightly harder with the hs misc but basically if I don't just do some things it would never get posted x_x
Nutting out is my middle name
I can get really sucked into ideas that I like to share, I can write and write and then find that I repeated myself a lot. I usually limit myself to one quick edit on Hive posts though, otherwise I'd spend 2+ hours on each. I feel I can usually make close to the same impact in a 30 minute write and 10 minute edit.
I like the HS stuff
I've followed you since early days because I just loved your vibe. Don't forget me when you are a whale yo.
Just do YOU.
I post pretty much daily but clearly don't have the pulling power, probs as maybe I'm just some Aussie hippie chic no one quite understands. But I'm with you.. I love this place times a gazillion.
To the LOTUS moon.
Xx
We are very similar, I think we both channel very near sentiments. It's not very marketable at first because it doesn't belong to this side or that side...it's both and neither. We both look at the world from a holistic perspective and neither of us likes to sugar coat any of the ugly stuff and that's a weird combination for most people cause we tend to unite over what we are fighting against, lol all them hippies fighting against negativity. I think we both may fall into that trap from time to time but we are both unusually committed more to breaking through that then using those old tricks to gain a following.
Once we get enough of a base, we can really slam home run after home run with the best of them.
You are such an amazing ally. I want to find more chances to vibe with you in the future. The my own shit comes together, the easier it will be.
I'm on a hippie island in Thailand and the "good vibes only" schtick is nauseating. It's good to not dwell on negativity, but also don't ignore the reality of life. Accept what is happening in the present with an eye to how things can be even better in the future.
I would looooove to come wreak some havoc on a hippie island in Thailand lol. I think I'd need some allies though, Toxic positivity is a real thing. I think you sum it up rather well. If we feel like shit, at least we have to acknowledge it. And there is no need for everyone who is vibing to talk the same damn way. If they are really vibing, I doubt they would anyway 😆
Yeah, come on over! Quarantine will be lifted soon if you're vaccinated, and it's quite the paradise.
You can do it bro 😎
I'm doing it!!!
LOL! This is enlightening. I couldn't stop smiling all through because you are brutally honest and I did connect with your blog.
Unlike you who has been here 4 years 😳, I ask myself, when will I get there? I'm just into my third month and trying to find my way around. I'm struggling to make my own mark on Hive. Deciding which community(ies) I best fit into.
We have various reasons why we blog. I blog not only to say something meaningful to my readers but also get satisfaction from their validation. Yes, votes are nice but meaningful comments are satisfying!
You said -
How do you know what your 'absolute best' post is? Votes from big fish? Comments? I'll say just keep doing what you love to do.
I have decided to write and/or blog the way I love to (which is the beauty of Hive - freedom of expression) and make deep connections with my readers. Hopefully the votes will come in alongside. ☺️🍀
I can't help it!! I try to be nice and inoffensive and it never works.
There is no absolute best, it's just about constantly striving for more real and more easily understood by others.
I get way more excited about comments too. :-)
The votes will come, the more you connect with others, the less you need to think about it.
Yeah another 3 month into this @kemmyb, I'm not alone lol.
I have no exact vision here, whatever I feel like I will throw out. I recognized that there are topics and accounts that are more valued than others, whatever reason there may be. But in the end...oh well, it is what it is.
If you are not into advertising every place you have visited or baking and stuff it will be a little harder to gain the votes but I see the value in the contacts I have made so far. No offends, good for everyone who is into this and can contribute for them, it's just an obvious observation, rather neutral.
Of course it is nice to see your content valued by upvotes, but the people you connect too will value who you are and often this is worth more than the damn votes....no offends here...I still like my posts to get some of them lol...otherwise people will leave in masses if only nepotism starts being a factor...I know what I'm talking about growing up in East Germany lol.
I'm drifting away...how many people are actually reading anything here I am asking myself a lot. But I am glad to have found the NM community and some others like RTC or TW to be full of decent great people you can connect too.
Still ppl vote for me lol..or bots?...they can vote too...makes one feel good once in a while esp. if you put some thought in what you are creating.
If one is joining Hive it is obvious that at least 50% is because of the crypto, otherwise you can stay with the big players out there like FB and Co.
And when you are roaming around the Hive you sometimes wonder and yes you get frustrated. It might lead to less good content cause of demotivation but I get the feeling that it is sinking in at the right places that after a while it will be self destructive if it is to obvious that you only have a chance when being xyz or a good a..kisser. I'm might trip over being myself lol.
