The current wave of user subscriptions on steemit is providing some really interesting information about the platform's potential.
According to 
Reason enough to ask: Are these people finding what they are looking for?
The Expectations
During the past weeks the more established users on the platform have developed and shared a lot of marketing ideas (tag #growth-ideas) in order to help steemit getting out of its fledgling stages.
Now, supposedly thanks to the rising steem price, a relatively high number of people is storming the network. They are here!
There is actually no need to study the numbers. If you are actively moving yourself on the platform then you will appreciate the wave of new faces everywhere.
You don't even need to do a survey among them to know what's been their most popular motivation to join steemit.
The Fullfilment of Expectations
"If you align expectations with reality, you will never be disappointed." - Terrell Owens
Is steemit's reality fulfilling the expectations of new users, or are we setting the bar too high for them?
When we are talking about 809 new users per day, are we talking about serious growth and long term acquisition (retention!) or just a bunch of new nominal and non-active members that will simply appear in the records?
Let's suppose the following fictitious and extreme scenario:
- A potential user learns about steemit thanks to the booming price of steem.
- That user decides to join the platform since he believes that he will be able to make some quick money here.
- That user manages to pass the relatively uncomfortable onboarding process and is happy to be a steemian now.
- Since the very first page he's directed to is the Trending page his current economical expectations are: "I will get $1,000 for one post."
- That user manages to control the relatively uncomfortable editor and starts publishing his first blog posts.
- That user gets $50 for his introduction post since a couple of dolphins gave him their votes.
- That user is slightly motivated, even though there is still a considerable difference between $50 and $1,000.
- That user acquires 20 followers in one week, publishes one article per day for what he receives an average payout of $0,50.
- That user leaves after two weeks.
Conclusion: the reality of steemit's identity doesn't match with the stories that are told in the market or other networks AND steemit's own entrance hall (Trending page).
The key indicator for growth isn't the total number of accounts but a constantly increasing number of active and committed users!
Assumption: The user activity on steemit raises and falls according to steem price bubbles.
These are some randomly picked stats from the past months:
14th of August 2016: 13,083 users active in the past week.
26th of November 2016: 6,237 users active in the past week.
13th of May 2017: 12,875 users active in the past week.
Source: steemd.com
If the user actitivy is directly related to market prices and people are only joining the platform in expectation of an easy revenue, then steemit has to work on its identity.
A brand is a promise.
It's an idea every potential user has in his mind when getting in contact with it for the very first time.
If steemit can't fulfill the expectation of an easy and quick revenue (and it definitely can't), then this has to be communicated to users at the moment of signing in.
Showing them the Trending page as a first impression, paying them an amount of money above average for their intro post and then letting them crash down to $0.50 articles is not fair.
These users will leave and never come back!
What a pitty...
The Idea: Best Practice Onboarding Tutorials 📷
There are tutorials on YouTube for everything why not for steemit newbies?
We have hundreds of established users on steemit that are very experiences in front of the camera.
Let's show them how this platform works right from the start!
This article is not supposed to promote my own stuff, but just to give you a practical example, this is a video I've done a couple of days ago:
Why not produce some professional tutorial videos where we explain the idea of steemit, real (!) expectations for bloggers, tips and tricks about writing and how to build followers.
Yes, we already have some of that content on steemit and even on YouTube. But how would a new user find it???
I furtheremore believe that this initiative should be addressed by Steemit Inc. as the official brand owner.
The most important mission is surely to lower economical expectations.
Everybody has the same chances here, but blogging means hard work. I'm here since July 2016 and haven't ever been on a top 5 position of the Trending page. I've rather made my way through a lot of study, constant improvement and little steps.
Sometimes the truth hurts, but it's the only way to go.
So let's tell them that this isn't a money printing mashine... unless you've been working daily on that machine for a couple of months.
They are already here. Let's keep them :-)
Marly -
Picture sources:
Title image: strongandbeyoutiful.wordpress.com; girls: girlscene.nl; skateboard friends: weheartit.com; brand quote: melissawheeler; authenticity quote: thefamouspeople.com