On the morning of yesterday I was doing a little research on different topics that are not worth mentioning, but as I introduced several questions in the well-known search engine, I found, not once, but twice with links to Steemit content.
That caught my attention, because previously it had not happened to me. Since I use Steemit I had never found a post created on the platform while browsing the internet, to see a Steemit's post I always needed to go directly to the page, however, this time it was different.
I was able to complete part of my research using Steemit as support, and that's when I noticed that most of Steemit's writers wrote for a very closed community. Most of us write knowing more or less what kind of people are going to read our content.
In the first instance are our followers, those who have decided for different reasons to click the follow button, and in whose feed our texts appear within a few seconds of being published. Later we find the Steemit community that visits the tags that we place on our posts. In third place is the rest of the community, anyone who can access our posts either thanks to a resteem, or because our publication came to the section of Trending, Hot, or failing that, was promoted, in this case , the post can be seen by many other people in Steemit, and many of them will not even know how to read the content in the language we have written it. Finally, our post is accessible to those who don't belong to the community and who, like me, accidentally found a link to original Steemit content.
Although a writer is always recommended to know his audience, this does not mean that the writer should restrict or limit its content to a certain audience without there being a possibility that new people can join it.
When you visit the trending section, most of the information you can find refers to Steemit, that is, they are dedicated to talking about Steemit or its characteristics, this of course has no appeal for people outside the community. Although it is also true that anyone who does not belong to Steemit will review the trending section. For people who don't have an account here, the platform will only be useful to the extent that it can provide them with the information they are looking for. That is, the writers of Steemit should, as far as possible, try to write for the most general public possible, including that which is outside the platform.
In this way we will stop attracting exclusively content creators and start bringing content consumers, because until now, in Steemit there are only content creators who produce and consume their own writings.
Unlike this great community, where I joined to share content, in the rest of the pages that I have registered I have done to consume it, and from time to time, when the situation warrants, enter a discussion with other users. That is to say, as far as my experience is concerned, and what the data shows in other social networks, there are always more consumers than producers, and in Steemit the opposite situation seems to be generated.
I have a Google account to access Youtube, but I have never uploaded a single video, however, occasionally I make one or several comments on some videos. There are simply times that we only want to consume content instead of having to create it.
But here in Steemit, it seems that most writers, instead of embracing this type of consumer, are rejecting them. In most cases, users with low reputation suffer a kind of ostracism, are not allowed to participate in contests, are blocked, or their comments are ignored and don't receive an answer, even when they are really assertive. And since in most cases to have a high reputation you have to create content, because for different reasons not everyone decides to buy SP, consumers of content, and I mean the kind of person who only consumes and does not create content, they are almost totally marginalized in our community.
When we go to Wikipedia we do it to read information, not to write information. When we go to YouTube, most of us are just going to watch videos, not upload one. Even when we visit Facebook, Twitter or Instagram most of us will see and read more content than we usually upload to those platforms. So, why think what in Steemit should be different?
In itself, there does not seem to be anything wrong with Steemit; the platform does not avoid interacting with registered people, and allows viewing even those who don't have accounts on the platform, so we could not talk about technical limitations. The problem, then, lies not in the platform but in the culture that has been created in the platform, a culture in which the SP is a determining factor.
The problem, in my opinion, lies in trying to get upvotes, and trying not to receive flags. This problem is not exclusive to the content creators, many of us respond to the comments that are generated in our publication, in fact, this is something that can not boast all the other famous social networks, because not all content creators on those platforms interact with followers, which is understandable when they are too many. However, it is undeniable that in Steemit there is very little or no interaction in the comments section, since people are not willing to discuss, and I assume that the reason for that is because it would jeopardize their reward.
Many might think that the problem in question is that there is the possibility of flagging those who think differently, which affects the reputation. I have already seen in different posts, especially in the tag "politics", where the discussions tend to be somewhat heated, and where the flag is used against the one who thinks differently. Under such circumstances, the likelihood of people refraining from discussing increases.
Personally I try to encourage any type of discussion, especially in an educated way. When I argue with someone here in Steemit, even though we may disagree, I usually give upvotes to their comments, and even though my SP is not very high, this can mean a positive reinforcement for that person to be more open to expose their thoughts without the fear that a war of flags will start.
Personally, I think we should encourage discussion in the comments section, that will greatly enrich each publication we make. I see a Steemit where people can relate through this section, exposing their thoughts freely. And I also see it as necessary to write for a wider audience, and that people who are searching on Google or any other search engine can find Steemit articles with valuable and thoughtful information, serving as a hook to capture new users.
