"Steemit is growing and will continue to grow as long as the quality of content is maintained. Quality and quantity are both factors, but quantity is of no value if it has no quality." @bycoleman
It has now sinked in to me that the quote above will be the my basis on why I should advocate for quality contents. Since I got my first @curie upvote, I have been trying to post contents that passed my standards of quality. Also, I always encourage my fellow steemians to post quality contents. Good thing many have tried to answer to my call. Later in this post, I'll mention notable steemians I've known who started to maintain the level of quality in their posts.
In this post, I'll enumerate what are the elements that I think will distinguish a quality content from just an ordinary content. This is not to discourage or diminish the efforts of my fellow steemians, but to inspire and motivate them to always aim for quality in their posts.
1. It Has a Clear Intention
If you want to inform, by all means, be informative. If you want to persuade, then be persuasive. If you want to argue, then present your arguments. If you just want to release the musings in your head, no one's stopping you. The point is, you should be able to distinguish your intention and have it get across to your intended audience.
Part of showing a clear intention is knowing your audience. Your have to determine which part of the demographics is your target. To be able to do that, you have to search what types of topics your target audience are interested in. It will be difficult at first, but you'll get the hang of it.
2. It Adds Value
Let's go back to the quote above. Steemit will grow and will continue to grow if quality is maintained. This is because value is being added to steemit. Value can be relative depending on who assess the inherent properties of the content, but we are in the digital age.
Remember that any post that you have will be recorded in the blockchain. It means that every post that you have is information. In this era, the most valuable commodity is information. Once you possess the right information, your power is innumerable.
Since everything is public, any query will be able to access those information, making steemit a valueble tool. @steemstem and @curie are encouraging novel and exceptional contents because those contents will make steemit valuable. This is also the reason why negative and other derogatory posts are discouraged because they will be forever in the blockchain and they don't add value to the platform.
3. It Has a Desired Length
This is a little bit controversial for me because there are other contents with quality but lacks the desired length. Besides, "desired" length can be very subjective. Some might consider a post too long, others might consider it okay, while a few might say that it could be expounded further.
Since steemit is not just a community of content creators, but also a community of content consumers, longer posts with all the qualities mentioned in this post are usually well-appreciated. My usual line when I give advice to newbies is:
Do not hold back in your words. Let it flow. If you think it's already long, add more because it might not be long enough.
Longer posts with all other qualities are usually regarded as exceptional because the author goes an extra mile in creating that post. There's always a little bit of "extra" in that post that you can say it's not made out of mediocrity or just for the sake of posting.
My basis for a post to have a desired length is not on the number of words, but on the impression that the content has imparted on me. If your content highlighted the main points and never missed out a single detail, then your post must have the desired length. I never counted the number of words in my blog, but according to some bloggers, 1000+ words in a single blog is advisable.
As long as the post covers everything that needs to be covered and it doesn't leave me hanging, then I'll consider it to have passed the desired length of a content. You don't have to follow @sweetsssj's travel and food blogs because she's on a different level, but you can get inspiration from her way of presenting her content.
4. It Is Well-Supplemented
This is more on the packaging of the post that makes it more appealing, engaging, or authoritative. Depending on the intention of the post, adding infographics, embedded videos, and photos would make the content it more conducive for the readers to continue reading.
Photos, videos, or infographics should not only supplement the whole content, but also complement the texts in that content. Although not mandatory, adding captions would make these supplements an added bonus. Captions make those additions complementary and stand-alone at the same time.
Aside from being complementary and supplementary, those additions mentioned above would also cater those who are inclined to process visual information. Those type of people would just scroll down the whole content and look at the photos, videos, or infographics. This is why it would be an added bonus if there is a caption for them to read.
5. It Is Coherent and Has Good Grammar
This is another controversial element for me. Questions would arise like, "How about those who are not good in grammar? Or those who have other languages as their primary tongue?".
