There's more knowledge than I was willing to believe or even grasp from what I found while manually going through other author's pages. No, I'm not talking about my followers, but about who I'm following.
I had listed it down a couple of weeks ago that when I got the chance, I would remove people whom I no longer wanted to follow. As posts and comments dominate this platform, and the obsession with gaining followers continues, you would imagine that removing people from following would be counter intuitive to an author's success. Until I started looking through profiles one by one, I was uncertain of what I was trying to accomplish, only knowing that this needed to be done.
Everyone is a Curator, You Just Don't See It
When I curate content, I had only read from the "hot", "trending", and occasionally "new" tabs. My attention practically dissolved if I were to ever open "home". On Facebook, I have an excruciating number of friends. I could scroll all day and never read all of the posts. Keep in mind that many statuses are not articles, in many cases they are a single picture or a status. I use the "list" function to categorize different sets of people I want to keep tabs on and regularly check up on it to avoid bombardment by spam. Coming to Steemit, I wanted to leave the realm of low quality and seek out learning and exploration of topics I was and was not familiar with. However, it had gotten to the point here, that I felt like I was using a standard social network and nothing special.
"What if I could choose what I see?" This is an epiphany that should have otherwise been blatant from the start. In my home tab on Steemit, I can only see content of people I'm following, and what they resteem. I should fill this with quality. Why?
If I surround myself with better posts, that can only benefit me in the future. I would up vote better content, and as a whole I would receive more rewards. Compared with randomly browsing, curating good content is actually easier to do over a long period of time, this doesn't seem obvious at first. If I wanted variety, then I could navigate through other categories and find new authors I wanted to follow.
I began to remove accounts made in the past two months that had no updates in the past two weeks. If someone isn't investing themselves into Steemit, then I wouldn't want to follow them.
Top Author Hype
I feel the definitive hype of people wanting to "cash in" on top author posts. We place blame on the authors for getting "lazy" or "unethical" the closer they are to the top, but who is really to blame here? For real. Many people don't even open the article before throwing their up votes at it. The curation rewards are something many people chase after. If you follow a top author with a series, you may open one of their posts and think to yourself, I could do this. How are their author rewards skyrocketing over this?
But you see, that's the magic trick. Posting a series has a specific criteria that needs to be met, for it to be effective. Many people, including myself didn't realize this.
As I'm clicking through each profile, I look at the topics, and types of posts. I was following a decent number of people that have done, or are working on a series, but don't have the following to back it up. I was also one of those people. Their posts aren't bad, but the only people that would be interested are ones that have and are actively following. This brought me to an enlightening opinion which can be seen good or bad, depending on perspective.
This is How Steemit Series/Niches Work
In order for a series to work, you need a following. If you don't have that, any series you could write will not work, it could be great or meh but it wouldn't matter. An author coming into Steemit needs to provide quality content first and foremost. Doing so, brings you followers that like your work. After having a high enough number of followers that check in on you regularly, you may consider doing a series based on things your demographics may like and find what moves them. You can't make a series first, because how will people know to read it or follow you? Bring followers to your page first, then then give them a reason stay. It's tragic and hilarious that I would have never learned this if I hadn't gone through and actively curated everyone I was following and why.
If you don't have a strong and dedicated following don't worry about niche, or series posts at all. You have better opportunities open to you if you use the time and dedication needed for branding on writing the best possible article you could instead. You can play with your following later, once you have it. This, by itself was eye-opening.
Reasons A Person Could Lose Quality Over Time
I started overtly strong, because I didn't understand or "know" anything about Steemit. I wrote my heart's desire, and accurately in the style that I wanted. To be rewarded for that is a great feeling, this post is my first attempt at rekindling those embers that has been fading since. I saw what other people were doing to succeed, and wanted that success for myself. I didn't understand the process, as intricate as a spider's web, or a movie plot that leaves no holes. At some points, I felt as though quality didn't matter as much as I once thought. Anything that can cause one to neglect their purpose, arises from delusion. Looking at some of my posts now, they weren't at my standards, and I've misguided myself.
When writing a series and niche posts, you can get caught up in the logistics and parameters so much, that the content integrity suffers. I was caught in wanting to produce content in such a timely manner, for a following I didn't even have. Now isn't that a trip? In seeking understanding, I posted a short article questioning the ability to post anything I wanted. After looking through more profiles, and reflecting on my past posts I realize you absolutely can. You can write anything, if it's well thought out, brings value, is original, and is high quality, sooner or later you will get recognition.
Don't get caught in believing that if you do what others do, you will succeed. You need to achieve in a way obtainable only by you.
Future Game Plan
Series? I started to do them, but I'm going to drop the concept entirely for quite a while. You really need to not be afraid to abandon something, because of the time invested. It's okay to make mistakes! I have noticed that certain types of posts work well for me that I do enjoy. Laptop repairs are one, and Steemit or not I'll still be doing them, so why not share the fun things I learn and challenges that I need to overcome? Everyone wins, and I'm not going out of my way.
Restaurant dining in Honolulu is another one. What is unique in my reviews is that I refuse to cover tourist traps, because I live here and many of the people I'm associated with have culinary backgrounds. When I review a place, I also discuss not only the items, but the flavors texture and cohesion of a variety of dishes along with various factors that are unique to the location. I won't hype them out because I'm also part Hawaiian and have lived here my entire life. There are various cultural aspects that are not easily understood from outside and how they effect our food industry is sometimes mind boggling. It brings me joy when another food blogger swings by, and gets excited.
As for everything else? I'm going to post whatever I want to post, and for this month I'm offering a few services you can find here. If I genuinely believe that what I write it is high quality and deserves attention, I know that some one else is capable of seeing it too.
Shello
...Used the "life" tag, because let's be real, Steemit is our lives.