Hey guys! Recently, I've stopped using upvote bots for some of my posts while upvoting other posts to see the difference between the two and from my experience there's a LOT of difference. This suggests that most people don't look at the "new" tab or their own feeds, most people just look at "hot" and "trending"!
This is a problem
Why is this a problem? Well for one it means that the rich get richer while the undiscovered falls further behind. If people don't look at the "new" tab, new authors who don't have many followers will find it incredibly difficult to get discovered and upvotes. Meanwhile, those with an already established fanbase will only get richer and more popular as more people flock to their blogs because they reached the "trending" tab by simply buying votes.
Solution
Simple! Just take more time to look at the "new" and even "hot" tabs. There are a lot of hidden gems in these areas and also a good chance for you to earn some nice curation reward! From 0 to 30 minutes, your share of curation rewards increase but the earlier you upvote, the more base amount you get!
By upvoting new users, it will also help them become motivated and for them to keep blogging and user retention is a massive problem I find on this platform. We need more people to look at "new" tab to help secure the future of this platform!
Also, your own feed should be filled with authors that you care about and enjoy reading from. If you just follow everyone you see, or you just follow people for free Steem (lol), your feed is likely filled with spam and stuff you don't really care about. This is not good as your feed is meant to be something special to you and something that is personalised to what YOU enjoy. This will make your Steemit experience more enjoyable.
Not as simple as it seems
I understand that we don't all have time to look through the "new" tab each day and look for someone to upvote. I know I don't usually do this. However, next time you're bored, consider looking through there. You might just discover a great new author or even make a new friend!