Please excuse the crude title, actually don't as the crudeness may continue.
If you've been on Steemit for a little bit you probably have read about the 'circle jerk'. If you are unfamiliar with the whole thing it refers to the successful articles that are about Steemit or Crypto and how anywhere between 75-95% of trending posts are related to this.
The thing about a circle jerk is that no one misses out, everyone gives equally and gets that in return.
The main problem users have with this is that they feel other topics aren't getting recognised like they should.
But who doesn't enjoy a good circle jerk?
Let's take a step back and think about why these articles are popular.
Steemit is about monetising good content.
And what do we know about good content? Well, it's subjective. So, by that logic, well written posts related to Steemit/Crypto are obviously excellent content within the scope of this website because they're popular! Now this doesn't mean that it is always going to be like that, I think all members of Steemit want to see it move past that point soon.
I thought my favourite articles would be about music or politics when I started, that's not the case.
Starting on Steemit was exciting, I honestly thought I'd be writing long successful articles about my interests such as politics or music. But the reality is a lot different if you want to get recognised, make some $$$ and get precious Steem Power and Steem Dollars. People really enjoy reading articles about Steemit, they are definitely my favourite articles to read so far. The beauty of it all is how new most of us are, it serves a great purpose to new users that we have so many articles looking at the current state of the website from different angles. There's nothing cheap about jumping into the circle jerk if you've got something to give.
As someone who has no experience in crypto-currency or the surrounding culture the articles on the trending page pretty much taught me everything I needed to know about Steemit. Reading the trending posts is one of the best things a newbie can do to wrap their head around it all and see what resonates with other users.
Posts that don't do well don't match demand.
Everyone loves to bang on about how their awesome article that they spent 4 hours writing barely garnered any attention. I'm sincerely sure it was a great post that used a bunch of relatable euphemisms and metaphors but perhaps it's not related to what people want to read. There is a clear demand for Steemit related posts that shine new light on an aspect of the site to give users that different perspective or understanding that we all need to learn effectively.
But, never stop writing about what you love.
You just have to be prepared for the fact that there's a high chance it won't do as well as another post about Steemit. When writing about what you love you should be mainly writing about it because you love it, not only because you want to earn some quick money. If you truly love what your writing about the recognition will come, your enthusiasm and honesty will shine through and you will be rewarded for it. It's all about persistence and integrity if you ask me.
People love to forget that Steemit is a social media website first and foremost.
In no way shape or form am I saying that everyone should write articles like this, it's quite to contrary actually. You just may need to forget about the money or the up votes if you want to post about your interests for now. At the end of the day my non-Steemit related articles get more genuine praise than they every would on another social media website like Facebook or Twitter and I love that. What you need to do is recognise what is popular, think about what you really want from this platform and match up your content accordingly.
Do you want to make heaps of money or do you just want to post content?
I want to do both personally as I'm sure many of you do. I'm willing to write about Steemit a lot because I know it's popular (popular=$) but I also know that I'm not posting utter bullshit, I know I will still enjoy writing an article about Steemit that is well informed and structured. To me it's really all about integrity, are you adding value to the community or are you just trying to get a quick buck? I know personally from posts I've done like this one that you can truly inspire people with Steemit posts to the point that they base an article off of yours.
So, if you want to make money or you want to help other users, JUMP INTO THE CIRCLE JERK.
Obviously there's plenty of other topics that do well, but if you're like me and you're not travelling the world or you don't have amazing photography skills you can try writing about Steemit in a way that is informative and new. Just be original, I believe no 2 popular articles are ever the same, I am yet to find 2 popular posts that are so similar that it's reasonable to say that one or the other is late to the party.
AND ALWAYS BE YOURSELF!
So, join in the circle jerk! Why miss out on all the fun?
PEACE!