The LIFESTYLE LOUNGE

Where are all the Steem peeps at?

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HAPPY FRIDAY PEEPS!

Oh my heavens - what a week it has been! It has been "go go go" since Monday and my body and mind are feeling it! lol... So happy that the weekend has landed, but I still feel like I am drowning in my "to do" list! I have not even been able to get to my regular daily posts and I missed the "track of the week" post yesterday... (don't worry... I will be putting that one out later today, for those that entered!) - it has just really been completely manic!

Life sure can be crazy sometimes! I think I also over did mt treadmill missions this week as the body is feeling a little worn out haha... so today I shall take a breather and give my weary bones a chance to recover before they have to prance around in stilettos for twelve hours tomorrow lol!

Aside from the chaos though... it has been a good week and now that I have (almost) survived it... I am looking forward to some party time at a friends wedding tomorrow - but before that - I need to make some time today to play a little bit of catch up... hopefully - but first, I need to get my hands on some heel stoppers!!!!!!!!! Who the heck would have thought that those damn things would be so bloody hard to find locally....

A STEEM SIDE NOTE

Completely off the topic of chaos, stiletto's and heel stoppers - the one conversation I have had with more than a handful of people this week is how quiet Steem has been of late - not only from a post perspective, but also in terms of engagement.... I do a lot of curation from multiple accounts including this one and the one thing that has been glaringly obvious is the lack of engagement on peoples posts! A good portion of the comments seem to be made up of automated curation replies and bots and then let's not forget "church of god" LOL! - but the "real live HUMAN" engagement seriously sees to be lacking. In fact, on MANY of the posts I have engaged on this week - at the time of commenting, I was the only one who had. This is really sad to see. Why are people not putting in the effort to "mingle"?

I have also noticed that many regular bloggers have not been seen for ages. It is like they just disappeared from the platform and then others that are only posting like once every ten days or something like that.

Are people feeling despondent, or what?

Would be interesting to see what some of your thoughts are on this, if anyone actually comments on this haha! - but until then... here's wishing you all a fantabulous Friday and weekend ahead!

LOVE YOU ALL LONG TIME!!!

❤❤❤

Until next time... Much Love from Cape Town, South Africa xxx Jaynielea _{FOUNDER OF THE POWERHOUSE CREATIVES & STEEM SOUTH AFRICA}

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Comments · 27

@justclickindiva(78)· 2392d
Hi @jaynie I am fairly new to Steem, only account 6 months old. I started here because others in another new Tribe told me I could make money blogging. Well, I found it it's not that easy. All the other things you have to do that goes along with it to be sucessful. Engagement is one of them. And that takes time like anything else. And effort. That nmeans if you want someone to stop what they are doing and take the time to read your blog, you need to reciprocate and do the same, then engage with them. Even more time taken.

I think that some people have offline duties that takes them away from home. And their offline real family or other life. Their time is already limited when they can get to the computer. And you can't accomplish it all in 30 or so minutes.

In my opinion, I feel it's just a combination of things taken together. People always tell me that since I'm retired I should have lots of time. My answer to that is "lots of time to do what I want to do, not what you want me to do."
@denmarkguy(79)· 2393d
I dunno @jaynie... seems like a number of possible things. But yes, I've noticed that engagement is down, and if you look at Asher's weekly compilation for the Engagement Leagues — even compared to a year ago — it's not a pretty picture.

I think a lot of people simply fizzled out when they realized that the time they were spending here couldn't even be justified as a part time income gig, so they went to flip burgers or walk dogs instead. Life happens. So now we're pretty much left with only actual bloggers and content creators...

Even though there seem to be signs of life, the long slow downward slide in the price of Steem also hasn't helped much.

With the last hardfork changing the "sweet spot" for curation/voting to +/- 5 minutes, automation became more attractive than manual content discovery, as a result of which people still get voted but comments are fewer. Sometimes I feel like a total alien/Luddite because all the votes I make are manual.

In some ways, the advent of SCOT tribes and now hives/communities has been good for raising interest, but the greater implication is that a lot of people move, read, curate and comment in narrower circles than they did before... I know I tend to look at things from within the confines of either "hive-114105" OR the Creativecoin community... as a result of which I'm sure there's a lot of worthy content I don't see...

Yesterday, I started working on Dan's "People you follow" challenge... and after an hour or so of poking around, I came to the sad realization that I was almost building more of a "tribute post" to people who've left, than a celebration of people who are still here. And that was pretty sad... so I'm feeling the need to expand the post to include both, now...

