Those who appreciate the bluntness that honesty offers might not find my opinion on this subject in the least offensive. I've said plenty of times that life is a collection of transactions, and social interactions are a crucial part of the bigger picture. In this little experiment of ours, niches or at least the beginnings of something we would call a niche, are starting to sprout and this realization has me questioning if we all need urgently to identify our own to fully succeed on this platform.

Niches are important but...

They require a large general population sort of speak. This is to say that eventually or more accurately IF the Steem blockchain grows to gargantuan proportions, Niches will be the organic response to the desired growth. As we stand today the number of daily active users is minuscule when being compared with facebook, reddit or even those social media websites we believed long gone like myspace. (yes they are still around, did you know that?)

As it stands right now most people develop a following for the relationships that they establish with their readers as much as the quality of the content they can produce, and I submit to you that this is almost independent of the niche of operation chosen. A prime example of a steemian who I believe figured out the right way of growing on the platform is Hive account@tarazkp and to make my point a little more clear, allow me to present le evidance:

Topic aside (it was pretty intense, but this is not important at the moment) the interaction between the freshly minted noob, me and the prolific minnow (he's a dolphin now) Hive account@tarazkp, made me not only follow his account, but also learn about things that I initially had not much interest in. The question becomes, Why would I do that?


Continuing along my "transactional life" reasoning I can conclude that I was sold the idea of becoming his regular reader by becoming curious enough about the mind that produced the sometimes controversial content. It was not the niche and it was certainly not future conversations about child pornography.

But I like my niches Hive account@meno, don't you get it?

Yes of course I do, I not only get it I share your affinity for them. The point I'm trying to make is that right now, today and possibly for months to come, they might not be as important as we might think them to be. I am proposing the idea that the effort and focus of a content creator on Steem is probably best spent in other areas like:

• consistency in posting, no hiatus or lapses
• developing a relationship with your readers, commenters
• leaving the comfort of your blog too to reciprocate

I don't know, I may have this completely wrong but there is a method to the madness and at least some anecdotal evidence to back it up. At the size that we are operating in, the relationships we develop are more important than we might give them credit for. If you have not spent time thinking about how to expand your own network, this post and the conversation I hope it sparks might be a call to do so.

Does it really sound that bad? People appreciating and following you for who you are alongside with the content you create. To me this particular aspect of Steem is quite empowering. It reminds me of how social currency works in a none virtual setting and that is something I'm quite comfortable with.

That being said, I'm interested in hearing your thoughts... Are you working on a specific niche? or are you all over the place like me?

Other posts by yours truly

_{• In the name of the Benjamis - Audio version
• In the name of the Benjamins
• Plans for the weekend
• Quitters never quit at quitting - Dmania is no more
• Bright and early}