My 10 year vision for Steem : could Steem become the WordPress of the tokenized world?

in #steem5 years ago

Most of us, including me, are too impatient with Steem.

Tokenization of the web is going to be a big thing.

Steem with SMTs will be perfectly placed to be at the centre of that movement.

But it will take time. It won't happen overnight. Just think Wordpress.


A Quick History of Wordpress

Most people who use websites have heard of WordPress.

It is a free, open source Content Management System for building websites of all types and sizes.

WordPress is now used by over 60 million websites representing more than a third of all websites around the world.

But it took time to get to that position.

It was launched way back in 2003.

I first dabbled with it in 2005. It was clunky, difficult to use, but it did the job, just.

It was also quite revolutionary for its time allowing people to build websites without needing third party software like Frontpage or Dreamweaver.

WordPress was in a way 'decentralised'. Anyone could build a website for free and host it anywhere.

But it was still rather for the 'technically aware'.

Gradually though it built up a following, gained market share and attracted more and more developers to build 'addons' for WordPress in the form of plugins and themes to extend the capabilities of the core system.

Ten years after its launch WordPress in 2013 had a 17% share of the website market. Six years later, in 2019, that figure has reached 34%.

Now WordPress is very much the go-to starting point for many who want an open source website.

It has got ever more capable and ever easier to use.

There is an ecosystem of 10s of thousands of developers who work with WordPress.


Could Steem become the go-to platform for the tokenized web?

Steem is only three years old. Wordpress was still tiny at the equivalent point in its history. It had only just released its second major version, and no one really knew if it would stay the course.

With Hardfork 21/22 and the arrival of 'NewSteem' Steem is in a similar place. It is ironing out the kinks, smoothing off the rough edges, becoming ever more capable and gradually easier to use.

Steem-Engine with its tokens and tribes has given a foretaste of what is to come.

With the imminent arrival of SMTs and Communities from Steemit Inc, Steem is looking well set to be in pole position to lead the tokenization of the web.

There are still big areas that need to be improved like account creation and onboarding. Many areas still need to be simplified and made more accessible for non crypto users.

Take a look at the history of WordPress on Wikipedia and see how it evolved over many versions...

I first had a go with version 1.5 and 2.0, but then left it aside. It wasn't until v3.7 before I started using it professionally.

My start point with Steem was a bit over a year into its life. I'm glad I have stuck with it as an early adopter.


Imagine Steem+10 in 2029...

Think ten years from now.

Steem is the underlying platform (blockchain) for over a third of the world's tokenized websites.

The first port of call for businesses, public authorities, community groups looking for a website is a Steem-based SMT system.

Tens of thousands of developers are continually developing apps, dapps, tools and addons based on steem.

The Steem blockchain will be overseen by the Steem Foundation. Steemit Inc (or whatever its name may be then) will be like WordPress's Automattic, still contributing to Steem core development but also looking at commercial opportunities and acquisitions.

The few thousand active steemians that are here now will be the pioneers of the platform.

And the price of STEEM...



[ graphics by @pennsif ]

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I can see it. I think all of us that have stuck through the pasyt couple of years have a vision like this for STEEM. We are still at the beginning of the project and there has been a lot of development in that time. I think it will be another two years before we have really seen the smooth version of STEEM and one for the masses.

Yes very much. Comparing Steem with the history of WordPress gave me reassurance that we are still in the early stages of something that can be really big.

Just got to keep the faith and hold on tight.

i think you may well be right on this @pennsif .. was interesting to hear @justinw talk about steemit.com being built on a altered version of a WP theme. Gave me hope that one day the frontends will evolve to the point people will be able to select themes for the accounts.

Still a lot of evolution to come on Steem.

We are still in the Stone Age, maybe just now moving into the Bronze Age...

The last half of what you wrote is spot on and will happen. Great write up!

Thank you. Hope we can keep motoring in the right direction.

Looking back 10 years from now... So many people have left, they'll come back once it goes mainstream. Leaving Steem now is like selling Bitcoin at $0.10

Posted using Partiko Android

Definitely can see this, would be great to see more editing options. A simple GUI which allows aesthetically appealing posts, i'm there 💯🐒

Plenty of room for improvement for sure...

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certainly counts as long-term vision ... The comparison with wordpress however worries me a bit. I do see what you're saying and it comes down to mass-adoption (more or less b/c the big bulk of internet users are not content creators but just that : consumers). I don't have too much experience with wordpress myself, i consider my self to be a hobbyist as well, not a pro, i never went to school for anything at all too long (not as such) and most of what i understand i pieced together myself. When i run me a standard linux system with the standard apache/php/mysql on it i always notice one thing first in the logs : everyone in the world is scanning for wp-login.php ... no one has to know much but all the standard scripts going around scanning for zombie-access will ALWAYS scan for wp-login. It's the biggest honeyjar for both scriptkiddies and 'serious' black hats alike (dont let the profile pic lure you into thinking anything but the fact i like to wear black there btw, i couldnt hack a tree with a chainsaw).
My point being, what you say is both good and bad . Consider this : atm any steem wallet has ONE key and ZERO extra authentication, you can basically brute-scan 24/7 with a dictionary type garble-generator hoping to get lucky and do face it : people do win the lottery (i havent done the numbers to compare there).
SO : one thing to another, mind 2 motion , if steemit gets that much adoption it will certainly need an overhaul in security because it will be the primary target of the next-gen scriptkiddies as your wallet has a lot more to offer when broken than your average wp-site , its the biggest flaw on crypton anyway and i always get shivers when i see accounts like freedom having millions behind one key (even now, when basically no one in the world has heard about steem or steemit, its a bit misleading if you follow the hype here, and easy to think this thing is a lot bigger than it is).
Plenty of bad reasoning going on btw : the bring-a-friend-and-some-money concept basically translates to a pyramid and the "money for the retirement fund"-take on the matter forgets one thing : if everyone retires 20 years from now only the first ones to withdraw will get the big prize because it will de-value the more retirees start retiring if that happens in a short span of time, relative short span of time ...

don't call it negative, call it realist, my 5 to 10 year extension on your 10 year vision :p

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glad i added you to the list, you DO seem to do your digging and that's a serious timesaver

The Steem private keys look quite hard to crack through brute force.

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Certainly as Steem gains visibility it will attract more undesirable attention.

There will be need to be ever increasing attention to security and education about good account management.

I would love a post about this....understanding the different keys and which to use. It's all still confusing for me.

👍
~Smartsteem Curation Team

Thank you.

Excellent comparison @pennsif.

Thank you 😀