I'm sure there are further nuances, but I haven't had enough coffee yet to discern them!

xo
@felt.buzz(76)· 2394d
I find that there is so much to do there seems to be less and less time for proper interaction (I spend almost two hours a day just trying to keep up with curation and my blog posts. Other interaction is after that and sometimes I can't find the time). I think with the prolonged drop in the price of steem people have had to prioritise other things too. Still, nice to see a lot of comments on this post! :) I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! :)
@lymepoet(68)· 2394d
You're right, it did seem quieter than usual. But I assume that the low incentive and the real life outside the platform made them take a break. I did it couple of times, and came back with more topic ideas.
@arcange(79)· 2395d
Congratulations @jaynie! Your post was mentioned in the Steem Hit Parade in the following category:
- Comments - Ranked 10 with 37 comments
@wwwiebe(74)· 2395d
I haven't seen the same lower levels of posting and engagement that you have, but then again, my circle is small, really. What I can share, personally, is that I've also been incredibly busy and trying to keep up has been difficult! I'm behind on everything. E.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. I'm barely able to keep a Discord presence other than to say 'hi.' So, maybe, people are just suffering the "Holy-shit-its-Feb-2020-and-I-still-haven't-done-shits" and are finally getting around to having a life! AHAHA.

Or maybe they're just leaving a bigger reward pool for the rest of us.
@papilloncharity(83)· 2395d
Nope! Got my eye blinkers on and simply continue to do what I have always done. A post every day, answer all of my comments, vote on a few new posts and show kindness to everyone. Much to complain about such as powercuts, increased charity work, empty votes, scammers and and and, but what's the use? Happy Friday to you Jaynie.
@fullcoverbetting(74)· 2395d
There are indeed a lot of people missing in action. But with the current rise in value of steem, they could be back before you know it :)
@bdmillergallery(77)· 2396d
I agree with you, and have noticed a decline of interaction in general. Sometimes I get these weird random thoughts after or when I am reading something.. So I am reading you post and this Confucius quote is bouncing around in my head.

“The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat.”

I think, I am thinking it (that sounds funny) because searching around Steemit is sometimes like looking for that 'black cat'. I am always on the hunt for a new under valued blogger but never can quite find them. I waste more time clicking on a post with one picture and 5 words. I hate to just browse the PHC tag or OCD tags or what not, but its less frustrating.

Just stopping by to let you know I am here and I care! Every day I try to do a little more than yesterday :-) But I am not the best at it :-/ Best of luck finding those heal stoppers. I saw some lady once that had self stick chair leg slider things attached to her heals. You know what I am talking about? They protect your floor and let the chair slide smoothly.

Have FUN on Saturday!!!!!! P A R T Y!!!!!
@beerlover(65)· 2396d
^{View or trade BEER.}

Hey @jaynie, here is a little bit of BEER from @recording-box for you. Enjoy it!

Learn how to earn FREE BEER each day by staking.
@recording-box(66)· 2396d
I just started to be more active on Steemit and don't mind if it's quiet. I keep reading interesting developments like NFT's and tribes, so it looks like people are active and in it for the long haul. Looking forward yo "Track of the Week"
here's a !BEER for you to enjoy at the wedding!
@joanstewart(75)· 2396d
People have dropped a little, most who always interact and comment still do.

Hopefully new people will arrive, have the drive to stay long enough to realize this is not a place to take things for granted but go in for a long haul.

Not having time to post every day, time is spent sharing posts to other Social Media platforms trying to entice new people, reading and commenting on as many people I am able.
@pennsif(77)· 2396d
Yes, engagement down alas.

I recently did another compilation of all the contests running on Steem. There are at least 3 dozen going at any one time.

Many get very few entries - so the chance of winning is high.

Join in and #winwithsteem....
@gingbabida(67)· 2396d
I also see this problem that people do not interact much, and many are leaving this platform.

Maybe it's because they are not getting the support that they needed, and that they feel that their effort is not compensated. I understand them because I sometimes feel that way. But the friends I have met here are the reason why I am staying. 😊

Have a beautiful day, @jaynie.
@hlezama(74)· 2396d
I have noticed the same.I will speak for myself and the group closer to me. Tech limitations and low price of steem can be blamed for the shrinking number of publications and comments. Usually my daily phone bill is higher than any of my posts' rewards. I do not have internet at home, i depend on my phone, and lately we are having all kinds of issues with the signals. Then, we have daily life getting in the middle. For better or worse we have to take care of those business too. I do my best to continue posting and I highly value interaction in the comments section, but sometimes it is hard to even make a comment on a beautiful photography or food post when you are being drown in domestic problems that obscure your vision and press you heart. I kep rooting for better days
@ninahaskin(72)· 2396d
Happy Friday! @jaynie 📣TGIF! Glad to hear I'm not the only one having one of those weeks. Good plan to rest your legs and feet after the intense treadmill workout.🏋️‍♀️

How fun to have a friend's wedding to look forward to Saturday!👰💍🤵 Have you known the person getting married a long time?

