A lot of Steemians are now cross-posting on multiple STEEM-like platforms. Whether they are unhappy with the current platform and are looking to migrate, maybe they’re hedging their bets because they don’t know which platforms will work best for them in the long run, or maybe they just want to expand their audience. It doesn’t really matter the reasons why – It’s happening. Individuals are spreading their wings, perhaps looking to greener pastures as is their right to do. But what about Communities? When it comes to Cross-Platform Communities I am left wondering how, or even IF, they could work.
I am involved in a couple of really good communities on STEEM and despite some of the problems I see on STEEM and my seemingly frequent grievances, I do love STEEM. I want STEEM to be successful. However, I do consider that the communities are actually bigger than STEEM. At the end of the day, the community members are the ones I have built relationships with and they are the ones that I care most about. If the STEEM platform was to fail tomorrow (touch wood), I wouldn’t want those communities to fail with it. Now that I’ve sprouted wings myself and perhaps have found some greener pastures with my cross-posts I want to be able to share my success. I want my communities to be able to sprout wings too…..but here is my dilemma.
I’m aware that many of my community members are invested in the STEEM platform in one way or another and it’s not just about their STEEM POWER. Many have built businesses, invested time or emotions and they have established followings. For many it’s “Home” and perhaps it will always be that way for better or worse. I’m concerned that if I start promoting another platform and try to morph my communities into Cross-Platform Communities I will be seen as someone who is trying to pull people away from STEEM. Yet, the last thing I want to be is divisive. If I end up causing division then my effort will be totally counter-productive. Instead of broadening my communities, helping them be even more successful and adding resilience to them, I risk making my communities divided and weaker. But controversy and member attitudes aside, that’s not the end of my dilemma.
Even if I was successful in extending my communities to another platform, how would the engagement work? There might be some cross-posting occurring, but are members going to have the same conversations on both platforms? Is there a point where some members might only engage on one platform and not the other? To me that seems like another risk of indirectly dividing the community. We all know how hard it can be to get engagement on STEEM, do we really want to risk making that harder? I’ve seen what can happen when a community innocently creates just a 2nd Discord server. It can leave members confused, jaded or even embittered. It can seriously impact on the critical mass needed to get some quality conversation and engagement happening. I don’t want to repeat that mistake.
So my question is – How could Cross-Platform Communities work? Maybe the risk is too great and they can’t really work. Maybe they can and there is a great idea that I’m missing. Maybe I’m just reading too much into this all and I shouldn’t care about being potentially divisive. What do you think? Are you a cross-platform poster? Do you see any value in Cross-Platform Communities? Please help me figure this out.