After a recent analysis of trending page posts which you can find here, and from pure observation it is very clear that the same authors are on the trending page time after time. Sometimes with multiple posts at a time.
The trending page is of crucial importance to both Steemit and Steemians.
The Problem
Let’s talk about it from a marketing perspective. It is clear from official documents, taking Steemit to at least the user level of Reddit is a major target. The trending page is the first page you will land on when you come to Steemit. Therefore it is the main sales page. Sales as in this is where steemit will acquire new users. It can be compared to the front page of Reddit.
If it is your first time to visit Steemit, from the trending page you will quickly see that there are votes on posts, loads of comments oh and look, money too. Wow don’t these guys get a lot for their posts. What an incentive to join.
So fine it works well for a sales page, but when you are on Steemit for a while, you notice it is the same authors all the time. My analysis shows that these authors get votes from whales, so unless you get spotted by a whale, chances are you post won’t get to trending.
Is the aim of the trending page also to get more exposure from existing Steemit users? I don’t get whale votes often, and not because my content is not good. I measure engagement when it comes to success on a post, comments and interaction. I get a lot of engagement, even votes, but I don’t get to the trending page, and there are many many others like me here on Steemit.
Obviously there is some sort of algorithm that Steemit works on to make posts trending, but it seems to me that this algorithm is in favor of $$$ and not true engagement and activity created by a post. If you get votes form those with a lot of SP you will trend. Voters SP should not affect the trending page. Engagement should.
So I would like to propose a change, a change that would benefit all content creators, a change that would make Steemit fair and non-bias’s, a change that would give everyone equal opportunity in getting their post trending. A change for the best.
My Proposal
(The numbers and scoring can be changed, this is for sample purposes only)
When a blog post is made, it needs 25 votes to be eligible for trending. As soon as it hits 25 votes the post would be given a boost trending score. This boost trending score would start at 96 and reduce by 2 every hour for 2 days.
Every comment made on a post will be worth 3 points
Every resteem will be worth 2 point
Every vote will also be worth 1 point
Although this is rather simple, by removing $$$$ from the trending algorithm, minnows, dolphins and whales will all have the same chance of getting to the trending page. Posts that create engagement and activity will be rewarded.
And these posts will be the best posts, not the highest paid posts. These will be the posts new users see when they visit Steemit.
So what you do you think? Love it or hate it please comment below. Let’s get this discussion started.