I don't know if you have any "dollar stores" near you; however, the stores in my area carry a bunch of clear gel thingies for heels and shoes, including the heel stoppers you're in need of. "Tiebda 1" was the only dollar store that came back when I Googled your area. Call ahead to check and good luck!👠👠
@s3rg3(67)· 2396d
If you take a look at the wallet of those older “regular bloggers” you’ll see they didn’t leave Steemit at all. And perhaps those bloggers who have spent a huge amount of their time behind a screen to create blogposts ar now living the real life with real social interactions instead of interacting virtually from behind their safe computerdesk. It is all a matter of perspective. Real life interactions is still more valuable than constantly creating blogposts and interacting on Steemit with people from all over the world. Also most people came to this platform to blog because they could earn something with it. Now that everything is in the low it does not pay enough for those people to keep putting all the effort in blogging. If you take away the earning component I think most people think Steemit isn’t just as straghtforward to use as a lot of other social established platforms. Which are most of the time much easier to use. Also no one on other platforms are talking as much about the platform they are using themselves like the people on Steemit do. I always found it weird to read posts about why it is so calm on steemit, why it isn’t all fair on Steemit and so on. Never read things like that on Facebook,, Twitter, Reddit and so on. It is just something I notice on this platform only. People also tend to overly post blogpost several times a day. How is that considered quality??? Just a thought.
@nikolina(73)· 2396d
As someone who has been on this platform for almost 3 years now, I can say that I went from everyday, all day interaction, engagement and posting to not even visiting Steemit for a long time at all. Last year I only made few posts and I had absolutely no inspiration and desire to write and interact.

I'm not sure why or how, my inspiration is back! I really enjoy my time here and that makes me so happy! Of course, I still need to catch up and I feel like I could engage better with other Steemians. Unfortunately, I see some of my favorite people don't post anymore which makes me sad but I still have hope they will be active again. :)
@bluemoon(78)· 2396d
In such situations, the pessimistic part of me becomes dominant. As we all know, people are very different, some prefer to interact, be as social as possible ... others prefer to dedicate themselves to passions: blogging, photography, drawing ... It would seem that now the first the category is less numerous than the others. I think this will change, probably now we are all more tired.
@whatamidoing(72)· 2396d
I decided to start welcoming some of the more promising new steemians again and I saw my engagement shoot up! It's good to mix the old blood and the new blood. I'm also trying to bring back old users who left :-D
@wildcrafts(45)· 2396d
I know, life's hard.
@dmilliz(73)· 2396d
LOL at the Jehovah witness on Steem, they sure got faith and a faithful bot.

You know, I blame it on automation. Auto-vote that friend instead of checking out what they actually did. I imagine you have your own fair share of auto-voters.

As a Japanese friend said who isn't on Steem but knows how it works "退屈な" = Taikutsuna ( Boring)
@chekohler(76)· 2396d
Looks like crypto interest, in general, is down I can see it from the view numbers crypto YouTubers are pulling which is weird when we see BTC almost at 10k again and STEEM starting to pick up slowly too. I think the fact that this place has been through so many HFs and disputes and hasn't hit the heights people thought it would they gave up as well as it being still very heavily reliant on crypto to attract users instead of just a place to be used as a social media
@kaerpediem(73)· 2396d
And on cue the church visits 😂
@brittandjosie(76)· 2396d
We do think alike , resteem relay babe 😉 hugs ftom the snow
@skramatters(67)· 2396d
Full plate of life stuff for me but I've thought things were eerily silent for many moons now on the steem..

I know I used to rank quite high in the engagement tables weekly but it's been months since I've cracked the top 100..

Much of that has to do with still preferring partiko which doesn't have notifications.. I'm just not into the other options so unless I physically go back to check my comments I generally don't see if I'm included in a comment chat. Plus I'm not interested in discussing steem stuff so I'm filtering 90% of the content..

Posted using Partiko Android
@nathanpieters(63)· 2396d
Everyone has given up, I think.

Posted using Partiko iOS

HAPPY FRIDAY PEEPS!

A STEEM SIDE NOTE

Are people feeling despondent, or what?

LOVE YOU ALL LONG TIME!!!

Comments · 27

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