The earnings we accumulate here in the ecosystem are coded to be in our native cryptocurrency, Steem and Steem Backed Dollar (SBD). Aside from the considerations of the Steem Engine market and the impact they have had, stress has caused declines in the markets that has made this change a bit since we are no longer earning as BSD. However, we continue to earn as long as the blocked continued to be mined every 3 seconds. Therefore, earnings potential is directly correlated with the price of our cryptocurrencies. This is yet another reason why engagement correlates so much with price. However, those seeking to accumulate more Steem should look past that and take the opportunity to actually accumulate more.
However, as I have peeking over to see my earnings I am starting to think that there is something more that is dropping earnings. I believe so because while the price of Steem has been down by about 50% over the last couple of weeks, my earnings seem to be down much more than that. Before I give my thoughts as to why, I want to emphasize that earnings for me is not the most important metric I track towards my goals; I believe that engagement should be the goal or metric that we track in order to measure our progress. Interestingly, these earnings continue to represent more Steem and Steem Power than the past given the way the protocol works.
Personally, I have adjusted the amount of engagement over the last couple of months due to a number of reasons. First, I had an awesome family vacation there reminded me that nothing is more valuable than memories and experiences with the ones I love the most. Second, there has definitely been a lot happening in my professional career that has needed my attention in order to make my future investments possible. Lastly, the overall drop in engagement is impacting me as I no longer find as much content to curate as I did before. Therefore, I realize that for me the number one driver of rewards for earnings is the fact that I am engaging less. While this has reasons to be and was planned, I think that I can still do a better job and find ways to continually engage and grow my presence around the ecosystem and community.
This is a very important consideration as I still recall my early days here when my posts were barely receiving five cents worth of earnings. It was my comments and engagement through the content of other creators that provided me a way to not only earn through the words but also demonstrate my presence in value as a curator. I believe that during my first six months on the platform, I earned multiples more for comments because of engaging when compared to the actual content I created in posts. I believe that this opportunity continues to exist today as the amount of community members engaging on posts has substantially been reduced. Given the reduction, there is more opportunity to be heard and seen, which could lead to not only upvotes but also new followers.
The last thought I’ve been having regarding the declines in earnings is the fact that Hard Fork 21 is approaching. This change may lead for many community members to pause many of their curating efforts in order to prepare for the upcoming changes regarding how earnings will be distributed. Many are preparing to go into the new forked chain having the most Resource Credits and Voting Power available in order to leverage them at the beginning of the change. Therefore, my thought is that the decrease in engagement and distribution of earnings is also down due to this.
These changes are somewhat disappointing as they do not foster continued growth with in the community which is the source of value creation over time. However, it also brings opportunities for those that remain engaged to capture a bigger piece of the pie. Unfortunately, the focus should hopefully switch over to making the pie bigger instead. While I remain personally uncertain if the changes of Hard Fork 21 to have the effects of doing so, I am looking forward to a shake up in order for the community to figure out what is the best way to reward content going forward. Like in many aspects of life, adopting is the key to achieving long-term sustainability and success.
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