Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Steem?

in #steem6 years ago (edited)

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Given @jack's excitement for the disruptive potential of Bitcoin, and his pioneering work in social media applications, it seems quite odd that he doesn't seem to be aware of the only blockchain protocol with tens of thousands of daily active users across multiple social applications. Steem is far and away the largest and most active social network on a blockchain ... and @jack hasn't even heard of it despite being currently enamored with Bitcoin.

Maybe Jack is just stuck in 2008. Perhaps he doesn't realize that Steem is what Bitcoin would be if it was designed to power web applications, instead of being designed to be "digital gold." Don't get me wrong, I love Bitcoin too. In fact, Steem has far more in common with Bitcoin than other blockchain protocols like Ethereum and EOS. It wasn't designed to compete with or replace Bitcoin, it was designed to do that which Bitcoin cannot.

Application-Specific

Like Bitcoin, Steem is an application-specific blockchain. Bitcoin's "specific application" is a distributed ledger with an incentivization mechanism that is designed to maximize the number of people who are competing to reproduce the database and authenticate the sanctity of the information stored on it. In order to accomplish these objectives its creators designed a token that would be increasingly difficult to earn so that people would be motivated to "mine" in the present based on the idea that whatever they earn today will be worth more tomorrow. But designing friction and difficulty into your software is the last thing you want to do if you want to encourage its users to create and share content.

These were all fantastic innovations that helped introduce the world to digital currency. Since Bitcoin is optimized for these specific functions it can facilitate token transfers to anywhere in the world in relatively little time, at relatively little cost. But the network is still far too slow to be used in web applications where users expect instantaneous responses, and because there are still significant costs associated with transferring Bitcoin, it can't be used to power applications that are free-to-use like Facebook or ... Twitter.

Smart Contracts ... Not so Smart?

Now imagine that any developer, anywhere in the world, could add whatever code they wanted to the Bitcoin network and force that network to execute that code in addition to all the code that handles token transfers and block production. The cost of running the network and the time it takes to process transactions would skyrocket! And yet that's precisely what Ethereum chose to do. That's why, despite massive investments of time, money, and engineering effort, Ethereum has zero applications with any real usage aside from maybe a few dozen engineers. Meanwhile, thanks to Steem's speed and fee-less nature, hundreds of amazing developers have figured out how to leverage this hyper-efficient ledger to power all kinds of amazing applications like steemmonsters.com, d.tube, and steemhunt.com. All without the need for so-called "Smart Contracts."

Steem: A Protocol for Web Apps

Steem took a very different approach. Steemit, Inc., the team I am a part of and that developed the protocol, essentially asked what needed to be changed about Bitcoin to enable it to power existing web applications. That meant that speed and efficiency would be key. Proof-of-Work was eliminated and the number of canonical block producers (the computers that host the database) was reduced to 20. Instead of competing with one another to perform more work, block producers compete to reliably produce blocks every 3 seconds in exchange for a salary in the form Steem Power; the form that stake takes on the Steem blockchain. The end result is a blockchain protocol that produces blocks every 3 seconds, every time.

The Importance of Stake

Since other protocols like Ethereum weren't programmed to understand "stake" the only option they had for charging people to use their software was a transaction fee. Since Steem does have stake, it could be programmed to permit a certain number of free transactions based on how much stake someone holds and not based on per-transaction fees. Think about it, if someone has already paid $1,000 to acquire stake in your protocol, do you really need to charge them another 50 cents just to send a token from one account to another, when that barely places any burden on the blockchain? Of course, the blockchain doesn't make these decisions arbitrarily. There is a first-of-its-kind Resource Credit system built into Steem that ensures the system is cryptoeconomically sustainable.

Because Steem is so efficient, you can actually do quite a lot with the small amount of Steem Power you get just for signing up through signup.steemit.com. With the 15 Steem Power users get, they can have the types of app experiences they have become accustomed to without needing to purchase any additional stake. Best of all, from the moment they begin using Steem interfaces like steemit.com, they can begin earning upvotes and the STEEM token rewards that they confer. To date, over $60,000,000 US Dollars worth of Steem has been distributed to people all over the world. That's $60,000,000 more than Twitter has distributed to its users ;).

Too Complicated

Yes, the system is complicated, but so is Bitcoin. Maybe that's why it took Jack so long to see the awesome potential of that protocol. It takes time to understand this crazy new world the blockchain community is pioneering. Perhaps we simply need to be patient and be there to answer any questions. After all, one of the biggest challenges in life is not having all your questions answered, but learning what questions to ask.

What Do You Think?

Why do you think @jack doesn't know about Steem? If you'd like to help bring Steem to his attention, write your own post about why he should look into Steem, and I'll be sure to share the best posts on steemit.com and on twitter.

