To get to hot and trending

Of course nobody is here for the money, we are all here for the Cryptos!

The upvotebot and SP delegation market

Yes, I also love the Steem blockchain for being a freedom of speech platform. And also it offers a way to be able to pluck ones own Fruit Of Work {FOW}, if there is Proof Of Brain {POB}. Meaning you can earn Cryptos by posting on SteemIt dot com (blog), the eSteem app (blog), Busy dot org (FB alike), SteepShot site or app (Insta alike), Zappl site or app (Twitter alike), D dot Tube (YouTube alike), D sound dot Audio (Soundcloud alike) and many more. Applications build on the Steem blockchain, so you need only one membership to use them all. Where you can get rewarded with Steem Backed Dollar {SBD} and Steem Power {SP}. Just by doing what you like to do most. And with Steem you can even buy some other well known Cryptos using Blocktrades dot US. But there is quite some competition for the content of the Steem reward pool.

Basicly that means getting noticed by the network members and receiving upvotes. It has been stated that when you create some good posts, you surely will get noted and rewarded for what you deliver. Seen from my point of view I would disagree, because I think that is a kind of unrealistic. Sure there are some very good quality content delivering Steem blockchain members that are likely to be seen in the hot and treding lists. Consistency is also key to this and if one has enough Steem Power {SP} it is possible to make a self upvote that makes ones own post move to the top right away. Just like an upvote of a so called Legend level member could help one get to trending. And that reinforces itself after payout, because it can generate more Steem Power. Key is the amount of Steem Power and getting upvotes from those who have a lot of it available. And if ones own account has a lot of SP it helps posting with a self upvote right away. Now, this is all part of how the Steem blockchain system is constructed. Therefore it is legitimate to use it in the manor it was made to function.

It is also possible to decline payout, in some cases this might be a good choice. But my guess is that most members would prefer to use the possibility to earn Cryptos through posting and/ or curating. And maybe by investing in Steem Power, which is also a possibility as it pays a kind of dividend to do so. Even without ever posting or curating, it is a reward for being a SP stockholder on the Steem blockchain. The more SP one has in stock, the more dividend growth. The bigger the better, that is how it works. And getting to the top of the list is quite tough. Some do a lot of networking outside the Steem blockchain to get more upvotes and followers. Things like Discord and SteemIt dot chat are used a lot for that. Not my cup of tea, but it does seem key to get noticed and rewarded. Especially as a new member. But even when you already have become part of the tucked away furniture, like me, it could be part of your strategy to join in the chat. And if that is not your cup of tea either, then there are other means.

Reward pool draining politics irony

Now I'm not that hardcore 'how-to-behave' on Steem, so for the ethical side of things I'm probably one of the worst advisors. There is however a downvote, also known as flag, function that is being used a correction tool. But also there are members abusing it and acting as tools themselves. And Unfortunately some of the utter shait posts, what I consider bad advertising for Steem, get to the top of the hot and trending lists too. But it is all possible because Steem Power talks and well, shait walks. It is a very freedom minded system, but it can be controlled with the right amounts of Steem Power in wallet. And as it is the digital virtual reality we are in, things can be automated. Therefore in come the so called bots. Those can have any purpose, one of them being used for giving upvotes, backed by huge amounts of Steem Power. Either in wallet and/ or delegated.

There are some Steem blockchain members who worry about it being unfair how these bots are being used. Or how buying Steem Power delegation is being used. Because it can be used to make ones own Steem Power grow, besides the invested amount of Steem Backed Dollar {SBD} or Steem getting returned. Therefore the gain is mainly in the Steem Power. And while competition for getting even a tiny part out off the reward pool is getting tougher, services that can help to get to the 500 SP minimum for the voting slider are more than welcome for a lot of members. These members still do invest in Steem, even while already half of the Steem ever to be released was drained out within a year. For the most part due to the high speed in which new Steem was issued every new block. And forming a few huge Legend level accounts as a result of the exponential voting system. Trying to get the exponential drain the reward pool by the Legend levels voting system back in, I think is mainly self-enrichment aimed politics and I do disagree with that. So, I'd state: use the upvote bots and buy that delegation, it you have a use for it and can effort the investments that are needed to be able to do so. It does come with quite a big price tag attached though.

