This is a quest by @anomadsoul and @guyfawkes4-20, known as the Sndbox Summer Camp with different topics to be analyzed on. I have read some many quality posts by the current Sndbox members and I do know that this community is also very generous in looking out for quality contents.
Even though I have been on Steemit for a mere 100+ days, I am taking my commitment towards this platform quite seriously. I aim to post everyday and also post mainly about philosophy, psychology and sometimes sociology.
For Task 1, I would like to elaborate and analyze on Content Quality VS Quantity, Self-Explained.
Before I started writing and reading posts across Steemit, I have always been liking to write, even with my seemingly limited vocabularies. I have adopted this habit of writing since my high school days and I find it therapeutic. Now as a part time tutor, I find myself encouraging my students to do that as well.
As I look through parts of this platform in these three months, I realize there are all types of contents. It is also the same for Facebook and Twitter actually.
Content Quality
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Before I go on and on analyzing the contents in terms of quality, let me just roughly define what I think is a quality content. A quality content in my personal opinion (and it is not the universal truth) is obvious efforts seen to produce a post such as the formatting of the post, research done for the post, amount of pictures or GIFs to illustrate a point, with some humour and professional facts. I always admire and respect people who write very well with clear articulations as well as presentation of their points. That is one big area I am learning and improving in.
A post with content quality may take a long time to produce and with that, I know perhaps one is not able to post the same high quality content everyday, unless he or she has an ample of time. However, I have also learnt from @maverickfoo about, 25 minutes of research, 25 minutes of writing and drafting and 25 minutes of tidying up (sorry, I am very sure this is not what he said, word for word, but I'm trying to remember what I have read from him). Talking about quality content, @deborism and him have always come out with guides on how to produce content with quality. I have learnt a lot from them, but have not applied fully in my postings.
For me, the quality of content is something cannot be compromised. It is not determined by the length of the post, because short posts like poetry and short stories can also be contents with quality. It shows and represents the author, of how much he or she is settling for. It also shows the spirit of excellence that is not settling for mediocrity. With that, I always want to learn and improve.
If there is only focus on the content quantity, eventually it may hit a saturation level of quality is not maintained or even elevated. That is because the readers can already expect what would be coming. Quality will be a great surprise factor in this sense. If we are just posting for the sake of posting and clouding this whole platform with more "noise", a unique piece with impact would definitely be much preferred and comes as refreshing. I always give extra attention to marketing or advertisements which are different from the usual, as they have effectively achieve their target which is to capture me as an audience.
The ones standing out are those who dare to be different!
On the other hand, if quality is produced but the frequency of posting is too low, we can also lose followers who see no updates from us in a long while.
Content Quantity
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There are users who would be posting everyday, which their visibility is gained and their audience can follow them closely. I would deem that as content quantity or in another case, if someone who always strives to write long posts.
They would be posting almost everyday, whether important or non-important details of their lives. Everything would be announced to the social media platform. The followers and audience would very much be updated by their every snippet of their life. Sometimes, they would even feel along with this person. It would be like some fans following a celebrity, which is sometimes fine if there is still a moderate quality to the contents posted. By that, it can be the food he or she eats everyday, or ramblings of how bad some situations are. However, as days go by, if the quality isn't improved, it will also eventually "bore" the followers. It may also gives a feeling of the author going in circles just to lengthy the post. In the context of Steemit, the upvoters may realize that their votes aren't used to a maximum potential. Also, because our voting power can be exhausted and used up, the upvoters will learn to be more selective, if there isn't a consistency of quality.
Having said this, if a Steemian posts consistently and produce long posts, it will definitely increase the probability of being curated, noticed and read. This indicates a commitment though it is not necessarily those who post lesser are not committed either. Those who post consistently may help their readers to anticipate eagerly and as they post more, the quality may also catch up and improves. Maybe initially, not all the posts are insightful and immediately capture every visitor's attention, but after a certain niche is formed, the audiences will definitely return to a certain author for a particular type of post. It can serve as an answer to the reader. It would create a specific type of traffic to that author in times to come.
That is what I hope in doing for myself, as I am determined to post my own niche and increase within my own natural interests:
A post a day to keep the lazy bug and complacency away.
My little illustration on Striking a Balance between Quality VS Quantity
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Perhaps let me give a simpler illustration that actually helped myself to see how I differentiate between content quality and quantity.
Let's say I own a restaurant and I am a huge fan of wagyu beef. In terms of quality, I try to make first I try my best to always import the A1 wagyu from Japan to make sure the quality of my food to serve my customers is always there. With such great food, I must ensure my other ingredients are also top grade. You can also roughly tell that this would be very expensive because I was chasing after quality. Whenever there is short of supply, I have to close my shop because I only believe in quality, just because I do not believe in giving "lower grade" food to my customers, not even a A5 wagyu. That can be done if I have a lot of capital and I can cover my business with the money made in prime time. If I do not have enough capital, no matter how good my food is, I will have to cover the loss and eventually, I may lose the business too.
On the other hand, if I do not care about quality, I serve any kind of food without quality control to my customers at a low price, this way of marketing will definitely reach many ears in a short time. But am I willing to sell my wagyu beef at 1 Steem at all times just to make sure my customers stick with me? That is certainly not advisable from a business point of view.
As a business owner, I don't just want to attract a large amount of visitors but I want to attract customers who would stay with me, and customers who would proudly introduce my food to others. With that in mind, I have to continue to research on improving my recipe, finding better quality ingredients and still open as much as I can, not sticking to just one option of type of meat. I have to learn to use Aussie beef, Indian buffalo and other local beef as well to balance my sheet as well as serving different types of meat to the range of customers.
Thus, my conclusion is the content of a post should strike a balance between quality and quantity. So probably an update once in three or four days with a quality content would be ideal. As for me, I'm still striving with my a-post-a-day but I have to work towards higher content quality. All in all, it is not about which is better, quality or quantity, but which will hit the bull's eye!
I would like to specially thank @Sndbox, @voronoi, and @hansikhouse for supporting this initiative. I found out about this quest quite last minute but I want to try my best as it is an opportunity to push me out to think and write. Thank you!
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Animation By @zord189
