If you are invested in Steem, you need to read this. Let's make this platform exponentially better.
Steem is one of the most unique applications of blockchain technology. Dan Larimer was able to create a blockchain suitable for social media with incredible throughput and zero fees. In many respects, Steem is a huge leap in blockchain technology. The community around Steem is a testament to this technology. People are using Steem because its UI and UX is great, and the UI and UX is great because Steem is a lean and fast blockchain.
Steem is probably the first well-used blockchain out there. And this gives the Steem platform tremendous value. Now you might wonder, if writers can post for free, and readers can post for free, where is the value of Steem? The value of Steem comes from user attention. Steem is basically BAT, except with a real and engaged community.
Thus the value of Steem comes not only from the perception of it as a store of value, as any other blockchain native asset, but also from the user attention that Steem gets. User attention is a HUGE industry. The $600 billion global advertising industry is built on obtaining user attention. With this framework in mind, I'd like to share with you what I believe is the game plan to improve Steem, and everyone of us can contribute:
- Steem needs more users, and to get more users we NEED better content. We NEED to stop upvoting vacuous posts just because its a whale. Stop upvoting posts filled with self promotion and low quality content (e.g. a couple of photos) and upvote deep thoughtful blog posts.
- Steem is the biggest competitor to Medium, and we can push Steem to seriously compete against Medium. We need good content.
- Steem devs need to GREATLY increase the advertisement opportunity on Steem. You can buy Steem power to get eyes on your post. You can also buy SBD to promote your post. But content creators need to also use SBD to promote posts in other locations on Steem, like in the side bars, banners, etc. SBD used to pay for ads should be burned to reduce inflation.
- Finally, we need to SHARE quality Steem content. Everywhere. Get new users to use the platform. People can treat it as just another free blogging platform. The more ppl that use Steem, the more valuable the platform becomes. Don't underestimate Metcalfe's law.
More reading: Why 2018 Will Be The Year Of Ethereum And QTUM
I've been doing everything I can do lure over other content creators I like, but none seem to take the bait. . I was wondering if I posted one of their videos if it made a bunch of money then maybe they'd come over lol, how do you feel about this?
I think we should advertise this as a free blogging platform, just like Medium. And you can make a little money on the side. As long as we keep putting good content on Steem, and sharing it, people will slowly trickle in, on their own accord.
I think that dtube is going to take off for the little guys that youtube is screwing over right now. I suppose if you have someone's consent to repost their video here to see how it does and set and example it would be ok.
The problem is that as a minnow you literally make $0. If you try and shill Steem it's completely pointless. It's more or less starting from scratch as a content creator and not many people are going to want to do that.
What we need is more guides on how to integrate Steem into content-creators revenue stream. Steem will never fully replace all of the platforms that content-creators use to spread their influence; however it can and should be a big part of it.
I think the biggest lacking point right now are integrations that easily allow creators to cross post to different mediums. Once that problem is better solved then users will slowly follow content creators to SteemIt
It sounds like what you are describing is the Smart Media Tokens (SMTs) which are planned for deployment on the Steem blockchain sometime this year. As I understand it, Steemit Inc is leading the development. SMTs are somewhat similar to Ethereum's ERC-20 tokens.
With SMTs, content creators all over the web will be able to easily integrate their own tokens into their own websites and reward their users. Again, the tokens are built on the Steem blockchain, so it benefits all Steem holders on all applications.
The author may be right about the need to upvote quality content. However, I find myself upvoting lesser quality content at times out of desire to help people that don't appear to have a lot of resources or to encourage people to stick with it. There is so much to learn here for new users and they can easily get discouraged if they don't start seeing results. People have more potential than what may initially appear. We have a problem with retention. But, if I understand the author's perspective correctly, we don't want to retain everyone, only the best bloggers? That may be where this all ends up, don't know.
