Before I begin, I'd like to give a few shout outs to 
Image Source: Author of article
Over the course of the past two months, writing on Steemit has been, in my humble opinion, a game changer. I’ve always considered myself to be a writer, but only as a hobbyist. However, when I stumbled upon Steemit and realized I was viewing a social media platform that rewards its authors, I became wildly intrigued. Almost immediately I signed up and when I got the notification that I had been accepted, I began to post content, but still lacked direction. It wasn’t until I decided to test the waters and write a short post on a geological topic, did I find my calling here on Steemit. A fellow geoblogger that goes by the name mountainwashere gave me the advice and tips I needed so that my content actually was viewed from the communities it was geared towards.
My first couple of in-depth posts regarding geology netted me just over $360.00 SBD and received quite a bit of feedback from the community. I was ecstatic to say the least. This was when I began to see Steemit as a social platform that had a ton of potential. From that point on I began to suggest Steemit to friends and family of mine I knew that had something to share with the community. All being said, I’m sold on the idea of Steemit, but I do have my reservations. In this post I’ll be going over the challenges, goals and first impressions of this platform.
Goals
My overall goal on Steemit is to build a blog that will help me learn more about my field of study, which is geology; while at the same time using it as a means to network and as a source of income to pay for my education. As an American, getting a college education is no easy feat due to the price tag that comes along with it. Many students in America leave school in massive debt and that was a hard pill for me to swallow when I was younger. For nearly the first decade of my adult life I put off school and decided to pursue a career in the culinary arts. Over that time, I found the line of work wasn’t satisfying my ambitions so I decided to go back to school. It’s been a fairly difficult road to follow, but Steemit has certainly helped me get back on track. In time, I hope Steemit can help me achieve these goals.
Challenges
As of right now, I’m proud to say that I have finally reached 100 followers. This took me nearly two months to achieve, which isn’t a massive amount of progress. Nonetheless, progress is progress and I’m most certainly looking forward to the future. However, I’m realizing that in order for me to achieve my goals that I mentioned above, I’ll need to have a much larger following.
Unfortunately, using tags such as steemstem and steemiteducation doesn’t always guarantee your hard work will be noticed. I’m unsure if it’s possible to build a rapport with groups such as steemstem, but as of right now the jury is out. This is in all likelihood due to the fact steemstem consists of many curators; some of which may or may not like your content. Furthermore, the geological community on Steemit is rather small.
As a result, I’ve had to broaden the topics I discuss in my blog. In doing so, I’ve also had to go out of my comfort zone. While challenging myself can only make me a better and more knowledgeable writer— not being able to focus solely on geology has in many ways spread my attention thin. I suppose that comes with the territory of any new venture, but this also means the rewards I receive aren’t very consistent.
Viable Source of Income
As I mentioned earlier, the rewards I receive are all over the place. Now this isn’t something I’m necessarily complaining about, but it definitely makes me consider if Steemit is worth having my undivided attention. When writing an article, I always ensure that the quality of the post is held to same degree as the rest of my blog. This would appear to make very little difference in getting upvotes. For instance, the post I wrote earlier this week regarding freezing rain, received $18.15 in SBD. In comparison, a post that I wrote about the cultural geography of ancient Egypt received $47.62.
All being said, the extra income has certainly been helpful in reaching my goals. However, it’s difficult to justify sitting in front of the computer everyday for 2-6 hours writing, only to hold onto the hope I will receive a reward for my efforts. It’s truly a gamble. Even while I sit here writing this article, I have to consider the amount of time I put into this post.
In the end, I believe Steemit may be a long game effort that will require a certain level of consistency on my part. The platform is still in its youth and mass adoption isn’t there quite yet. There’s no doubt in my mind this will eventually occur, but once again, can I justify working on my blog full-time? Only time will tell, because at the moment I feel as if I’m rolling the dice with my time.
Pros:
It’s an amazing platform for content creators from all walks of life. The potential of the rewards system justifies that picture you captured, poem you wrote, research you conducted or opinion you feel so strongly about. From a present looking into the future perspective, it leaves social media platforms such as Instagram, Youtube, Reddit and Facebook in the dust.
The community on Steemit is very supportive. There is so much positivity here that it allows very little room for the negative. Groups such as steemstem go above and beyond to help scientific creators get the attention they deserve.
The widespread adoption of Steemit could potentially make that blog you’re putting so much effort into well worth your time. Especially if you intended on using it as a reference on a resume for prior work or to display your skills as a writer.
Cons:
It is very difficult to search out very specific tags and the UI is a bit clunky. Over the course of time, I hope Steemit revamps their UI. This is especially important for mass adoption.
Depending on what your interests are, you may receive significant to little feedback or rewards. To make matters worse, some whales and dolphins post work that isn’t nearly as thorough as some minnows, yet will make thousands of dollars on a single post. This leaves minnows feeling defeated and in all likelihood will not continue to use Steemit.
Inconsistency in rewards, despite being an accomplished blogger can make Steemit a bit of a gamble depending on the circumstances. I believe as Steemit grows, this will be less of a problem, but as of right now, it can be disconcerting.
The rewards system and lack of security features leaves users vulnerable at the moment. If you upset the wrong person, specifically a whale, you could find yourself being downvoted with no way to combat it. This can lead to potentially disastrous ramifications for a fellow Steemians (Steemite?) account.
Let me know your story and how you feel about Steemit in the comments below!
