Are we undervaluing our contribution to the Noise platform?

I've been seeing a rise in the number of posts on Noise about how we should be more grateful for the tips we get, and every time I read that I get a strange feeling in my chest. Somewhere between guilt and annoyance. So today when I read another post about how we shouldn't take the BCH gifts for granted, I decided to address the feeling and figure out how I really feel about it.

Should we be more grateful for the tips we receive on Noise.cash?
Are we being given free gifts?

Let's look at it from three different angles...

1. From a social point of view

Humans need interaction with, and approval from, other humans. For a while, the traditional social media platforms fulfilled this need - we posted about our lives, we posted photos of ourselves and the things that are important to us, and we got a dopamine boost in the form of likes. Approval from our peers.

But now we've figured out that social media is bad for our mental health, and the traditional social media platforms are making bad people rich, so we've started to wean ourselves off... We're learning to live without the likes.

Then along came the concept of a social media platform that tips you when you post. And not just that, it also supports something we care about - making cryptocurrencies more mainstream. It seemed too good to be true...

Now when you post about your life and your interests, and post photos about things you care about, not only do you get likes but you get cryptocurrency too!
For those who crave the dopamine boost that social media platforms give, the interaction is the main reason to post content and the tips you receive seem like a bonus on top of that. A free gift. Right?

2. From a biological point of view

Nature has a cool mechanism that ensures that different species can benefit from each other, to get what they need to thrive. Symbiosis. Either both parties benefit from the relationship (think of the tick birds that follow cattle around), or only one benefits until it drains the life from the host (think of ticks).

We're gaining a dopamine boost and BCH tips. Is Noise.cash gaining anything in return?

3. From a business point of view

There's no such thing as a free lunch. If someone is offering you something for free, you have a responsibility to ask questions and look a little deeper at why.

Is it charity? Are they offering it because they simply have good hearts and they don't want anything in return?
Or are they offering you a reward in return for something you're giving them?

Social media platforms are built on business models. They cost money to run (employee wages, running costs, website development, etc), so they need to make money to cover these costs and potentially bring in some profit for expansion and further development. Traditional social media platforms sell ads to cover their costs, which enables them to offer the use of the platform to us for free.

Noise.cash is not a charity. It costs money to run and maintain.

Original content is valuable. It's incredibly valuable. Businesses pay people to write content, to post photos, to engage.

SEO work is valuable. If you're starting a new website or platform, and you have to compete with the established giants out there, how are you going to get your site noticed and popular, fast? You can pay for ads, you can pay for content that mentions your brand name and links to your site, or you can pay people to drive traffic to your site and increase its search ranking organically.
Tipping users for adding original content and increasing your traffic works out much cheaper than paying for ad campaigns and marketing specialists. And at the same time the number of BCH transactions increases and the coin gains more attention.

But we use other social media sites without getting paid?

Are you sure about that? YouTube has been paying content creators big money for years. Social media Influencers get paid big money for making content about specific brands. Those who understand that social media is a business, understand the value of their contribution to the platform.

So if it's a business, and it's giving us something, what exactly are we giving in return?

Our time. Our original content. Our daily traffic. Our referrals to new users. Our use of and support of BCH. Our combined effort to weed out spammers and bots. Our articles and posts about Noise and about BCH that keeps the SEO score high.

Without this from us, Noise would not be able to survive.
Without the BCH tips from Noise, we would have no reason to choose Noise over other social media platforms.

It's a symbiotic relationship. We give the platform developers and BCH investors what they need to succeed, and we get something in return.

My Conclusion

I feel like it's unhealthy to think of tips as gifts from the gods. It was that kind of thinking that allowed FB to get too powerful, to the point where they can do what they want now without being accountable, and the guy at the top gets rich from being dishonest.

Call it what it is. It's an exchange. The admins appreciate our efforts to promote their site, and we appreciate the BCH. If either side had to stop giving, the site would fail.

Should you join Noise.cash after you realise the tips aren't "free"?

If you need social media in your life, then choose one that's run on a better system. Don't choose to support a dishonest giant like FB. What Noise is doing is smart, future-friendly and it's good business.

Protect yourself. Keep everything in perspective and realise the value of what you're contributing.

With that in mind, post your posts and have a good time.

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I write short stories about life from the perspective of others, and sometimes I write from my perspective too.

Join me on noise.cash: MightyTalon
Join me on publish0x: MightyTalon
You can read my short stories here: MightyTalon

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Photo by Pexels user Karolina Grabowska.