I used to be totally addicted to HP, couldn't wait to log on everyday to see what was happening, who and what was popping in the forums, what interesting hub made HOTD, and of course, how my stats and earnings were progressing. I looked forward to the rush I got from clicking "publish" after completing another hub.
Well, after almost 3 years, the excitement has worn off. My question to hubbers with more than 3 years: Is this feeling the HP equivalent of the "7-year itch" or is it due to the current state of affairs? I miss the excitement. I need my HP fix. Maybe it's just me.
I think it's a mixture. I went through a similar thing a few years ago when Panda hit the first time. It was almost like a grieving process because I had enjoyed HP so much (and I'm still fond of it, but have not published anything for a long time).
I am sure it is a combination of things. I would bet with the life span of HP 3.5yrs is about average. I am at 4yrs. I became very inactive about 2yrs ago more so because of life changes. I have a 'new' interest with HP now. I emphasize 'new' resulting from all the changes at HP, Google, and purpose.
Today writing for pleasure and business is it is much more business centric now. Those changes above also has moved the same direction along that scale for HP it seems? Is that a result of Google too now being in a much more competitive market place with other search engines / browsers?
I suggest taking a peek at Drive Reduction Theory to offer some insight. Especially secondary drives and how they relate to primary drives. Those secondary drives for that theory indicates that Hub Score, Hubber Score & Views meets them.
That determination for success is individualistic. When the primary drives are not met by secondary drives new ones are sought out. Thus, for example, some or many hubbers move onward to blogs, website construction, and self-publishing books at Amazon, LuLu, and etc, even though many remain active to some degree.
That is not not any different than any other endeavor - education, career, job, business venture, and etc. That offers pondering why higher education is patterned on 4-years. The average apprenticeship programs for construction trades is 4-years. For instance a career move I made was satisfied within 3 years and those secondary drives were being met. I sought satisfying the primary drives with sports by playing slow pitch softball.
Not sure if that offers thoughts to ponder or not. Yet it is a perspective. That is a good hub idea BTW.
Great insights and suggestions, tsmog. I will check out Drive Reduction Theory. Thanks for your wisdom as always.
I just looked at Drive Deduction Theory and it is fascinating! It offers a completely different way of thinking about how we use the word "Motivation." I've put together an explanation of how I think it applies to HP and what some of us are experiencing, using DDT concepts and terms:
"Drive" - we've developed a need for stimulation from constant positive HP activity; the secondary drives are exactly as you've stated, i.e., hubberscore, hubscore, etc.
"Homeostatic Shift" - we've replaced other important needs with the drug called "Success at HubPages" as measured by stats, views, earnings; fun, interesting, and helpful interactions with other hubbers.
"Normal" - when all is well at HP, we don't need anything, drive is down when stats and earnings are up and consistent, many forums are active and interesting.
"Motivation at Zero" - no urgency to write hubs because we have plenty and we're making monthly payout; we see new hubbers joining, no threat of Pandas, all is well and stable, needs are met.
This is a pretty amazing theory. I don't remember it from Learning Theory in college, too long ago. I had to go over it a few times to get it. I hope I got it. Thanks, tsmog.
Thank you very much Janshares and Tim Mitchell. Your discussions are very enlightening. I come to know of many interesting things through these discussions. Thanks a lot and let the discussions and enlightenment continue.
I say you hit the nail on the head. :-) The only notation I would add is for "Normal" homeostasis is achieved and constant like body temperature stays at 98.6ºF.
That theory is considered the first for motivation while pretty much is replaced by others, of which there are many. It is used as a foundation to understand where psychology got its legs from with motivation, learning & behavior. Maslow's of course being the most noteworthy for new thought with those. However, having studied motivation with incentives and many different programs and their changes that theory always jumped out to me firstly.
(I may add with a hub . . . I dun'no)
I was thinking the same. It would make an interesting hub. But as we are learning more about the realities of what people are searching for, who would read and enjoy it except for us?
Exactly. A short lived Hub most likely. I know that for sure. I use to write hubs about the hubbing experience using themes such as that. Too many actually. Those have been deleted and long gone. (This is going off topic of the OP?)
The audience / market is limited especially regarding seeking a result with SEO on Google. I received great communal response. But, too narrow a window, even though a niche topic in essence. Using Google Analytics easily a nice early spike - plateau - steady drop - nothing over 6 mths. (At least my experience) Does not fit today's strategy for success To be successful a larger audience must be addressed and there must be relevance.