I'm throwing a funny cat in at the end so I'm not upsetting the wrong ppl...I want to be liked too...like all of us...and everyone likes funny cats...most at least.
I've just started posting here again after dipping my toes in it back in the Steem days. I've been asking myself the same question: how much effort should I put into my posts? I signed up for the 30 day blogging challenge, and that has seemed like a lot of time to put in if I keep the quality at where I want it to be. So maybe a daily post isn't my style.
I love your final decision, it really talks to me:
I naturally want to post every day but as of starting this account, I try to stop myself if I'm not 100% into it. Not only does it mean posting better stuff, but I also have a little more time to interact with people. Truth be told, I'm spending most of my extra time working on my novel now, but some of it still goes to reading and commenting, whereas before I was barely checking anyone elses stuff out when I wrote every day.
Glad you are back!
I love this, only writing when you're 100% into it. I'd like to follow the same approach. When I have something I really want to share, the writing just flows.
As you're working on a novel, do you force yourself to write x number of words per day? I always considered that was what you had to do when being a writer.
I usually make a plan to write or edit X pages per 3-4 days, then if I'm not feeling inspired I tend to that first and try to get excited first. Usually I end up writing more than my goals but I keep SMART goals maybe :-P
SMART goals maybe, that sounds about right :)
My article mentions SMART goals but other than those Hive goals, I haven't been creating and following goals. I just started doing that now, because I find that even though I'm inspired to do work, I think I can do better by setting some more goals with deadlines.
Gotta get crackin' ✍️
hehehe check out this piece of selfreflection..
you can change the name but cant change the person behind it. I guess if you start writing in a certain niche with the new name then you can make a really different profile..
but other...we are all just the whatamidoing type of persons who write what comes to mind right?
I guess I just can't stop being pineapple. And neither can you! <3
You really hit on some real stuff here. I resonate with so much you have said...
I think most humans feel this way about anything they give their time and energy to. This validation you are speaking of is what kept me here all this time, knowing I am making an impact and making my time useful while being here...that’s huge. Also having fun while doing it all :)
This right there 👆🏽! I have always wrote what has come naturally to me. I love sharing me, what I’m all about, my life and experiences that could help others. I have never researched what’s trending and then tried to come up with something similar to be at the top.
I can already see that you being a “real talk” type of person is what got you your wonderful following (and now I’m added to that list 😁). When we write what we are feeling, what’s on our hearts to share and add things along the way that will make people laugh, smile, learn and feel good that right there is a million dollar post.
There are times I jot down ideas of what I’m going to write. If later on I’m not feeling it and the words don’t flow naturally I scratch it.
I always suggest to others:
Don’t write to be liked but write what you like and all else will fall into place. (yea I’ll be getting that patented lol)
I’m so glad you recently commented on my post. I’m surprised we have never interacted before. I really enjoy your style of writing ~
After 4 years at Hive I figured out it wasn't the votes or the comments that motivated me to put so much energy here but just the overall feeling that I wasn't wasting my time, and votes and comments are the easiest metrics. The real exciting part is letting things flow out of me though.
LOL please don't get that patented, I say something very similar...I won't sue you if you don't sue me hahaha
I guess we will be interacting from now on! :-D Thanks for stopping by
I so resonate with this.
Ah shoot! Okay then I won’t get it patented then. 😆🤣
We will definitely be interacting! I’ll see you around ~ 😉
I just subscribed to your YouTube. I like what I see already.
Thank you! You are the kind of person I like making stuff for 😃 Glad to reconnect in my new hive-body.
I think I might have eventually figured out it was you from the way you write.
manic!? lol
I just try my best to put in my best, it's obvious those who put in the work, create that familiar chain or cycle that would obviously do better in a long time. As for trending I don't really care about getting there I mean I hardly know any whale who likes me, but then keeping putting in your contents, I didn't know your own @whatamidoing
Yeah, it's me, @whatamidoing. This is my main account now 😃
I think you do just fine at Hive and you absolutely deserve it. I am not very concerned with popularity. I’m more concerned with being able to make shit happen. You could say “power” but I don’t want the kind of power that I would hold on to, but rather the kind of power that is dependent on me sharing it with others. I do alright, no complaints. I just want to keep feeling that all of my time is well spent and I have the maximum positive impact without sacrificing anything core to what I stand for.
