We on Steemit want quality content, right?
Of course we do. So let's stop leading new users to think that they can get paid on Steemit for the same type of stuff they post on Facebook, or Twitter. People post nonsense on social media all day, myself included. I would never expect to get paid for blabbing about something funny my cat did or posting a single meme. But I often see blogs directed at new users telling them to ditch their other social media and come here saying things like "Why not just come to Steemit instead? You post on facebook without getting paid." I even said things like that myself in the past.
But the more I thought about it the more I realized Steemit is absolutely different from other social media. I mean, besides the obvious crypto-blockchain dynamic. We strive for quality content. Knowledge. New ideas. Creativity.
What I say to New Users Instead:
I recently wrote a blog for newbs and I tried to focus on the opposite of "Come over here and get paid." Why? Because it takes a lot of time to get paid anything significant on Steemit for most people. I have been posting for almost a year and finally have 700+ followers (Thanks guys!) and many people have thousands but let's not lead new users to think that they will have the same experience off the bat. Let's be honest instead.
I tell new users they should have a real desire to write quality content and engage in the community for the sake of it. I invite them to poke around. Show them my blog as an example. I tell them to expect it to take awhile to build up a dedicated audience. Just like any other platform, it takes work!
I feel like many users believe they will make money right away for posting a few unformatted paragraphs. So they come, post a few times. See a few pennies. Maybe post once or twice more over a span of a few weeks with just a few more pennies and they get frustrated and leave. To be honest, we don't want people that unambitious and underwhelming anyhow. We want people who are excited about Steemit, who believe in Steemit, want to engage WITH Steemit, and want to share quality stuff.