BTW I did write the 1st rough draft creating illustrations for it too. I ponder going forward. One thought I have been exploring are more than one account. One for that purpose only . . . the 'Hubbing Experience'. Another for a hopefully soon niche topic. And, then keep today's account for what I use it for today.
[Edit after reading all the Posts] You know Jan that article I shared I wrote follows closely with what I just read with the posts. It is based on RDT, Maslow & Master Status from sociology. Probably too long too It may have value, although as shared its worth may dwindle. It could always be deleted . . . correct? Not wishing to offer all the inner workings of it I will share a key element is it is transitional - HP and Hubbers.
I surveyed the Top 100 Hubbers once, so I have those statistics gathered too. I also looked at key levels with other surveys. I am a nut I know It is what I use to do to make a living. All levels must be reviewed for 'population' data. One must look at the life of HP too in order to start drawing conclusions. HP began 2006 only 9 yrs. ago.
[Note: I do not wish to contribute to 'gaming' too!]
I worked for the same corp. for 26 years. Reflecting when I left there were only 'maybe' a dozen I knew since beginning there with an employee base of over 350. Many lessons were learned. Can a parallel be drawn?
I would bet the average for Hubbers is much less than the 3 - 4 years (the half life of HP?). What of the Hubber of 3 - 4 years? It is the third wave using two yrs. per wave. So, is that the core possibly and are the productive veterans especially considering learning from 'their' veterans?
Consider the concept is passive income based on residual views with established 'green' articles. Look at the stock market for hints. There is always an equilibrium or a 'homeostasis' for entities. Using the postulate you proposed there is much to ponder. Anyway, those articles do exist for both HP and the Hubber at different marketing levels as we have learned.
I would say that has been achieved and there is success. Just reviewing these posts is evidence of that. Yes, there are changes in the 'business climate' as there is with all business. I can attest to that with the automotive repair / tire industry from all levels of participation most at the corp. Change is inevitable! Change occurs with individual lives, too, again evidenced from these posts here. (Maybe a hub in the forums? . . . Ooopps!)
[Disclaimer: All is IMHO]
What's happening is a systemic change in the written Internet content business. More and more people are getting their information from smart phones, and it so happen that these are an impatient bunch. They need answers to their questions in 5 to 10 minutes tops. Anything beyond that is clicked away. And so I'm not surprised traffic is falling at HP, since most smart phone users have no tolerance for lengthy and well researched articles as the ones written by hubbers.
Not too long ago I read the post of a hubber who complained that her hub had been reduced to 255 words by the HP editors. It's helpful to know that for the general reading populace, short articles that deliver answers quickly is now the trend. To keep pace with that trend, a complete restructuring of HP articles as they stand today is how hubbers can hold onto smart phone users and increase traffic, otherwise we may remain on the slippery slope we now find ourselves. Yet I don't know if it brings you any comfort when all there is, is to look forward to the hundreds of hours you would need to restructure and shorten your articles to attract smart phone visitors, but hey, where you are now anything different is worth trying.
Excellent observations, Ben. You are so on-point with the realities of a changing internet and the changing behaviors of smart phone users. I hope Paul Edmonson sees your post. Plenty food for thought.
Gosh Ben Aidoo, I can't see how I could shorten some of my articles without sacrificing quality! Yet, it's so true that many people look for short articles that answer their questions in minutes! When you now search something on Google using a question format the first article shows a preview with the answer which I am sure stops may readers from reading other articles found below:(
So true Alexadry, I would have started restructuring and shortening my articles weeks ago, but just thinking about the time it would take has kept me from doing so. Concerning quality I've decided, when I do find the time, to distill my articles down to the bare facts, which is what visitors need, anyway.
Ben, this forum thread I started some months ago touches on your points about the changing needs of searchers:
http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/129345
We will need to adapt and not give up.
I agree with you Jan, and I have been here for five years. Everything used to be so different. Excitement about writing a hub, answering questions, asking questions, and interacting with everyone. The enthusiasm seems to be gone in other hubbers with whom I used to interact. Of course, my income has decreased, and I can't seem to think of exciting hubs any more. I am thus not surprised to see this post in the forum and the attitude of other hubbers. I guess I have been taking a break, but I still get excited about commenting on hubs. When I posted a question in the forum yesterday, someone made me feel like I was stupid for asking the question. I am not stupid, and I just had to consider the source and move on. Anyway, hopefully some of these feelings will pass. What I need to do is answer a hub challenge. That may be an enlightening experience. Good luck to you Jan, and thanks for this post.
