Lately I've been thinking a lot about the experience I'm having on Steemit. The truth is, some days I feel better about it than others. I'm a creative person by nature and by trade, being a musician and a writer, and my perfectionism in both of these fields means that, even on a platform like Steemit, I feel the need to put a lot of effort into my work, even if it's purely for my own satisfaction.
As a professional, I'm also used to seeing my efforts acknowledged and/or rewarded, which is why a lot of dissatisfaction tends to creep in when I'm not. For a while, I was beginning to dislike Steemit for that reason - despite the enthusiasm I have for the platform and the effort I was putting in, a large number of my posts were (and are) still getting buried. I realized from the start that this is the nature of the game, but until recently I still couldn't shake the feeling that I was somehow wasting my time if all that effort was going unrewarded.
Mind games
It wasn't until I began to examine the issue more deeply (as a psychology/philosophy graduate I'm always doing this - it's a bad habit) that I began to understand why Steemit was confusing me in this way. On the one hand, I'm enjoying the writing I’m doing on the platform. I get to choose my own topics and write in my own style. Whenever I've gotten a bit of money as a result, I've been pleasantly surprised. On the other hand, when I don't get money from a post, my mind tries to convince me that I'm not enjoying the writing process in a weird kind of retroactive logic. Clearly some kind of cognitive dissonance is afoot.
A realization struck me recently that has helped to clear a lot of this confusion. The truth is, I'm making a mistake by lumping Steemit into the category of ‘work’ and expecting a reward commensurate with my efforts each and every time. Instead, I should really be judging my work on its merits alone, and avoid writing with money in mind.
It’s not me (or you), it’s the system
The problem, of course, and the reason that a lot of people are frustrated with Steemit as it currently operates, is that payout on a post should be proportional to its quality and the effort it took to produce it - but due to the fact that the vast majority of power is held by a few whales (who can’t effectively curate the thousands of posts written every day) the chance of a worthy post receiving the initial recognition it needs to gain traction comes down to sheer luck a lot of the time. As @liberosist pointed out very succinctly, this power dynamic is changing, but slowly.
For me, Steemit is not about money, but interaction.
I already have a job. I joined Steemit not because I wanted another one, but because I wanted a new place to share my thoughts and engage in discussion with others. As such, I get more satisfaction from receiving a genuine comment or participating in a good discussion than receiving a good payout.
Unfortunately, the current situation, wherein posts need to make significant money in their first hour in order to gain a wide audience, often defeats the purpose of sharing ideas and inviting discussion, rewarding arbitrarily well-timed posts on the basis of a few heavily-weighted opinions instead of allowing the community to do so in a more democratic way.
It’s similar to the concept of staging ‘free and fair’ elections, but putting the polling stations so far out of reach that only those who happen to be nearby or have expensive transport in order to get there are able to make an impact with their vote. Again, this is not an intentional problem, and it will get better as more voters get access to this kind of power - it’s just something we have to deal with while Steemit is still growing and finding its feet.
True change comes from within
I’m confident that Steemit will improve in such a way that high-quality work is given more of a fair chance to be seen by the community for which it was intended. It’s vital that it does so if it is to avoid discouraging hardworking authors to the point at which they feel their contributions would be of more value elsewhere - even if only in terms of their ability to reach an audience.
However, we as early adopters need to realize that our voices do matter, even if they’re not always heard. Those of us who are here contributing valuable content now are adding to Steemit’s foundational reputation and raising the standard significantly by doing so. Even if a post that you’ve worked on for days is only seen by a handful of people, at least those people will learn from seeing what a high-quality piece of work looks like - and will be inspired to raise their own creative standards accordingly.
In short: we have a responsibility to create as much high-quality content as possible, even in the absence of financial reward, in order to show the Steemit community the standard that’s expected of us all.
This is why it’s important for experienced writers to keep pumping out good content, not let their standards fall, and not be discouraged by small payouts. Rather enjoy the act of writing for its own sake, and look at every post as an investment into the Steemit system; one that will improve the quality of many more to come, encourage others to develop their skills, and promote a community where quality writing is valued by more and more people.
By doing this, instead of focusing on the money, we’ll actually be increasing our chances of getting better payouts in the future with every post we make, while simultaneously laying the best possible foundation for Steemit to build upon.
I leave you with this highly relevant quote:
Go forth and write well!
Well said. If everyone simply generated content without expectation, the rewards will follow. It would be pretty awesome if an article could continue to generate revenue in perpetuity. There are stories that are timeless which should be rewarded by every new reader.
I have a feeling we might see that kind of system implemented in the future, perhaps with infinite 30-day payout periods.
Couldn't vote this up any harder man!
After writing my latest article today, I feel a pride from it because its real.
Even if it fails, I'll still chase this new style I've found. I like it :)
Money is a bonus on these posts, but it's only human to wanna do well ;)
Yeah man, I feel the same. I liked that article a lot by the way!
Thanks very much. I've only received mountains of positive feedback on it, plus a good vote or two ;)
So the motivation is there now and I'm gonna go hard!
Thanks for saying what needed to be said!
Do what you are passionate about regardless, musicians still play even when not making bank.
If you not posting about passions, it's even harder to make that human connection through this interwebs box, so why should they care.
Thanks for the read!
I agree. I've always found that treating creativity like work sucks the life out of it.
As a beautiful example of what you're saying, my best rewarded post was the one I worried the least about impressing anyone with. It was just me sharing a bit of my passion for photography while telling the stories behind the images. It was an awesome feeling. The system will get to the place we all want it, we just need to be patient and diligent at helping it get there!
I've had a similar experience with a few of my posts. A lot of it is down to the chance whale effect, but there's a lot to be said for just writing what you like as well!