Future plan Growth of Steem

Hello Steemians! The marketing team would like to update you on how things are going with the crowdsourcing strategy.

We are very excited to see all of the ideas that have been proposed! The sheer volume clearly demonstrates that we require some organizational tools for handling this process, but that’s for another post.

The Steem blockchain turns the attention economy around, sending the rewards for creating great content to participants instead of infrastructure mediators like Facebook and Reddit. Taking Steem to the world will be no easy task; It's success depends directly on the number of network participants and its feedback loop. This plan shows how we could do that, and what we'll need to get there.

Success Means Growth, Growth Means Users

Success for Steem means growth. Growth means more users spending more time using Steem apps, contributing value to the network. If we truly believe that Steem can change the world, then our priority must be to dramatically increase the Steem userbase. If more people are using the Steem blockchain, then the positive feedback loop of rewards and incentives kicks in.

But Steem is not Steemit.com. Steemit.com is the flagship app, the proof of concept. It's goal is to maximize the number of users contributing to the Steemit.com app. That does not mean it should be the only app generating value on the Steem blockchain. Because any activity on the Steem blockchain increases the value of the network, any app generating Steem activity boosts value for the entire ecosystem. And with the Steem blockchain being among the fastest (and with free transactions) there is no excuse for us to limit the Steem ecosystem to Steemit.com alone.

This is a pathway worth exploring, and it will be in the future section called 'Hedging Bets: A Steem Ecosystem of Apps'.

But the focus of this document will be on the dominant Steem app, Steemit.com (from now on abbreviated strictly to Steemit). At first glance, Steemit is a content discovery and curation site comparable to reddit, but that's not the key benefit Steemit provides users. The true benefit of Steemit is its connection to the Steem blockchain, which is to say that the true product of Steemit is as a content curation and REWARDS platform.

This is Steemit's advantage. As is, the value of the Steem blockchain has already been proven. It solves the problem of micropayment cost and micropayment anxiety, as well as content incentivization. While imperfect, the Steem blockchain is SUFFICIENT as is... but what's not sufficient is the forward facing product.

Growth Pre-Requisites: Communities, Effortless Onboarding, and a Mobile App

Steemit has one main challenge right now: The Steemit UX is not competitive. And without a competitive forward facing product, Steemit cannot grow to scale. The challenge here is not the incentive mechanism; that part is sufficient. The challenge is making a stronger social platform. Steemit will not have the polish of Reddit; the same competitive advantages of the blockchain model (efficiency, distribution of rewards) mean that less resources are available for this purpose. But Steemit doesn't have to beat reddit as a social platform, or in UX... it only has to be "good enough" so that the combination of social features and the incentive mechanism outcompete the UX of Reddit alone. That’s something we can do.

This is the challenge for Steemit, and the major barrier to growth. Fortunately these problems can be solved with the following 3 features, so much important

first one Communities

Communities are the only reason why Steemit would be worth using at scale. Communities offer an environment to create and incentivize streams of focused, specific content that solves focused, specific problems of community members.

As it is right now Steemit is a single, giant stream. While suitable for a cursory glance, this kills engagement and does not solve fundamental content discovery problems. As content consumers, we have neither the time nor interest to pursue everything. We want focused, specific content that adds value to our lives and solves specific problems. We want to reward this kind of content, but this type of material needs a protected space to grow. It needs interaction from a dedicated group of Steemians with the same interests, the same problems, seeking the same solutions.

Creating these community spaces was the only problem Reddit ever solved, and it made it a multi-billion dollar business. It brought the right people together in the right place to add value to our collective lives, measured in upvotes and comments. Steemit performs precisely the same social function, but the addition of Steem content rewards means the emotional power and significance of social interaction online are magnified many times by a proper incentive mechanism. This will make all the difference to the growth of Steemit.

So Communities are our highest priority. Completing communities will mark the beginning of a new Steemit. Steemit will become a place where anyone can gather their tribe around a specific interest and reward creators for solving community problems by sharing great content. By giving communities these spaces, it will open Steemit to a whole new category of users. While communities will make Steemit a great product, they will not let us scale. For that, Effortless Onboarding must be ready.

Onboarding Process

Even if Steemit becomes the great product it was meant to be, the current 9-step onboarding process is a major limitation. It presents a serious barrier to adoption. The current onboarding process is designed to prevent fraud, as every account costs a considerable amount of Steem.

While this is an understandable precaution, Steemit cannot scale with this limitation in place, and neither will any other app in the Steem ecosystem. Onboarding and becoming a Steemian MUST become a 1-click, natural process so that users can enjoy the benefits of Steem without cost.

We are working to overcome this challenge as fast as possible. Our goal is to make onboarding not just effortless, but low cost as well. This is a requirement for future apps in the Steem ecosystem that may not have the same financial support Steemit Inc has. So the creation of Effortless onboarding, made cheap, will do more than dramatically boost the percent of successfully registered users... it will open easy onboarding to every other app in the coming Steem ecosystem.

From Mobile Application

The third addition to the success of Steemit will be a mobile app. While the previous 2 components are necessary and let Steemit expand by an order of magnitude, they do not let Steemit scale worldwide. To scale worldwide, Steemit must become a primarily mobile application. There are 2 sets of reasons for this, both of which I'll demonstrate