Do you know what really gets me?

Seeing people wasting ~~money~~ STEEM & SBD.

Now, I'm not talking about having a slightly bad ROI while using promotion services. As even then, the goal of promoting the post is still achieved.

What I'm referring to is something which should be obvious but what many users aren't realising and thus wasting many, many SBDs & STEEMs.

The Promotion Tab

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You are probably aware of this in-built service of Steem, but if you're not, let me give you a quick introduction:

Steem has an in-built service of showcasing posts under the Promoted tab, which have been paid for with SBD or STEEM through a transfer to @null.

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These funds are automatically burned, which is good for the rest of the SBD & STEEM tokens as their value increases due to less supply.

Problem: Nobody is looking

Now the problem here is that promoting the posts this way can be quite expensive as no ROI is guaranteed and it solely relies on users actually seeing the post.

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Does this look like a good ROI?

And I can only speak for myself and those people I've talked with, but over the last 6 months, I have never looked into the promoted tab.

I only started looking into it, when I noticed huge chunks of money being transferred to @null.

Analysing the transfers over the last 2 months showed that over 7700 SBD & 2 STEEM have been spend for promotion through @null.

import { Client } from 'dsteem'
const client = new Client('https://gtg.steem.house:8090')

export default async function main() {
    let trxs = await client.call('condenser_api', 'get_account_history', ['null', -1, 10000])

    trxs = trxs.map(x => {
      let op = x[1].op[1]
      op.time = x[1].timestamp
      return op
    })

    trxs = trxs.filter(x => {
      if (!x.memo) return false
      return x.memo.includes('@')
    })

    console.log(trxs[0])
    console.log(trxs.length)
    let sum_steem = trxs.reduce((a, b) => +a + (b.amount.includes('STEEM') ? +Number(b.amount.replace(` STEEM`, ``)) : +0), 0)
    let sum_sbd = trxs.reduce((a, b) => +a + (b.amount.includes('SBD') ? +Number(b.amount.replace(` SBD`, ``)) : +0), 0)
    alert(`SBD ${sum_sbd} | STEEM ${sum_steem}`)
}

Test the code directly in your browser: https://playground.steem.vc/ (just copy & paste it)

And now?

Don't get me wrong. I think the idea of having an in-built promotion function is important, but fact is: the current system doesn't work and unknowing users are losing big chunks of money.

So what now?

1.) The Promoted Tab has to be re-designed or re-incentivized.
2.) Promotion shouldn't be done through the Promotion Tab until things change or unless you're aware of the fact that you're losing money.

But promotion of your posts is important, right?

The Alternative

Correct. Promotion is a crucial element in being successful on Steem. It doesn't matter how much time you invest into your posts & videos, if nobody sees them.

So, a much better alternative instead of the promote tab is to use Smartsteem.com.

Just go to Smartsteem.com, login with your Steem posting-key and click on Promote.

Fill out the fields and soon your post will be visible to a lot more readers and Steemians.

Now, I want to mention that I'm the founder of Smartsteem, which makes my opinion theoretically biased and there are of course other promotion services but honestly: if you're making the best pizza by working tirelessly on your craft, and you're eating the pizza yourself, why shouldn't you be proud about it, right?

Epilogue

Alright my fellow Steemians. Always keep in mind that while Steem might not be worth that much today than few months ago, the past tells us that it's possible.

So treat your activity and rewards on Steem as an investment and act & think smart.

Have a great day!

Your witness,
@therealwolf