The title says it all. You don't need to read further. Aim for both and you will definitely see positive results in your blog. That's it! If you're curious of what makes this post longer than a few words, you can read further.
Hello Hiveians!
As Hive gained some attention these past few weeks, it's also observable that some old populace (aka ex-Steemians) have joined in with the hype. This leads me to this question: "Where were these people when all of the major events that rocked the blockchain space happened?". My theory is that they're just out there somewhere and I bet they're observing. They just don't care or just too busy to care. Since the listing of major exchanges and consequent pump of HIVE price, here comes a lot of people posting again which is actually a good thing. If the current price will sustain or increase, coupled with the quarantine due to COVID-19, we will definitely see a lot more of comeback posts. If HIVE will decrease back to its original price prior to the listings, which will mean I can buy more, I wonder what will happen. Will there still be more comeback posts or only the same people who stayed through bears and bulls will care to post?
The hype also brings newcomers who got curious with the price action. Perhaps they will start to question what's with these zealous stinging bees buzzing on Twitter. Perhaps they'll join because they wanted to earn some tokens and have it converted while the price is higher. Maybe they wanted to explore what this social blockchain can really offer. This is also a good thing as more eyes are on Hive.
Since the price of HIVE will continue its cycle of increase and decrease, I bet this article will still hold true in the coming and future price actions. So, this post is aimed specifically to those two types of people: those who made a comeback and those newbies.
If you were here prior to HF 21/22 and is still here, consistently interacting with the community, then you might not need this post. I know you already have seen so much and still choose to be here so there's a great probability that you will still choose to stay.
If you're a newbie or one of those who made a comeback, you might find Hive to be different. Things are a lot different than before. It's not yet perfect, but at least it's better than its previous iterations. I would say that you now have a greater chance of getting support in your posts than before. Bidbots are discouraged and are now focused on manual curation, and other nasty practices are greatly reduced. Plagiarism and spam content are highly discouraged as you will definitely get downvoted. Majority of the community are now focused on meritocratic system of voting, which brings me to the first point of this post: QUALITY.
I know, I know. This has been discussed countless of times already by a lot competent people here. Those who are opposed to the idea often argue that quality is subjective. Different people have different notions of quality. Yes, quality is subjective but it doesn't mean we can't employ metrics that could transform the subjective into an objective one. Even if quality is subjective, it doesn't take too much for anyone to spot a quality content as opposed to a shit post.
From Oxford:
Quality is defined as (1) the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind; the degree of excellence of something, and (2) a distinctive attribute or characteristic possessed by someone or something.
Based on the first definition, I can say that quality is only subjective when comparing two different things. When comparing two similar things, there must be a standard to be used to determine which of the two is superior over the other or both are inferior or superior over other things of similar kind. Now, the standard that is set must be based on accumulated knowledge regarding the subject. May it be years of experience, observation, or collective agreement of a large population. The second definition says distinctive attribute or what makes something unique and excellent over the other things (still of similar kind). So, a criteria can be made objectively to sift those with quality from those that are not more than a noise.
In terms of quality content, it depends on what type of content that you are producing. I mean it would be silly to compare an art content from a movie review. They might have something in common like how the post is structured, but it would be silly to say that one particular art content is better than a movie review.
Now who determines quality? Who sets a certain standard? I would say it depends on the one who consumes your content. It depends on the community. There are experts in the field who knows what they are doing. Curators are constantly scouring hundreds to thousands of content a day and upvote those they think fits their set criteria of quality. Since they have a criteria, depending on how strict or lenient they might be, not all contents of the same kind are created the same. There must be a degree at which your content must belong. From a shit post to an excellent write up, or any varying degrees in between, your post will be judged at the discretion of those curators.
Because of a set standard and the varying degrees at which content is judged, this means QUALITY IS RARE. This is rooted from the limited voting mana or the limited resource that we have. If there's no scarcity in voting, then there's no point of setting a standard as everyone could get an equal upvote. Say you are curator and you are presented with 100 travel posts, but you're only allowed to vote 10 of them, what will you do? You should choose which of those 100 travel posts will make the cut. You will generate criteria based on your notion of quality and examine those 100 posts to select the best 10 and upvote them. This means only 10% of the contents are considered to be excellent based on your set standard.
If you are a newbie, create a quality content. Always aim to be part of the superior ones. If you don't have any idea what are the attributes of a quality content, do your own research. Examine those posts that are upvoted generously by curators and determine what makes them unique. There must be something that sets them apart from the rest.
For other tips that are beyond this post, consider reading the blogs of @sidwrites. They're a trove of helpful information that you can use.
Say you have been creating content, but you haven't experienced to be upvoted and supported by curators. Maybe you haven't elevated your own criteria of quality that your posts might be good, but they did not yet make the cut. Or maybe you haven't been consistent. One day you have this very good post and then the next day you return to shit posting. This leads me to my second point of this post: CONSISTENCY.
If you really want to see results, build a reputation. I did not mean the number beside your name on your profile as some of those are gained through bidbots and self voting. By reputation, I mean that you have been consistent in your own notion of quality or you have been consistent based on the upvotes and comments of curators.
Consistency is defined as:
the achievement of a level of performance that does not vary greatly in quality over time.
Consistency is difficult to pull off which means that CONSISTENCY IS RARER. Notice that quality should not vary greatly over time which means that once you are able to deliver a quality content, you should continue to strive to deliver the same or higher level than you previously delivered. It takes a lot of will power to do so because time and human behavior are already factored in as variables.
Consistency over time means that you should overcome the basic instinct that you create here to earn. It's only good once the price of the token is higher, but when it will start to plummet, you will start to lose the drive to post quality content. Believe me for I have been in the same situation before. The difference is that I found a way to sustain my motivation to post quality content regardless of price. One way to do that is to examine your purpose why you're here. If your purpose does not go beyond money, you still have a long way to overcome. I won't tell you how to do it. You have to figure it out for yourself.
Consistency is difficult to achieve when human behavior is factored in. We have this tendency to be complacent especially when we already receive support. This will lead to a decrease in quality of the content until it borderlines shit post. My idea is that content should be judged regardless of the author. The only over-rewarded authors are those who still receive support even they posts anything without effort. I tried to achieve consistency by thinking that I won't get support at all. I just let my post speak for myself and let the curators judge them according to their standards.
Since I specialize in travel, I made sure that I have a stricter sense of quality travel content than majority of travel contents posted here. Although not perfect, but I think it worked because my posts are always included in @pinmapple's daily travel digest, may it be in Top 3 featured posts or in honorable mentions. Depending on your specialization, you should strive to be better than the majority in your community.
This circles back to the beginning of this post: Aim for quality and strive for consistency.
Kim Ybañez
Welcome to Kim's small corner in Hive. He is a chemical engineer by profession, but a blogger by passion. He is a wanderlust and an adventure seeker. Join his quests as he visits secluded destinations, climbs mountains, tries new and exotic dishes, and explores his country (The Philippines) and the rest of the world even if he's still a poor corporate slave with tons of bills to pay and two siblings to support in college.
If you like his content, don't forget to upvote and leave a comment to show some love. You can also reblog if you want to. Also, don't forget to follow him to be updated with his latest posts.