I think it is more a reflection of what has happened on HP for the past year.
Does your enthusiasm for HP over the past year reflect this chart?
Strange I'm kind of feeling that way too, and we've been here at HP about the same length of time. Maybe 3 years is the honeymoon period.
Also, I've started other activities in the not-cyber world and needed to spend way less time on the Internet than I had been spending. It has done me good to get away from the computer, no doubt about that.
I had thought that writing on the Net was the thing I wanted to do, to the point of making a living from it. Then I realize how difficult that actually is to do and also realized I miss being out in the community and doing things with people and being active. To some extent I'm moving away from this whole Internet writing thing. I think if the pay-off would have been better, I would have kept doing it more like gangbusters.
With me, it all boils down to money. I have other endeavors outside of cyberspace that gives me better income. I guess, I am not that good in earning money online, that I have to do offline work to keep body and soul together. I write once in a while, if I can squeeze the time to do it.
Hi Nate B111 I am fairly new to HubPages and have been struggling with the same kind of thing. I am battling between finding work online (of course would love to be a paid writer) and getting a job. There are pros and cons with a job - getting on with people, being treated well by your boss etc. however there is also the comradeship you get with your fellow employees. I've had some awful jobs but had fun with the other workers. There is also pros and cons with being an online writer - flexibility etc but being more isolated. Right now I just need to make money, but I think of this dilemma quite often.
Interesting observation and topic, Jan. I've been here five years. Until recently, I couldn't wait to sign on and read, interact and write articles. Now, with so many things to demotivate writers - the whole featured vs un-featured thing, the inexplicable scoring drops on hubs and authors, the Hub Pro issues with editors who failed to follow the guidelines, the plagiarism and DMCA issues, the changes with the reward structure (interaction used to be a way to improve hubber score - not now), the (lack of) traffic issues...I could go on.
There used to be a topic of the week based on a keyword phrase that was identified as a good topic for articles. There used to be contests to encourage people to write specific articles. Long articles are now considered as one of the key goal for writers, however, readers want concise, interesting, factual and relevant stories. Attention span for social networking has a lot to do with readership.
Things change. It's a fact of life. Some of the changes here are welcomed, others, not as much. I long for the old days when there was a true feeling of community. That has definitely changed.
I know exactly what yu mean. The feeling of being obsesses and addicted;the rush when you hit publish. How you can't wait to see your views and earnings. But HP is so slow with views and earnings and they are so often wrong that I am feeling less inclined to maintain the same level of participation. I'm slacking off. The problems really takes away the psychic reward. I've been on HP a little over a year now.
I published my first Hub, December 2009...and at the moment only have 30 hubs to my name.
Admittedly I haven't published anything for a long while, for the very reason that I was obsessed with the 'quality' hub recommendation when I began on Hubpages. Some hubs took me 1-2 weeks to write!
My life went on hold and I spent hours drafting and re-drafting every one with painstaking care into the wee hours of the morning, as though my life depended on it
And even then, when i read some of them now, I find lots of errors, cringe at how badly I wrote some things and then spend a week trying to fix them! My heartsinks now at the thought of writing another Hub, because i know it will exhaust me
When I was addicted to Hubpages, it took over my life, like all addictions. I have come back now to see if I am cured and can control.
I am still a long way from redeeming even a first payment. That is a bit demoralising...
Perhaps I have to admit I am no good at writing and need to walk away.
Frankly speaking i had been here for five years but my eager to log in started to worn off two years ago 、 i wander off somewhere but came back sgain because other sites cannot give the same level of good community and earnings as hubpages, reason for wandering was the low earning and unfeatured hubs
I'm so glad you started this thread. I though I was the only one addicted. I felt like I was in a cult. It's set up to be addicting. We get a little jolt of dopamine when we see views, scores, or earnings up. Also it is "irregular reinforcement"--you can't predict when, where, or why you will see your little reward. My addiction is wearing off because views and earnings sometimes don't update for three or more days. The reinforcement is becoming too infrequent to work.
I think you have hit the proverbial nail on the head. But I don't think its the 7 year itch. I think it's the malaise caused by all the changes in search engines changing their algorithms to eliminate 'poor' content. Trouble is you write good content and its too high falooting. So either write about Justin Bieber and get passed for being to trivial, or Albert Einstein and too smart. I am continuing with hubs at the same pace but my mindset has changed, I write about what I find interesting to read in the hopes there are some people out there of similar ilk.