Steemit has been very supportive of anyone who wished to share something. As long as it adds value to the community, regardless of what language is being used, there will always be someone who will support that content. But if you want your content to reach a wider audience, then it would be better to have a good command in English language.
In one of the guidelines of @curie, it will only upvote posts that are written in English. I think this is for the spirit of transparency that @curie wants to achieve. If written in English, majority will be able to appreciate the content being upvoted.
Grammar and coherence will always go hand-in-hand. Coherence is more of how you connect different ideas in a seamless manner to form one big story, your story. If written with good command in grammar, there's authority in your story. If it's not really possible to have it in English, there's nothing wrong with using a language you're most comfortable with. Your local community will always appreciate it.
6. It Follows a Recommended Format
This is more on the overall aesthetics of the content. No matter how novel and exceptional the idea is, once presented with mediocrity, the result will be out of mediocrity. There are recommended formats in presenting your content and it is encouraged to take your time in learning and applying them. You can also make your own format in presenting, as long as the quality is not compromised.
Presenting your post in an aesthetic manner will entice your readers to continue reading your content. Since humans are inclined towards what's beautiful and pleasing to the eye, presenting your content beautifully will attract more audience.
7. It Encourages Valuable Comments
Valuable comments do not necessarily mean that they agree to the content. There might be a clash of different ideas, but that's the beauty of it. It builds up from the post and new synthesized ideas will form. As long as the discourse is healthy, comments should always be welcomed in the post.
I believe that comments are part of the content and they also add value to steemit. That's the reason why I measure the success of my posts by the amount of engagement they get from the community. To encourage more comments, I always take time read and reply those comments made for my posts.
8. It Is Not Plagiarized
This is giving credit to where the credit is due. No matter how good a content is, but it was copied from another work without proper permission and citation from the owner, the content is as useless as the author who copied. There's nothing degrading with admitting that you got the information from other sources.
Plagiarism is a crime and it is punishable by any law applicable. Getting inspiration from others' work is fine, as long as stated in your own words and not copied verbatim.
9. It Is Part of the Author's Consistency
I added this one because it reflects the truest intention of the author. If the author consistently posts high quality content even if not always recognized, then that author must be regarding quality above anything else.
Conclusion
Consistently creating a quality content is not easy. There are efforts to be expended in order to achieve the desired outcome, but the outcome will be all worth it.
All the elements mentioned can be used to gauge the level of quality a content has. You can formulate questions related any of those mentioned and if you will be able to answer them, then your content must be of high quality.
1. @legendarryll
First Curie: Sulfur Miners of Kawah Ijen, Indonesia
Second Curie: Singapore Art Scene
Third Curie: UNMASKED: A Chance Encounter with One of Bali's Master Masked Makers
2. @thegaillery
First Curie: The Confidence Project
Second Curie: The Japanese Food Experience as Told By a Non-Japanese
3. @xaydtrips
First Curie: Mactan Island Hopping: Witnessing a Magical World Through the Lens of a Diving Mask
First Steemstem: Reaching Our Visions: Negros Island is Now the Philippines' Solar Energy Capital After Years of Renewable Energy Campaign
First OCD: Mt. Talinis: Cuernos de Negros, the Sentinels Watching Over Oriental - Life in the Tropics 06
4. @dioncrediblehulk
First Curie: The Day Apo Whang Od Inked Me and Grabbed my Crotch
Second Curie: 8 Success Lessons l Learned After Interviewing More than 20 Engineering Topnotchers in the Philippines
First OCD: A Guide on How to Get Inked by Apo Whang Od, the Oldest Traditional Tattoo Artist in the Philippines
5. @davids-tales
First Curie: Exploring Japan
Second Curie: Exploring Southern Leyte: Chasing Whale Sharks and Stories
If you might contest with my list of steemians; please be advised that some of them are just starting to bloom. What I'm asking is to watch out for their posts as I believe that are now realizing the importance of quality here on steemit.
Expecting your next quality post,
Kim, @ybanezkim26
All images are taken from pixabay.com