Content discovery is arguably the defining aspect of any content platform.
Newspapers rely on editors to shape the look and feel of each publication while social media sites rely on algorithmic approach utilizing social connections, likes and views to try to figure out what you, the reader, want to see.
Steem is first and foremost a content platform rather than a social network. At it's very core it attempts to prioritize the content based on the signals it received from users who are invested in the platform.
The downside of this approach is immediately noticeable to everyone who visits a Steem based content feed for the first time - a weird mixture of brilliance, memes and re-purposed bovine manure.
Steem algorithm favors the larger or better connected accounts in terms of content discovery. Early adopters who have been on Steem since the beginning and have gained a large following rely almost exclusively on support of other early adopters, while the wealthy accounts lean towards using upvote bots to promote their content - both ways are quite effective and send the content up to the top of the frontpage.
The sad fact of the day is - there is no way to appear on the front-page just by producing good content. None. This makes the platform inaccessible to new users, it slows growth and it will ultimately be fatal.
There have been numerous discussions on how this can be fixed, and I would like to contribute my stab at the topic in a form of a new product which attempts to improve one major part of the equation - content curation.
Before that, let's just skip back a few months - January 2018, I just joined @builteam in a quest to re-think their products and services. Buildteam's main product at that time was @minnowbooster, a marketplace allowing to monetize user's voting power. It's one of Steem's largest and most used commercial products to date.
Minnowbooster comes from a place of love (it's main purpose is to help small accounts grow into large accounts), but to me it highlighted users inability to grow their accounts organically which could only be solved by finding new ways to promote and curate content.
Fast forward to today, after 6 long months of development we at @buildteam have launched the new, completely re-thought and re-engineered Steemvoter (beta).
Our vision for the new generation Steemvoter was to create a product which empowers every one of you to curate and reward quality content. A product which would be simple enough to use, but powerful enough to tip the reward scales towards creators and away from people who are milking the reward pool for purely profit.
The single feature which I'm most excited about, and which was the reason for this post, is Steemvoter Guilds. It's a disruptive new way to we aim to give power to promote quality content back to every one of you.
When you create a Guild, you can choose any number of accounts on Steem to serve as a curators for your guild. Whenever these curators post, resteem or upvote content which matches the tags you defined, it will trigger a guild upvote - all the followers of your guild will automatically upvote that content, potentially sending it to the frontpage of Steem feeds.
As your guild grows in follower size, adding new curators will instantly reward them with visibility and ability to pierce through to the frontpage, rewarding those who deserve it the most.
I invite you all to give the new Steemvoter beta a try - support creators by following a guild or create your own topic based guild and add the authors who represent it the best.
Thanks for reading
Paulius
This is a cool idea. I stumbled across your account reading @fotostef 's introduction post.
Hi! I'm pretty new to this whole steem thing. I've got a few questions about steemvote.
I'd love to find a simple way to ensure that people see what I post; but moreso, I'd love to know that content at the top of the feed is quality. It's quite the task to dig through everything on steemit to find things I enjoy reading.
Hi!
Voting on Steem in general does reduce your voting power - this also applies to votes made via Steemvoter. But don't worry, your voting power recharges back over time, and you have full control of how much of it you want to spend per vote by setting Voting Power (Weight) parameter when following another account or a guild via Steemvoter.
Steemvoter is free to use for the duration of the beta. After the beta is over, the will always be a freemium version of Steemvoter where you can use the product in return for us using an equivalent of one full vote per day from your account.
No! You can simply pick some accounts you like to always upvote and create a Stream, you will get curation rewards for each vote you make. Or you can create your own curation guild and group authors you like by a certain subject.
Thanks for the thorough response. Currently, my vote is worth $0, even at full power. I'll check into steemvoter again when my vote is actually worth something. :-)
Thanks for sharing this awesome blog @upheaver Hope you'll enjoy my blogs regarding music/art. I would like to see more witness people that are curating music as well. Regards. Feel free to enjoy my music.
https://choon.co/tracks/8nyj8kwkto/the-african-mganga---lucian-nagy--balkumba-tribe-/
https://luciannagy.com/
Great Idea, gonna look into this.
Let me know how your thoughts once you try it out
You got an extra upvote from @news-today because you are a MinnowBooster White Listed author.
The MinnowBooster Communnity White List is a service for quality authors and provides a guaranteed profitable upvote for authors on the list. You need to be invited to get on the White List and once you are invited you need 5 accept votes from people who are already on the list. Like this we can ensure that only quality authors can profit from the White List benefits.
We need your help in making the White List grow. Please see my linked post and help out in developing the White List and building a profitable system for quality authors.
;-)
You got a 21.28% upvote from @upmewhale courtesy of @upbeaver!
Earn 100% earning payout by delegating SP to @upmewhale. Visit http://www.upmewhale.com for details!
You got a 37.30% upvote from @emperorofnaps courtesy of @upbeaver!
Want to promote your posts too? Send 0.05+ SBD or STEEM to @emperorofnaps to receive a share of a full upvote every 2.4 hours...Then go relax and take a nap!
True. Thanks.
@upheaver
I really wanted to know about curation.
Thank you
Yo me estoy volviendo loco con en todo este tema porque no termino de entender muchas cosas del funcionamiento de steem y porque aunque es algo nuevo, en los consejos y explicaiones de muchas publicaciones se da por hecho que ya se sabe o conocen muchas cosas que se mencionan. Tu publicacion me parece muy interesante y probare steemvoter, gracias!! ;)
That is an important new feature - will check it out. For such a long time there were only 2 guilds visible: one was dormant, the other is Curie.
Thanks
And now you have the power to create your own curation guild, thanks for stopping by.
I really want to know about curation. Thanks for this amazing work
In the point. excellent help for new users to grow.
In the point. excellent help for new users to grow.
Can't login, no email sent to me.
Sent after 40 minutes, all is ok.
Whew :)
Good Stuff Here
Thanks
Congratulations @upheaver!
Your post was mentioned in the Steemit Hit Parade in the following category:
I still feel as if there is a huge bias to those who own the large bidding bots and they ultimately always get on the trending page and have a monopoly in the content curation rewards.
Good point
Really interested in this, will be checking it out! I think your really note that there is a lack of routes for organic growth for new accounts is really important.
Thanks, I hope you will enjoy the product
Hey @upheaver I am new to @steemit check out my new video and post. would be amazing if I could get an up vote from you. thank you :D
This does solve some mechanical problems but it does so by creating roleplay problems. Why does the world only allow them to get a long rest after 6 combat encounters? It doesn’t make sense unless the world is very different from our own.
Nice work on this, I will follow your work. Please check out and follow my work.
Steemvoter doesn't seem to working for me, what's wrong?
Are accounts with SP lower than 15 not entitled to auto upvote using Steemvoter?
Nice post
That's true but your comment is still spam. Have a downvote.
Agree, we definitely need better curation on this platform. Your idea could work if there was more Steem Power to go around. Too much is currently tied up in bots and other initiatives.
Hopefully this product will help to tip the balance
I wish you all the best in your attempt.
Thank you