This is a call to everybody who loves Steemit and who wishes it to succeed. Currently the Steemit platform has problems, as many of you are aware. One of these is that it is increasingly difficult for minnows to get attention, or even break through at all on the Steemit platform.
At this moment there are some high profile users on Steemit, who surely add a lot to it's community. However due to the systems in place on Steemit, many people are upvoting these high profile users not based on their content but rather because they hope to get part of the money distributed in their high payout posts. The result is that high profile users, who perhaps 'bought in' to Steemit by purchasing Steem Power, get all the attention and income and newer Steemians get overlooked, discouraged and perhaps leave the platform. While I don't want to deny high profile Steemians their attention or income, this is simply not good nor healthy for the platform and it's long-term growth and turns Steemit into a Pay-To-Win formula.
Furthermore, upvoting high profile Steemians is far less rewarding than it may appear at first. Without owning significant Steem Power your votes will simply be worth next to zero and so will your payout be.
The solution I propose
Divert your attention to the 'New' category instead. There are a lot of new posts by new minnows that deserve some attention and encouragement. And there is good stuff in there too. Not only will these people greatly appreciate your $0.01 upvote much more than high profile Steemians who already rake in money by the hundreds, you also have a far greater chance of being rewarded yourself by the author of the post. Not only that, oftentimes these new Steemians will even start to follow you.
In the end you have to ask yourself: Wouldn't you rather give your upvotes/money/attention to somebody who could really use it and appreciate it?
My own experience so far
Ever since I have stopped upvoting high profile Steemians, and started focusing on new posts instead I have increased my Steem income, gained more followers, engaged in actual discussions (instead of people trash-commenting) and generally feel much better about my participating on this platform. I'm not even upvoting much at all currently (regaining voting power) and have started to only upvote if I really think a good point is being made. Sometimes this means I vote too soon, or too late, or whatever. I don't care anymore.. I haven't made money by upvoting anyways. I'm just treating them as old-skool likes now. Most of my income comes from commenting and the discussions I have there.
So people, please go and spread your attention around and help new Steemians get into this platform. Your $0.01 will do nothing for 10K Steem Power people, but means the world to some of our newer community members who will have the best day ever if their post makes it above $1.
I only have about 80-90 followers, so whenever I post I get very little views. Therefore this post has the potential to be overlooked and buried. If you feel like the points I make here are valid, please consider Resteeming this post if you have a lot of followers. Thanks and Steem on!