Oh yes and my hubs become my own resource when I need to refresh my own knowledge on a subject. Works well for this too.
Yes I am here 5 years and that excitement has also gone. For me it is the situation with Google and our decline into the internet abyss. I continue to write but with little enthusiasm.
I can relate to how you feel. I am more than 4 years here. Although I try my best to get active compared to the last few months, I feel tired of doing so as seeing my profile score which keeps on going down demotivated me. How I wish this profile score will be gone. Not even in my earliest months in HP I got this score. I tried my best to write quality hubs, update and share my hubs to other sites without spamming but still my traffic is slow. Maybe I should not come here everyday. Maybe I should take a holiday from HP for a few months.
Sounds like a good idea, not to leave but take a break from the negative exposure to that which demotivates. Thanks for chiming in, Thelma.
I thjnk if I took a holiday, I'd never come back.
I've been here for 5 years and don't write here hardly at all anymore. The Panda hits that lowered income, Hubpages lowering author scores and all of the other stuff just gets me down. I think it was at about at the 3 year point like you that I started losing my motivation. That might be part of the reason we see so many writers come and go. Most of the ones I followed in the beginning are long gone.
The last year I spent most of my time creating for my website. Now I'm tired of that too. The website is 12 years old. It is time to go on to something else.
Jan, you have been such a considerate writer and responder here on HP and it would be a great loss if you decided to pack it all in. Your hubs are of high quality and we need quality on this site more than ever!!
I'm not a motivational coach or anything near but if I were you I'd try and concentrate on the writing and producing of decent hubs. Put statistics and all that negative stuff temporarily on the backburner. Give it your best shot over the next 2-3 months, 4 months - 6 months - and then have a BIG REVIEW. HP may be in a more favourable place in half a year?
I think the lack of motivation is a natural reaction, a cyclic thing, which could be overcome or turned into something positive, depending on your time constraints, financial needs and expectations and so on. It's understandable. Just look at all the junk we've had to deal with over 3 years - from plagiarism to Pandas and penguins - and it's all ongoing so the pressure is not going to disappear anytime soon.
Your final decision is your own of course but I would tend to put more energy in and then when you've done ALL you can, make a more rational decision.
Thanks so much for your advice and encouragement, chef-de-jour. But I'm not going anywhere, just needed to express how I've been feeling lately and see if other veteran hubbers felt the same. You are one of may favorites and I love your work as well. You are correct, however, that it might do me well to focus more on writing and less on all the things that demotivate me. Thanks for the goal setting - I will write a new hub in the next 2-3 months.
Janis,
Same here. You have hit a nerve with this thread. The wild and wooly former forum days seem to be long gone. As for hubs, every time I get a topic idea, it ends up being a post on my main website instead. I'd like to post them as hubs, the HP Ads Program certainly pays more than AdSense, but all my missives are too short to pass QAP. The real irony is many of those missives get traffic day in and day out. I expect my website traffic to easily hit 100K before year's end.
That's exactly what makes us question our efforts here, paradigm. But I guess we are all still here because we love the place (community, hubtool, and ad program), even if it's not as fun as it used to be.
I, too, certainly have no plans to leave anytime soon. In addition to the warm fuzzy feeling HP gives me every 28th, there can still be some adventures to be had.
I think you have been on a journey with this question Janshares. You started with the one issue and you have been resolved by another. Yes it is the community at HP that probably is its strongest draw. Our own private twitter. Just enjoy your hubs and ignore the pecuniary side, writing is an art and to be enjoyed and shared. Onwards and upwards...
As with long-term relationships, I think passion plays a role. If I wrote about topics I didn't care about, I would be already long gone. What keeps my interest alive after 7 years of almost persistent writing here? I write about topics I am passionate about and that are in my line with my career specialization. Also, I am always taking some college course or classes that are academically stimulating enough to have me want to expand on some subjects. Like at the moment, I am taking a college course on dog cognition so there's so much room for learning news stuff! As an "auto- birthday present", I am finally going to take further courses that will work towards a diploma in my area of specialty.
I must confess, at one point, I had a company hire me for writing travel articles, the pay was also good and I even wrote for USA Today, but I couldn't bear writing about travel any more, it was just so painful!
I say, write what you are passionate about, the "true" passion of your life, an interest that will stick around and never go away. And if you are in a line of business or career, share what you know with others and then go to the library, do research, take classes and continue your education so you can further expand on the subject. I think we can bring out the best when we write what we are most passionate about and if we write with an open mind eager to learn more. Just sharing my 2 cents about the incentive that keeps me going!