Promoting and advertising

Of course you could invest at least a hundred SBD, better even more, in some of those bidding upvote bot services. Just to get to trending, to put your account in the spotlight, to tell the hot and trending watchers that you are the one to upvote. It helps if you do this with a post that you believe in yourself, deserving to get into a top position in the list. And I have seen posts that really made me ask myself how on earth they made it to the top of the hot and trending lists at all. But it appeared that Cryptos can buy this, if you are willing and able to invest the right amount of SBD in voting bot systems. Or to rent SP for a couple of days and use this to upvote yourself. The gain of using the bidding voting bots are effectively about 20%, mostly being the Steem Power part at the payout after 7 days. Which can help grow ones SP faster and gaining attention of the Steem community in the meantime. How that works with renting SP delegation I do not know yet, but I guess the effect will be about the same. Yet, the more one does invest, the more return can be expected. And more SP in wallet also means more dividend.

But there is also a business side to this all. Steem is an open market too. Therefore entrepeneurs could use it to advertise their company and/ or products. They could buy some Promotion. Which does make SBD, and thus Steem, more scarse in the proces as it gets burned after buying Promotion. And there is the way of short term investing in upvote bot bidding systems. To get to the top of the hot and trending lists this would need a severe investment. And it could mean buying a few hundred of Steem Backed Dollar. But it is a possible way to use the Steem for advertising ones own posts, business or products and services. It creates movement in the _Steemconomy_where it can attract outside investments too. And if there is a market for upvoting bot bidding services, than it will sustain itself, otherwise it will disappear. Same goes for renting SP delegation. That this is possible does it mean that it is bad? Just like self upvoting, it is ones own free choice to do so. It is part of how Steem works. And just like every reply is also considered to be a post, self upvoting can be done there too.

The Steem open market future

The value of Cryptos is a major part of the Steem blockchain Social Media Platform. It can be used for buying and selling, that can be by using other Cryptos too. There is even an internal decentralized market to do so for Steem and SBD. A lot evolves around Steem being a Crypto with value that one can earn by posting, curating and investing. Part of that could be seen as an enterprise, a place for business, where freedom of expression is a big part of the whole deal. Self regulated by the community. And that also offers opportunities to be used for advertising campaigns, for a part thanks to upvote bidding bots. Where business opportunities will even increase with the activation of the Smart Media Tokens. That will give Steem another boost. And this is good for communities within the Steem realm that also have created their own SMT. As the most interesting of them will get traded on the internal decentralized market. Maybe it can even buy SMTs from businesses to pay for their products and their services, or to get a discount and buy a ticket to an Open Air live concert...

Having these upvote betting bot services and delegated SP rental services are part of the possibilities in which the Steem blockchain can be used. And if you think you do have something to share, that deserves the attention, then I think Steem has ways for you to make a statement for yourself. That can be done using self upvoting for instance. And to me it seems unfair to allow well known hot and trending members to do it and flag others for doing so too. But no matter what, the community will find a balance in every aspect of it. Still, trying anything to get a potential payout is part of the incentive to publish on the Steem blockchain and claiming it should not be seems a bit of an unrealistic approach to me. The dynamics of self regulation and freedom of expression are great extras, which makes Steem being quite unique. It seems healthy though to understand that Steem is about earning Cryptos for a big part. And that a lot of the activity is build around that idea. Which looks like the way the Steem blockchain works does have a bright future. Especially when the Smart Media Tokens go live.

And in the meantime, I am going to look what bidding upvote bots I can effort myself to get me some more attention...

May the Cryptos be with us!

The golden age of blockchain is comming to Steem with SMTs

Image cc-by-sa @oaldamster.