My Steem Vision

Everything in crypto starts with bitcoin. Many if not all builders and participants in crypto world seem to attribute their inspiration to bitcoin. Rightfully so. Bitcoin was a true innovation and a revolution. It wasn't the only idea about digital assets. But it came at the right time with an interesting solution for the flaws in the global financial system.

It came at the time of global financial crisis, when people lost their homes, businesses, live-savings. It came with a vision of giving back the power of managing money/assets to people. That's why many embraced it. However, mass adoption is yet to be seen because of the learning curve in understanding what it is. I know from my personal experience, it took me years to truly understand what it is and how it works.

While bitcoin was a pioneer in innovating an alternative for financial affairs, Steem is a pioneer in using the same idea, and a similar technology in providing alternative to social networks. That is all it is, an alternative to the traditional ways of people using the internet. It is an experiment. It can be huge, or it can be nothing. At the very least this experiment can pave the way for the future innovations that may empower the people.

A good friend, Enjar once said - "Steem is better with communities." and he is absolutely right. For average people like me, who came here to participate in this interesting experiment, communities were the key to stay. When I first started my Steem journey I discovered Curie and immediately became part of it. Because I shared interest in what Curie was doing. I became part of communities like Archdruid Gaming, Steemhunt, Steem Poker League, etc. Bonding with people towards a common purpose and being part of something interesting and good makes Steem journey even more interesting.

While money aspect of thing is important. Steem is not only about money. Few days ago when I saw Asher's post where he provided comparison of active users and price of Steem, seeing an identical charts was kind of depressing that price of Steem was dictating the number of active users. Of course there are other reasons for decline too. That just proves once again economics and vision of Steem is broken. At the same time I see many working hard to make things better and innovate. So, I am hopeful in success of this experiment.

The image I have included at the top is the formula of Beckstrom's Law, that I can across while researching economics of decentralized and centralized social networks. While not perfect, it is the best that can guide the success of social networks, in my opinion. It is not about what value users/nodes bring in to the network, but rather focus on what value individual users take from the network. Value doesn't have to be financial terms, it can be many more. It is can functional benefits, educational benefits, social networking, etc. Ultimately it comes down to what people are willing to trade their time for.

My vision of Steem is giving the power back to people. Benefiting people, and providing with tools that benefit them. Be it social networking, and meeting new friends, be it learning new skills, be it entertainment that doesn't take advantage of them, be it being early investors and gain ten/hundred fold returns on their investments. Giving the control back to people and communities, and sharing the fruits of their hard work is where I see Steem.

Steemit Inc, started using ads on steemit.com. I like the idea of using ads to become self sustaining for Steemit Inc, as I see success of Steemit Inc is interdependent with Steem in large. However, I don't like they way they using it. I hope they will improve. I don't like to see an ad banner at the top, feel free to use ads on the sides or in the feed somewhere. Using at the top of the page I really dislike. Moreover, that would not be appealing for new users when they join.

Most importantly though, I think now that Steemit Inc embraced ads, they can be innovators in the space. Make ads cool. Don't just follow the traditional ways of boring, annoying ads. Create a @steemit-ads blog, post ads there as well, encourage people to engage with ads and maybe reward them. This will increase interest of advertisers to maybe blog on Steem and engage with their customers, invest in Steem and reward them. Similarly fix the promoted feature to benefit promoters, and promotion consumers. So, my vision for Steem is to be an innovator in ad space that can be beneficial for both companies that run the ads and their customers.

My vision for Steem is for students to use the network to document their educational journey, network with peers to share experience, and maybe potentially pay for their education with earning and donations on the platform. Facebook became facebook because of the students. It started out in colleges, and owes its success to students. That is a great lesson to learn from. I personally have learned many different skills being part of Steem community.

One of the amazing thing about Steem is, its gift economy. From the very start I was impressed with an idea of a simple upvote making a financial difference a person's life across the globe. Amount doesn't matter. Be it a penny, dime, or a dollar. Steemians have a power to give that to somebody, somewhere in the world without even spending anything out of their pocket. Of course, we also have many competitions, steem basic incomes, opportunities to be rewarded for participating in projects, or just using the apps. Ability of people gifting each other, and supporting various projects is great asset of Steem. People like receiving gifts, even more giving gifts. My vision for Steem is being an exemplary gifting economy. Possibilities are limitless here.

What Steem really is just limited to our imaginations and capacity to build. It is and a can be many things we envision of the future of the internet, that is in the power of people and communities to shape. It offers an alternative, potentially a better alternative. Yet it still is an experiment. It can bring us together or break us apart. But one thing is certain it will remain to be a pioneer in this wave of changes taking place on the internet.