Blogging on the blockchain

I’ve been blogging exclusively at Steemit.com for the past two weeks, every day save for a couple of days. I even ended up making my first vlog. Well, sort of vlog, because it was partly me vlogging, and partly me going kara-zy on Smule. The vlog was meant to be part of a Steemit open mic contest.

Wait. What is Steem? What is Steemit?

Steem is one of those altcoins that seems to be popping up all over the online world. I happen to like Steem because value is generated via content, and the coin is pegged to the US dollar. Steemit is their front-facing app (okay so I purposely say front-facing instead of interface, because I WANT TO) for content makers to build and manage their Steem data and wallet.

The kinds of topics I posted so far in Steemit has been part rambling, part WebGrrrl-y. I’m not happy that my content there are scattered into multiple topics. It’s a result of broken focus, due to the distractions of working from home. I’m just glad that I’m back to blogging again.

While I don’t blog there primarily for the Steem dollars, it’s a nice incentive. A plus of blogging there, is the community that’s built around it. We have our own #teammalaysia set of content makers work together to upvote and resteem (equivalent to Twitter’s retweet or Facebook’s share) and increase value on our content. Sure it looks like we’re gaming the Steem value, but that’s what we do with our currencies in the real world, too. However, value is still being created, thanks to how the Steem economics work, so it’s not merely gaming it per se.

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We’re not merely bloggers.

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I specifically call the people who post their content in Steem as content makers, because not everyone there blogs in a conventional way. Some use it to showcase and sell their art, photo, scripts, music, what have you.

Like I said, I don’t like that I mixed different types of posts into my Steem blog. Nor do I like the fact that I have several blogs and social media posts scattered all over the Interwebs. To solve this, I’ve decided to use my WebGrrrl.net page at Facebook as my curation portal. Except for my cross stitch niche site, all other posts — from here, my Medium blog (whenever I sporadically can access it), my WordPress.com site, LinkedIn, Quora, my kids’ blog, and wherever else — will be shared through the page.

I like that I’m doing something I’m suppose to be doing, blogging being one of it. Holy crap the things I need to accomplish. I wish I didn’t need sleep.

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Posted on 4 April, 2018 under Life online and tagged with , ,

6 comments

  1. Aaahhh… Followed you 🙂

  2. There’s a problem here that seems like a deal-breaker for a most people… Average people can’t upvote or follow you. I’m not sure we can even comment.

    We can’t create an account because there seems to be some manual component of the account creation process. I got to the point where they told me something like “please wait while we verify your account”. By the time they get around to verifying my account I might lose interest and I’m sure that most people would lose interest as soon as they realize they can’t create their account with third-party authentication through Fb/Twitter/Google.

    The perspective of a content creator could be significantly different, though. Everyone hopes to make money for their effort and the idea of a crypto-currency that is pegged to the US dollar sounds good, especially to those of us who get almost 4 units of our local currency from 1 US dollar. The problem is that it’s not true. It couldn’t be true. The nature of any crypto-currency is that it’s value fluctuates rapidly. During the time that I’ve spent writing this comment, the value of Steem has changed from $1.89 up to $2.16 and back down to $2.06 (source: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/steem/). Tomorrow, it might be worth $100 and the day after that it might be worth only 50 cents.

    If we compare the money making potential on Steem to that of traditional blogging, it appears that traditional blogging is much more effective. And forget the confusion of “pegged to the US dollar (but not really)”. The money we can make with traditional blogging through affiliate marketing, product sales, ad networks, or sponsored content *is* the US dollar. It’s easier to find your content and it’s easier to share your content. In either case, though, your content has to be nearly amazing to generate a significant income.

    I’ve already done the searches, but why should you believe me. Do a search for things like “Make money on Medium” or “how much can I expect to earn blogging”.

    There’s one more thing… consider awareness of your content. How do search engines rank steemit? I thought I’d test it with a search for “headless wordpress”, based on the topic of one of your most recent steemit entries and I didn’t see it show up in the first few pages of results.


    Vince

    1. I haven’t used my WordPress account in a really long time. After I commented and tried to follow this post I had to change my email address and username. That broke something. So I’m commenting again to fix it and follow.

      1. You’re absolutely spot on on all the things you mentioned. SEO, potential monetization, volatility, show registration. It was why after I signed up last year, I didn’t do anything there until a month ago, when I met a local artist who told me how Steemit had helped him no only earn a little side income, but more on exposure of his talents as he named to win a number of prize money through Steemit competitions. I think RM500 in 3 months for a beginner who’s technically challenged and have no other ideas on how to make money online, that’s not to bad.

        I wanted to add on more to this discussion but my kid is pestering me to get his favourite snack. I should blog about this once I’m settled.

      2. Great to hear from you again, by the way.

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