Based on what I have read about the intentions of Daniel Larimer and Ned in creating the platform, it was to help everyone have a greater opportunity to gain financial freedom and freedom from fiat currency which is doled out by governments that want more and more control over our lives. However, the need to produce value on the blockchain is there, whether it be through writing blog posts, uploading videos to @dtube, @dlive, posting pictures to @steepshot, moving with the eSteem mobile app, cruising the forums on https://chainbb.com/forums, checking the specs on @busy.org, cranking on some memes on @dmania or https://www.decentmemes.com (a brand new site by @netuoso, with Steem integration), crackin' your knuckles at steemit.chat by @riverhead or selling your wares through @steembay.... (breathes heavily)... shall I go on? We need to contribute quality to take a drink from this delicious reward pool, that is so Steemy.
Agreed. I think we should first change our frame of mind to think of Steem as a free blogging platform, like Medium, and not a money generating machine. However, that is not to say that Steem doesn't have problems with the power law where whales are exponentially more profitable and influential.
Agreed. I've been trying to curate content for a week and haven't seen any results. My history has 0 curation rewards. Been upvoting at 15min - 30min on high up voted posts, low, and some with no votes yet. Still nothing.
Other people's interactions seem to matter more than actual upvoting. Do you know your voting power?
I think you are even underestimating the potential. Facebook, youtube, blogging sites, and others get the majority of their income from advertisers and it amounts to $trillions in market cap.
I think adding promoted posts as a sidebar rather than separate section would increase the benefits for those users and would attract more advertisers.
Also Dtube needs to be seamlessly integrated. Is that part of Steem?
Content is king! but, as long as there is money, or upvotes, or karma to be made you will have people shit positing. It easier to just submit and regurgitate than to curate content.
I would like to think that persistence will win out in the end, we need a lot of people submitting real content to this platform to outweigh the volume of shitposts ....
Where there is profit, there is greed. I just got in and was planning on starting my social networking venture from here, but it's disappointing to find out how those who already have the most $ are bound to reap more, as usual, vs letting the minnows really help each other prosper with creative and original content. I have tons to explore since just joining and strongly prefer to promote individuals like you, rather than businesses here purely for profit. As the little guys, we have to work together and not support the content that simply does not deserve the attention it gets.
If people here would stop treating treating Steemit like Reddit and all of those other social networks, things could be a LOT better.
I actually quit Medium shortly after using Steemit on a regular basis.
This post got 19 upvotes so far on Reddit and this is QUALITY indeed!
People are using Steem in spite of (available) UI, not because of it. A common theme between BitShares and STEEM is that while both have incredibly well thought out incentive structures and robust back-end software, the user interface appears to have been developed as an afterthought. Considering Dan Larimer's "ship builder" approach to blockchain development, and the fact that the STEEM blockchain does not ship with a UI in the first place, instead providing the necessary API for the creation of a UI, I can see why this would be the case.
For the STEEM platform to be successful, more resources need to be dedicated to improving the UI and UX. I generally use steemit.com (which is the most mature interface to the STEEM blockchain), and while improvements have been made since I first became an active user, the UI definitely still leaves something to be desired. That being said, hats off to the team at Steemit, Inc for how well they coped with 2017's massive spike in new users.
You are dead on with your other points. Steem needs to maintain a better balance between users that create content and those who consume and curate it - right now, I think this balance is tilted somewhat heavily in the direction of content creators. We need to attract more users to curate, but to do that we need to improve the UI...
Steemit is a great platform.
One should not being motivation by money.
One should enjoy blogging and connecting with other people.
You have my support. I'm telling people about Steemit every chance I get. Let's get more people talking about it!
The thing about Steem that is hard to gauge is how much inflation/deflation and new coins they seem to be constantly adding to the network or pool. Check this out if it interests you regarding steem prices: https://steemit.com/steem/@weilii/introducing-the-neux-oracle-steem-and-bitcoin-trade-signals Just started following you, would appreciate a follow back if my price analysis content interests you as well :)