I love your 2 cents, alexadry. I do have a passion for what I do outside of HP as a business which is what I write about the most. You are correct that passion for the writing on what we love will sustain us through periods of decreased enthusiasm. I appreciate your input based on 7 years of HP experience.
Janshares, wanted to add that I looked at your biography and it's impressive! You sure have a whole lot to offer to readers! Another cent I can add is, if feasible, combine your business with your writing. For instance, I make articles that work as handouts that I publish here and then print out for my clients. Not sure if this is something feasible in your line of work, but it sure kills 2 birds with one stone! Another thing I do is if say I am studying something, I make a Hub about the topic which helps me understand it better. Last and not least, if a challenge arises, I also use an article to troubleshoot ways to solve it, and many times I come up with something quite unique! I hope you stick around!
Yes, I'm sticking around, I still like HP. You are very resourceful, alexadry. Thanks for the feedback. I use my articles for the counseling practice; I email article links to clients and associates to share with their clients. I also tweet them. One of my articles was also printed and handed out at church for a workshop I facilitated. So I'm on a track similar to yours. Thanks.
HI Jan,
I know that so many of the hubbers who were here when I joined three years ago are no longer here on HP. So, HP feels like a different place, but I have made a lot of new friends who are supportive as ever, which means the world to me. Life has been so busy that I have not been able to publish as I once did here. I think if we are open to searching out new writers and interact with them, it seems to feel more like one is part of the community. I love the interaction. Yes, it was hopping three years ago, and has slowed way down for sure, and so the amount of time spent on here has dwindled a good bit.
I think it is natural for that initial excitement to wear off. It would be different if my hubs were taking off like a rocket, that would be exciting to watch. At first I had hope that there would be some significant income potential here, but now I have accepted that it's only pocket change.
I still like HP, I think what's happened here is typical of writing on the internet. There is just a lot of competition, and it's hard to get noticed. The small audience I have attracted, and the comments they leave, are very satisfying to me. That's what keeps me coming back.
I've been here four years, and still enjoy the site. I don't write as many Hubs as I would like. Life just gets in the way!!
I still get excited when I log on and check my account, and the comments left. And I enjoy the Forums, too.
I have been here for over 5 years now - I still check the site daily but have not published anything for a long time. I occasionally go through bursts of updating what I have here to try to boost traffic and to figure out why the system here seems to try to penalize me with regards to scores even if I have traffic..
HP was where I learned how to make real money online, it was the site that inspired me to work on my own sites and do so much more. Now I earn my living online fully. So I tend to stick to publishing and working on my own sites where I get a far larger return on my time invested.
HP is still where I come however to see what is going on - it is affected by every little hiccup in Google's algorithms and pet animals and there is so much advice that I have used within my own sites very effectively.
I still see a place for HP, and I hope that it will inspire many others.. But like many others; for publishing I have outgrown it.. But I am still here to sing its praises - if you can make money here you can make money on your own sites too... This is a great college for online success..
I really appreciate your insights on this topic, LeanMan. Your perspective is practical and refreshing. I admire those like you who actually found a way to make a living out of online work. I love your last line, "This is a great college for online success . . . " That is the best thing I've received at HP - online writing knowledge and experience. Thanks for your input.
Yours has been the only active forum-frontpage thread in the last 15 hours. (updated)
Hi Sherry - I am fairly new at HubPages but I'm already a little discouraged. I don't get a lot of views on my pages - granted they are short stories and not everyone would be interested. However I have been on another site Wikinut where I get views even if I don't post for a while-no money though! I feel to make any kind of money here you would have to really promote and push, which can be tiring. Maybe that is why you are no longer addicted Janshares because it takes so much effort. It great to make friends but I think people were hoping for revenue for your work - I was! But alas!
A writer...a real writer,spends most of their time waiting.Think back to the hubs that wrote themselves...and you did your best to just stay out of the way...the pieces that engaged your emotions as much as your readers...the spontaneity of 'cant stop reading' hubs.These days everyone's so wrapped up in the rules of building hubs that the end result is bland and predictable....that is what died here....my heart still bleeds for the old HP...
I've been there. I've been posting on HP for four years now and for the first two I was Hubbing like a man possessed, I racked up 100 Hubs in practically no time at all, I was crankin' em out at a rate of one or two per week....but since I had no idea what the @#$% I was doing when it came to bringing in traffic or self promotion, I was essentially throwing a lot of random stuff at the wall and praying that something would stick, haha.
