When I first started my adventure here on the STEEM blockchain, it was a very different landscape. There were no bidbots, there were no alternative front ends, like the one I'm using now, Busy.org, and the way things worked was very different. I remember being a new user and using the promoted tab to actually gain exposure and find content and it's not something I really talk about much anymore, but I still check the promoted tab. Today I want to talk about why I think that the Promoted tab and using the promoted system is something we should get back to doing as a community.
I should start this off by clearing up that this isn't a hit piece against bidbots. I've written a few of those in the past, and honestly with more perspective it's easy to see that bidbots are just the answer to whales that got criticized for self voting. Personally I don't think anyone should be paying to help whales bypass the 7 day waiting period on claiming rewards, but you can all make your own decisions. The nature of any proof of stake system is that you earn based on holding and the owners of the stake are entitled to their earnings.
That being said, let's discuss a way that I feel actually benefits the platform and adds value for every user. If we use the Promoted system, we are burning SBD to compete to put our posts higher up the list of the promoted tab. It's kind of interesting how no one talks about this tab or feature at all. I understand the logic that bidbots are giving us back some of the money that we spend, but let's logically think about this: Can we magically create value by spending nothing? Unless we are the Federal Reserve and print money on a whim, I don't think we're seeing the big picture here (not that I'd claim that anything the Fed does is beneficial in the long term).
So why is burning SBD and using the Promoted tab actually beneficial to the platform? To understand that, we have to realize that SBD is a debt instrument. We are basically devaluing STEEM when we over print SBD by splitting the core value of the STEEM ecosystem between multiple tokens. There are other code related reasons and systems that can explain why SBD is a debt instrument, but I don't want this to be an overly technical post. Essentially my entire stance is based on the belief that SBD is designed to be burned. Burning tokens creates scarcity and increases value of the ecosystem. Let's summarize this section with: Burning debt = repaying loans and makes STEEM more valuable.
A cool thing to note about this feature is that anyone can promote any post that is still in the payout window. If one of our friends does something cool and you want to help it gain visibility, many of us don't have hundreds of SBD laying around to put a post in trending, but we could help move their post up the Promoted tab for any tiny amount of SBD that we want to contribute. We can do this for our own posts as well. It's also a compounding affect. What that means is that there isn't a limit on how many times we can promote a post and it collectively allows friends to work together to promote a post higher than they can alone. If we put 1 SBD on a post to promote it and then another friend puts 0.5 SBD on a post to promote it, the post is collectively promoted to 1.5 SBD and moves up the Promoted tab ahead of any posts that spent less than that amount on promotion.
I know in the short term mindset, it seems like we're losing something. I get it. Honestly, I got out of the habit of using the Promoted feature as I felt that no one looks at that tab anymore, but I've been looking at the tab more often for the last few months and I can assure you that some users are massively benefiting from using it. There are many tags that you can be at the top of the Promoted section of for under 1 SBD. Isn't that kind of amazing? If we simply use the tool built into the system that is actually designed for promotion, we promote the system to run the way it was designed to do and increase the value of the platform for all users. Just some food for thought, but I'll be using the Promoted tab more often going forward. Namaste.
Good post!
I agree, the promoted content section is crucial for Steemit as a community and to slow down the fall of steem's value.
I think that the reason for it not being used is when you start whatever money you earn you aren't going to spend on promoting your content, and as you grow it becomes a habit of not using and even liking it.
PS. I hate bidbots I think that they are destroying the platform but what can I do? 😑
Well that's sort of the problem in and of itself right? Clearly people are willing to pay to promote themselves, even if they are gambling for a shot at it being profitable. I think the Promoted tab allows us to get the same net result while benefiting the platform as a whole instead of only really benefiting the people selling the votes.
I promoted my n-1 post with 1.5 SBD...Lets see what happens..
Will report back
Hopefully we find out that some people do see the value and are using the system. :)
So far in my experience- for an official feature ..promote kind of sucks..no analytics..no targeting. .
I have no idea what happened to post...did it even get 1 extra view. .
Will report back again
Alright , As far as I can tell-
so the post never showed up on promoted tab , i have no idea what happened to SBD , posts older than mine with lower $$ rewards were visible.
So , in it's current form , I am not inclined to use it again.
There's a promoted tab for each tag. To show up in the "over all" promoted tab, you'd likely have to spend a lot more money. It's an exclusive tab that only shows posts that burned some SBD, so your post is on there somewhere and it's above any post that spent less, but it's probably fairly low on the global promoted tab for how much you spent. I like to look at the promoted tab under specific tags, like this: https://steemit.com/promoted/animals
Understood...
That's interesting... Let's try that out right now :-)
Well thanks, I really think explaining how these things work can help people make smarter decisions on how they use the platform. I suppose we'll see if it has any affect, but I know if we get more people talking about it and using the Promoted tab, it will benefit the platform as a whole. I have zero doubt about that.
I never look at the promoted tab
Hey that's pretty interesting. Honestly, I've never looked at the promoted tab before, but I will now!
It's kind of funny that people only seem to talk about the Trending page, but personally I think the Hot page has more relevant information most of the time. The promoted tab is just a good alternative to looking at the bidbot circlejerk on the Trending page and it's actually benefiting the platform. Hopefully it helps you find something good!
It looks like I got this one all to myself:
Also hot page refreshes more often. .trending is mostly static
You now what they say.. PROMOTION PROMOTION PROMOTION..they also say any PR is good PR. The force is strong on those who follow you, how often do you have to promote? RESPECT
With the Promoted feature, it lasts for the full time your post is in payout window, so 7 days. I haven't used it much lately, but I'm working on using it a bit more and raising awareness.
When we promote, it is more available? Not sure how exactly it works.
It's interesting, one of the devs pointed me to a newer thread on the condenser github. As of now, Promoted content all gets put on it's own tab. Some people have voiced concerns that it's a problem doing it that way. The new way that has been proposed would mix them in and outline them with a different color shadow to make them stand out. I guess we'll just have to see what happens.
Most people think the promoted section is not that important at all but it is important in helping all of us grow.
Yours truly, Tornadoman
Awww man not sure what made me finally check out the promoted tab but damn sure glad i did... Never knew any of this info and you laid it out clear as day, makes perfect sense. These are the topics which need to trend! Respect sir
Glad you found it useful.
I used to use this in the past with different accounts, then got caught up with bidbots. To be honest, I've had success with both. Promoted does have it's own section.
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