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I've noticed the crypto community has either willfully ignored Steem or has been downright hostile towards it. I don't quite understand their point of view, but from what I can gather, they seem to be stuck on the idea that since Bitcoin is so decentralized, and Steem is less decentralized in a way, therefore Steem is a shitcoin. I happen to disagree, and I think that time will prove us right here, but these feelings seem to be deeply felt in the old school crypto community.

The thing that sells me on Steem as an alt-coin compared to other cryptos, is that people actually use it for something other than speculation and storage of wealth. I've done all the stuff, made transactions, made posts, made upvotes, and even profited a small amount doing what I do on other social media for free while being annoyingly inundated with censorship algorithms and ads. All of it works and it's becoming increasingly seamless as the developers do their thing. The value proposition here is a no brainer, regardless of what your stance is on what constitutes a good cryptocurrency.

People need to get past the fact that it's different from Bitcoin, and realize that in certain circumstances, that's a great thing. We don't need 50 versions of the same crypto with slight variations. We can however use an alternative crypto like Steem because it actually has a use other than as a currency. Steem may be the most underrated technology in history, at least for now. I guess I can take some consolation in the fact that Bitcoin and most other tech we use today was in the same boat. It just takes time for people to come around I think.

Yes, very well said. I think one of the other challenges is that hype-based projects have a vested interest in not pointing to a blockchain with real apps and real usage right now. Unfortunately, almost every other project is purely hype-based.

Now question is how can we make Steem hype based then it will be steem = usefulness = hype, a balance.

I think this guy is much too busy to think about how to implement censorship on his own platform. Something like a blockchain will probably crush his world. Actually WE are his "biggest" enemy.

Kinda clickbait title.

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Andrew nailed it with this tweet tho:

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I hope somebody is keeping the username @jack warm for him. Was it parked by you @andrarchy ? Or who's the luck guy?

Like everyone, Jack is waiting on SMT to start investing in STEEM.

Because it's not a dumb idea and you guy are champs at execution.

Its interesting that I hardly see anyone outside of Steem talking about Steem on Twitter. Most trader accounts will chart bcash and ripple, but nothing on Steem.

I wasnt here for the beginning of Steem, but I suspect people trust the platform less than ripple and thats saying something.

The other side of me says hes just either ignorant of the options or doesnt care to find out. After all crypto twitter was "moving to investfeed" when accounts were getting shadowbanned.

Or just lack of promotion from the community and steemit. I think all 3 issues are equal in blame.

I would say he doesnt care to find out. The guy has more money than he could spend in his life. He has no real reason to seek it out. Especially Steem as it is competition to his Twitter business. You never promote competition.

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You never promote competition, but someone in his position should always be aware of what competitors are out there and how they are handling their business. Otherwise, they could be left in the dust. Just look at Blockbuster, between Redbox and Netflix anything they tried was too little too late.

True.

Btw Jack just did an interview on YouTube with Gaad Saad. Was much better than the Rogan interview if youre interested.

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I agree with your view point. It's kinda sad to see a lot of people looking for cryptocurrencies with great caseuse but outrightly ignore steem. They claim its a haven for bots and for people building stakes, yet they use purely speculative tokens for the exact same purpose. I think, just like you've mentioned, the fault Is ours. As great as this place is, promotion brings the attention.

The steem blockchain is censorship resistant.
A Twitter exec would feel out of place.

I'd want to keep him far away from anything. He doesn't exactly share the ideals of blockchain technology given the rampant censorship he allows on his own platform.

He's an elitist to the fullest extent of the word.

I respectfully disagree.

Listen to his latest podcast interview with Joe Rogan. He is more than open to the future of blockchain technology.

I did and he lied and dodged the questions about censorship claiming he didnt know the reasons for it which I believe to be absolute bollocks. Joe also didnt press him hard enough either.

I do like that he is open to blockchain and Bitcoin. But i just cant get behind him because I dont trust him and his past behavior worries me.

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Jack just did an interview on YouTube with Gaad Saad. Was much better than the Rogan interview if youre interested. He was pressed a lot more and asked a lot more philosophical questions. I was impressed.

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I'll check it out. Cheers!

And that account @Jack is as old as #Steem far back April 2016. I hope the account links to the Twitter.

Just now, I responded to his tweet about what deserves more attention
https://twitter.com/Uyobong3/status/1093460345656655872
There I told him about your tweet @Andrarchy. I hope he'll get to be reminded about his engagement with steem.

We need him here on #steem

I think I made that cheap promo about #steem on @Jack's wall
https://twitter.com/Uyobong3/status/1093460345656655872

Thanks! Nice work

He has said several times he isn't interested in any coin outside of bitcoin. Him looking at 50th ranked steem would be a major stretch if he won't even consider something in the top couple slots outside of bitcoin...

I partially agree with you @jrcornel

But can you see the POTENTIAL for SOMEONE like Jack to BUY/INVEST/PROMOTE STEEM...???

What would that be like if that were to happen...???

;)

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