Eventually the realization dawned that my road to millionaire-hood was not going to be paved with HubPage gold so I pulled back on the accelerator a lot. I don't kill myself trying to keep to any kind of "publishing schedule" anymore and I treat my postings here as a hobby and an outlet. I started enjoying Hubbing more once I quit obsessing over page views, Google rankings, CPMs, SEO, blah blah blah (that stuff makes my brain hurt).... I've actually been more prolific in the first half of 2015 than I was in all of 2014. I only make a payout once every blue moon but I'm fine with that.
Revenue-share sites are good for people to learn the ropes. But unless you are doing it purely for fun, you need to move on and eventually have your own domains. I still check in here, and I might publish again. But I'm really busy elsewhere.
I've seen the change in your approach, FatFreddysCat. Your productivity and change in attitude are impressive. Good for you.
I am still as keen as ever and I publish regularly (1 hub per day) (though on a yacht in Whitsunday Islands off coast of QLD, Australia for 2 weeks and so on Holidays => better things to do). Traffic increase and CPM rise are both very encouraging. Mini Virals via Pinterest helps.
Hey, so I'm still relatively new to Hubpages, I was an active user/lensmaster on Squidoo but now that it has merged with Hubpages I'm still learning the lay of the land. Anywho I enjoy reading articles written here there's a wide array of topics to choose from and read about. On Squidoo I enjoyed writing satirical pieces/lenses, but here on the Hub, my focus has been primarily on inventing and taking an idea to the marketplace! I like to share what I've learned from my experiences and also what I've heard from others! Anyway, I look forward to reading more great articles (and/or meeting new interesting people) here!
Kindest Regards,
Stargazer90
I've made a few observations as well here on HP. I'm here now for 2 years, and start to enjoy this platform increasingly.
There are Hubbers (like many commenting on this thread) that are totally uninterested in the majority of other Hubbers. Check out their profiles and you'll see what I mean - many followers, hardly following back.
What could this mean? That these Hubbers (with a unbalanced follower/following rate) are not interested in others' Hubs. But these Hubbers want their Hubs to be read as much as possible. Isn't that strange?
How can you possibly want a thrilling lively platform when your own behaviour doesn't reflect this? So, what I'm suggesting is that this situation where most of you are complaining about, is your own creation.
How to change this? Read Hubs of your followers, possibly share them, try to be interested in them as much as you want them to be interested in your stories and Hubs.
@Buidreps
The majority of any author's readers on HP are going to come from outside of the site. Hence the need to understand the use of SEO and sites like Pinterest to drive traffic through social media.
This is not a social networking site where we all go reading what each other has to say each day. This is a site where you can post hopefully insightful and interesting articles that can be read by just about everyone throughout the internet. If you rely on just getting a view each from a few hundred or even thousand followers here within HP then you are not going to be getting many views or earning very much money.
My goal is to attract search engine traffic. I neither know nor care who follows me and have not followed a person in a long time, nor to I read the feed from the people I did choose to follow in the past.
If as a result other hubbers choose not to follow me, that's okay. I will not care, mine, or notice. It is simply not one of my goals.
I would define HP as a content or revenue sharing site in which other hubbers are my colleagues, not my audience. I participate in the forums simply because I enjoy it, not because social activity here is part of the core activity of the site. It is just an optional extra that people can use or not use as they please.
Hi janshares,
I remember feeling that excitement too, the first year I came to HP. I used to check my hubs and stats first thing in the morning as I had my coffee. I still did for a bit after the first Panda hit, but at that point it made it so I didn't begin making money for a long time. Now I still check once a day, or once every two days, but all the changes and rules have made it depressing.
I am going through a lot in my personal life, so still write to use some my energies creatively, but haven't added anything much in a long time. So I think a lot of people just don't feel motivated, by the lack of money, and the frequency of changes. I would like to fix up some hubs, but then they have to go through the approval process again, and it ends up hurting me.
At least it was a good place to begin writing in public, I did learn a lot.
@LeanMan
This is not a Social Networking site? But wouldn't you define HP as a kind of community? And what is the sense of being in a community? That you can benefit from eachother capacities, isn't it?
The first few days after a Hub's being published most of your readership will come from your followers. Some of them might repost even a Hub, promoting them to their followers, inside and outside HP.
The amount of incoming links will likely determine the success of a Hub, and that is in most cases (probably all) not solely the work of a Hubber him/herself.