Always trying to be the most realistic idealist and idealistic realist 😉
Hahaha I like your stance, I use to think @whatamidoing was maybe a brother to this account or like maybe a son or daughter account or something. Lol knowledge is power.
Well getting in trending sometimes might just be about the affluence and not really the rewards, I like your idealism, I believe power shared is power co-owned. That way it's possible to life yourself by lifting others. Imagine if I was a whale for one day.
Always trying to live by that philosophy. It’s hard when you are struggling but once things get easier, so does the idealism
It is true that you have just changed your account... and my point is you necessarily don't have to change anything unless you want to... you are the best "you" you can be... and as for contents I believe that if you have written something that gets you satisfaction, you'll be happy with whatever votes you get... and (I think) you already follow that... well, that's a load of big talks from a puny, almost a vanisher me... if I even try only 20% of what you do, I would give myself a pat on the back
You are not puny, you caught my attention right away and apparently some others too. Thank you for saying that. I'm sure you can do 20% of what I do without a problem. It just took some trial and error to see what got me excited and energized :-D
Confessions of the Damged should be minted as NFT on @nftshowroom think of it then you will have a real first edition! Great post! I wish I would have that resonance on my articles :)
Can you put up a book as an NFT? How does that work? You can do it. Anyone can do it. You command respect with that skull! lol
Well you upload the cover as a jpg gif or video then you mint as many editions as you want. Careful edition no. 1 costs 5 swap.hive then it is 1 hive per edition so 6 editions cost you 10 hive 100 editions cost you 104 etc. But in this case you could rank the editions in price making the 1st edition the most valuable.
It requires some form of investment but if you market your book well it could be something :)
so it would just be the cover then, unless I want to mint every page as a jpg
hmm ill have to talk to Vincent
Well you can upload the cover as an NFT and upload an unlockable file containing the book as a pdf...
Thats how I would do it at least...
Ah. I see. So only the buyer would have access to the file, or??
To be honest I think NFTs are silly but I do silly things and totally support all my friends who see an opportunity to make money doing what they love
I fyou want I can tokenize and issue the tokens for you and transfer them to you 1st edition is 5 Swaphive each additional 1 swaphive...., but you would miss out on the royalties when someone decides to sell your book to someone else ...
Haha the skull! I just grasped your comment in full lol. thats one of the NFT I did for an artist who does not want to join yet but I showed her how to mint an nft.
That could be somewhat subjective because if you are looking to make money and you are not on the "white list" of any whale you may have to focus on getting a niche that you can get the attention of one. If you do well with a niche it's not mandatory, but to keep getting that support you keep making that content as you see it's doing well. If you're looking to just drain different ideas or other things from your life into hive then yeah, fuck it, you write whatever you want to share regardless if you don't have upvotes.
I read your posts and for a few weeks now I've been wondering how you write so fluently and that you can capture attention from start to finish without creating boredom lol. Maybe I can relate to the way you write. Sometimes I try to do something like that, but I don't know why I end up getting self-conscious. I guess it's because I still don't have the popularity that you have and on the other hand I still lead a boring life. I'd like and I'm trying to take your model as a reference for my writings and in general to talk verbally with other people. I know we should be ourselves, but some things I see from people I think are great and I like to adapt them to my way of thinking and personality, which is also good at least for me. So you continue to be an influence on me. I'm getting organized and learning to manage that way. For now I've been focusing mostly on music and doing covers. However in the next few months I hope to start putting those things into practice.
I probably write with confidence because I’m too tired to give AF what people think lol. I’ve also gone out and lived a fair bit. I usually look for challenges that will turn me into a stronger better person, but not always the typical ones. Typical challenges will wield typical results but you also learn lessons you could have learned half as well watching someone others go through it. Trying to live without money for example, that was a trip! and actively trying to love things that I hate always always always helps me grow. Like making videos...I hated the thought of it, now I do it regularly. Some things you never really love but you can get over. I think after enough of those challenges, you think less and less about stuff and just focus on feeling good.
And if you figure that out, everything else starts to come together.
Thanks a lot man. Sorry I haven’t been that talkative these days. Catch up soon!
There are so many 💎gems💎 in this post. I'm going to pick this as one of my favourite gems:
"I like breaking every unspoken rule and showing that it can be done without being disrespectful or destructive."
Beautiful, I really enjoyed the entire, addictive read! 😄