Greetings Steemians, newcomers and oldcomers alike!
Spent a little time on a rainy afternoon, looking at posts and reading comments; responding to the good people who took the time to read my ramblings and rantings... and leaving me occasional "love notes" for my efforts.
Engagement and Interaction!
It seems like there has been a distinct decline in interaction over the past few months. Let's say, since November. What's UP with that?
The road ahead...?
Just wanted to throw out a couple of quick thoughts concerning social media "etiquette" and just general good manners online.
Now I'm an old fart, and maybe that has something to do with it. Old people are always talking about "manners" and stuff like that. But that's a sidetrack...
A large part of what makes SOCIAL MEDIA (of which Steemit happens to be part) "social" is that it revolves around interaction.
Even back in the days before God invented dirt and we were on all text message board systems, it was a pretty "commonly accepted" thing that if you made an original post and someone took the time to reply... you acknowledged them. Even just with a few words.
Not doing so is kinda like an unanswered "high five." Think about that, for moment? Awkward, right?
Translated to Steemit
When someone takes the time to write a decent response to one of your posts, take a moment to stimulate interaction and dialogue on your own post by giving people a short thanks... and an upvote or two.
Smooth sailing ahead!
Sometimes people will find themselves inspired to respond with an entire essay on the topic you brought up.
Give them a decent upvote for their efforts!
That's how we build a community.
Now I'm not talking about rewarding those annoying bots (except maybe "cute" stuff like 
But here's the thing that's perhaps most important: If you "curate" the comments on your own posts with replies and upvotes, that's how you build "followers" that ACTUALLY FOLLOW YOU, as opposed to 3500 "followers" who really don't give a rodent's rear end whether you're dead or alive!
As an additional bonus, when you upvote the comments on your own top level posts, you also earn pretty decent curation rewards.
And I think that's what we're all trying to do here, because... this is SOCIAL MEDIA!
Thank you for your attention!
How about YOU? Are you pretty good about "interacting" in your own comment section? Do you upvote and comment back, when people interact with your content? If not, why not? Do you enjoy the interaction here? Would you like to see more of it? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
Animated banner created by @zord189
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 180313 16:56 PDT