So, when Hubbers are getting bored on HP, it's probably caused by the attitude of them to the community!
I'll join in then.
Agree with Leanman of course - and not in a cary-shary give-a-crap kind of way.
HubPages can be a fun community and that's great. But I found it entirely misleading in terms of the wider world. The money, if there is any, is out there in Search land - not in read my stuff I'll read yours land.
Back to OP and feeling down, whatever. I have kind of gone through that and come out the other side. HubPages is just one part of things. It is a good fun friendly part but I want to, and am, doing my own thing. Still learning and still failing but it is an ongoing learning curve.
As for Likes and so on. I just removed all social indicators from my site. Those buttons screw up the aesthetics and are largely meaningless. Who cares if X claims to like something? Far better if they actually bought something.
The initial question was about Hubbers getting bored on HP, because the 'kick' of the rush isn't giving them anymore what they need. And that is caused by not being really connected with people here on HP, but writing all kinds of stories for the SEO machines out there. That is writing for numbers: views, likes and maybe a few dollars. And that is becoming boring very quickly.
And when you're in for the money here, it might be time to focus on other things...
Buildreps, my first reaction to your posts: ?????
I wasn't entirely sure where you were coming from but I guess I understand a little better from your last post.
I will say that I'm not a traditional social networking person so I don't follow back just to follow back. I actually love reading other hubbers' articles and I love interacting with the community in the forums and in Q&A. That's actually what I'm missing the most because it has slowed down dramatically. So to say I'm not connected . . . ? I got a Hubbie Award in 2014 for Community Activist.
I knew from day one that I would never make big money here, just enough for gas money. Sooooo, I'm not sure you get me. Or maybe you were referring to all posts on this thread. Anyway, thanks for your input.
Janshares: Thank you for creating this forum. Every time I wanted to write a new hub, I would get mixed feeling about whether I should write one. After reading this forum, I now understand what my feelings are about.
I have been with HP for three years and have 50 published hubs. Most of them are featured, but a few were not. In order to have them featured, I revised them mainly based on making paragraph headings more descriptive of the content. Based on HP's guidelines, this is what google searches are looking for. I revised them, against my better judgement, so they would be in compliance of what HP defines as a great hub. After re-submitting them, they became featured.
I have some ideas for a political hub that gets my points across quickly and will be less than the number of words that HP defines as a great hub. But now that I read this forum, I'm going to do it anyway. It may not be featured, but, it's all about getting the reader to understand the information in the shortest possible time, especially with smart phones.
I'm here to be heard. I think that you probably are here to be heard, too.
Many people assume wanting to get views is strictly about the money. They've forgotten that writing is communication. Communication via writing requires readers. If no one reads what you write, it's just data arranged to create a display of light and dark specks on a screen. There are much more enjoyable ways to apply light and dark specks to a screen that provide more visually interesting results. Writing must be read to fulfill its purpose.
Writers want readers.
The readers have greatly diminished in number on HubPages so it's no wonder your enthusiasm has flagged. If your audience has become a bare handful instead of a stadium full, it's bound to be a bit discouraging.
As to HubPages really being only a social networking site, I rather doubt that's its primary purpose although people will use darned near anything as a social networking site. To some with hammers, everything looks like a nail. There's nothing wrong with being lonely and using HP as a social network to make friends who will tell you nice things about yourself, but there's no reason to demand everyone use it as such. HubPages appears to me to be intended as a place for HP to host ads on attractive serving platters of writing, writing used as bait to get people to see said ads. It seems likely HP encourages the social aspect to increase writer loyalty despite failing views so as to encourage the continued production of attractive writing to serve up advertisements on.
I'm here to communicate, to give homes to pieces that say something I'd like other people to hear because they mean something to me. I'm not really interested in collecting a club of online friends who lie and tell me I'm special to be nicey-nice and to get me to read their articles on topics I'm not interested in. I follow people whose writing interests me and only people whose writing interests me. False sucking up revolts me. If I'm following you, the only thing I want from you is your continued production of interesting words.
Well said Kylyssa! I promise you, I'm not sucking up...but I couldn't have put it better myself.
I think we choose our addictions. HP can definitely be an unhealthy addiction if it takes you away from pursuing others interests. I used to be very active here but haven't published in a long time. I don't work online like many others do. It became an intense interest for me and I learned a lot about writing online, but I simply don't have the time and desire to keep publishing online. I used to log on daily, but lately it's been every few days. I still like HP a lot and find many of the authors very talented. I've met some interesting people through some of my hubs. But I prefer spending less time online and more time doing other things. Life moves swiftly. I really don't want to miss it by spending time in front of a computer screen. I've been here over 5 years, that's a decent chunk of time. I thank HP for the platform and everything they've done to help us be more successful in our online writing endeavors.
