I was thinking about some of the comments I have received of late concerning content and the idea of, it isn't worth putting in the effort for so little in return, whilst most people put the same kind of content they contribute here on other platforms for no return other than hearts, stars and thumbs stuck in the unmentionables. Many sees these tokens of no value for most people as a reward, which is a fantastic deal for the companies that leverage the content for real profits. There is a saying about people wanting something for nothing, but on most content distribution platforms,
The creator gets nothing for something.
it is also interesting that without an "adequate" reward (with adequate being highly variable person to person), many people will not put their best foot forward, or even their second best. From unscientific observation of those I follow, most of those who get rewarded consistently now have also been consistent with their content over time - they get 30 dollars for similar content that they put out for 3 dollars, or 30 cents. I think that this is for three main reasons.
One: They understand that Hive is a long game and participation and work put in now will potentially have significantly more value later.
Two: They believe that in the long run, the ones who benefit the most will likely be those who have built a network and a network built on crap, is a crappy network.
Three: They have some self-respect and value the content they put it for what it is, an expression of themselves and a representation of a sliver of their own life.
It is interesting that people are "stingy" with their contributions unless they are getting paid significantly, which I believe is part of the reason they won't consistently get paid. An artist has to showcase the art to the gallery before the gallery will hang it unless they have a name, and that name is built on those pieces that have hung in galleries previously.
It is a catch-22 - people won't deliver unless they get paid, they will only get paid if they deliver.
The other thing I find curious is that we live in a world of very short-lived and disposable content as we are able to get pretty much everything on demand. People pay for Netflix so they don't have to wait, so they can binge watch the latest series and so they have a wide range of choice, most of which they will never watch, because most of it is not to their preference in genre or quality.
I would suggest that the top 10% gets most of the views and the rest, not so much. Does it mean that the rest is bad, or is it just that it didn't get into the algorithms, didn't get enough mentions on Facebook, enough positive social metrics to pull them into the content circle to boost them into the chart? Or, perhaps it isn't a Netflix original - they all get a boost.
But, Imagine if Netflix said "we aren't serving any good content until we have enough subscribers" - How do you think that would pan out for their onboarding initiative? That is essentially what a lot of content creators seem to be saying, "I am not showing you my good work, until you pay for my crap"
Good luck.
And no, it doesn't matter if you have been here for a long time and way back when some time ago beyond yonder, you added a couple of decent posts and didn't get rewarded, them the breaks. I would predict that if an actor or artist of any caliber had given up after the first rejections, they would have got nowhere in their career.
There are people who didn't get their "big break" until after decades of attempts and rejections. Even my father who was relatively well known for his art still felt that his break was coming - in the winter of his life.* At 84, it is getting pretty cold out - but it was a stroke that stopped him from painting, not disappointment through lack of recognition.
It is this never give up mentality that differentiates someone who loves what they do and someone who only sees it as a means to an end, a necessary evil. I think there are a lot of people who write posts because they must in order to get votes, not because they want to actually create the post.
For me personally, I can't wait to share what I am going to write or the images I have taken and I look forward to the creative process all the way up until I click post. Past that, there is very little I can do but wait and see if there is feedback of some kind, comments, votes or the odd reblog. And if they don't arrive, that is the way things are on the day and tomorrow will bring another opportunity.
I am lucky as I do have skills that I can leverage, but none of them are innate, I have had to practice them all, and have to keep practicing constantly to maintain them at the least, but I aim to improve them. You can't improve a skill by waiting for it to improve, it is an active process. Even if wanting to improve patience, one must practice being patient.
I don't know, maybe I am a freak for enjoying what I do enough that I am unwilling to hold back and prefer to give what i have available - but I don't think I am the only one. What is the point of going to bed at night with energy still left in the tank, what happened to the attitude of, if it is a job worth doing, it is worth doing well?
Maybe this is part of the issue as people think it isn't worth doing because that particular post isn't going to earn what they think it is worth, so they don't give their all. This means that the next post isn't likely to earn any more as the first was mediocre. It becomes a slippery slope that instills a low-quality default approach to delivery and, it shows.
Not every post is going to hit personal standards as their are variations in factors that matter, but I think there is personal value in knowing that what one does is the best they can do in the moment and to be very aware when it is not. Whether each post is valuable for everyone in the audience is irrelevant, but if contributing to a community and looking for value in return, one should at least intentionally try to add something consumable, something someone might say, "that is cool" or "that helped me" about it. It might not be the whole post, it might just be a little sliver, like this last image that I find beautiful and thought you might too.
We binge eat all parts of life now, maybe the value in being the creator is learning how much effort it must take to make some of the things that we give a cursory glance to and scroll on by, content untouched. Being a creator isn't easy as the truth is, most people just don't care - but it is done for those who do, and that should include ourselves.
Perhaps the stingy of content fear they will run out of ideas.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]