I also agree with what a previous poster said in regard to smartphones. If I'm searching/reading on my phone, long articles can be tedious. I'm not sure how much longer these kind of sites can remain viable.
HP seems to be hanging on.
Best to everyone here. Janshares, you're a wonderful person. You must make anyone feel better just with your presence.
I am very new to HP, but I understand very well that you ppl had enjoyed a very different HP long back and you are longing for it again. I really doubt my interest in another five years from now, after reading this thread. And I hope all new hubbers like me are keeping in pace with the current HP, which is still keeping us addicted, inspite of its new colors.
Hubpages is dying. A CPM of less than 50 cent for two months now is really making my spirit dull.
I have been in and out for a little over 5 years and basicaly enjoy it when I do stop in. I think that has kept me from the burn out. I have a few hubs and I stop by to revise them basically and chat with old friends here. I like Hubpages, but I also like to pursue other things so I have to break up my time between blogs, websites, and of course... college.
I feel the exact same, Jan! Before I wrote hubs. Now I write eBooks instead which pay tons more than I'll ever get on HP. But, honestly, I miss the community and the buzz!
First, great topic Janshares. I haven't been on hubpages as long as a lot of other writers and I also haven't written anything in a while because I have so much college work. I've even been going to summer school. My excitement level did go down, but I think its because I haven't written anything in a while. I am also busy writing a lot of plays that I want to get published (not on HP) so I'm focusing on that. I think that maybe if we all set a personal challenge for ourselves here on Hubpages, maybe that could help to generate excitement.
I used to write a lot more than I have done on here and loved it. I think I got a little frustrated with seeing my hubs copied elsewhere at one point and some of the new changes. Traffic going way way down whenever Google did anything was also a little frustrating. It made it tougher.
However, a few days ago I wrote a hub and not only did I enjoy writing it and putting it together, but it gave me inspiration to go over older hubs and update them too.
The key I think is when you devote a decent amount of time to something, you want to see some sort of reward/result. This can be monetary but for me it's just about helping others or steering them to discover new things. To get comments you've helped people and finding that they enjoy what you write... that's what I get out of it to be truthful.
Writing I think also helps keep your brain active and infinitely better than just watching TV.
Couples of words caught my attention -
1) good or bad?
It's neither. It's our binary thinking, we prefer to deal with two opposite clear choices
black - white
good - bad
great - terrible.
Which is understandable, but once you realize that there is no choice between "good or bad", you'd have to deal with harder to feel - evaluate - describe details.
2) I've noticed that one hubber advised to change a strategy and give it a try and then make a (more) reasonable decision. I agree. It will depend on what you want to get from HP and what you can by doing what you are willing to do. If HP no longer satisfies your criteria, it might be the time to move on.
3) As far as addictions go - all addictions work the same way, no matter what is the substance. In this case, you don't actually miss HP, you miss that feeling of adrenaline. As soon as you find it somewhere else, it won't be so painful to think that you no longer get it from HP. In more medical terms, now you experience withdrawal, but as soon as you indulge your brain with the new "drug", the source won't matter.
I might sound very cold about the whole thing, but I've gone through very tough times and not because of all that changes on HP that barely had any effect on my writing that get no traffic anyway. What upsets most veteran hubbers is that they try to hit the moving target and it's hard precisely because it moves erratically. If you write for your audience whose attention span gets from minuscule to invisible, your effort has to be enormous... unless you are the moving target yourself and no matter what you do, it's the audience will is following you.
So, in the end, you'd have to answer the question "Why do I write?" Of course, mostly for yourself, for the interaction and some income and if those criteria are no longer met...look for another outlet.
When I stopped writing on HP for reasons of my own, after a painful withdrawal (but, of course, all addictions are the same), I discovered something so much better (not writing here vs. writing somewhere else), I discovered something entirely different and fascinating. I was so glad, excited and even proud that I stuck with my decision (rather stumbling upon) to stop writing.
It's hard to see new horizons unless you let go of old cargo. Which is not my advice, my advice is try to change perspective, try to see this from a different side. But in the end, everybody finds the balance which is good in a sense that strong enough dissatisfaction will become your drive. You'll know when MAYBE becomes a NO. "No, no longer I want to write on HP". You'll know.
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