Steemit Appreciation Post - Where will we be in 5-10 years?

When I first stumbled across Steemit I felt as if I had found the perfect social media platform, I couldn't believe it was still in the beta phase. The combination of content creation with payouts depending on popularity and reputation of voters creates the perfect synergy for users to gain a sense of accomplishment. I think this sense of accomplishment has been false up until this "new age" social media platform. In regards to Facebook the notion of likes and comments only goes so far, and may have even created a generation of superficial users who only care about how many likes they get. Steemit takes this a step further and actually lets people essentially create an occupation based on whatever content they enjoy creating, the fact that it uses a cryptocurrency as its payment method is an incredible bonus and in my opinion paves the way for the next generation of social media.

Beyond this reward system, the community as a whole gives off this aura of positivity. Upon reading the comments on my introductory post I couldn't believe how welcoming everyone was. The derogatory negative comments generally experienced on other social media platforms were no where to be found! I truly think that as more and more people discover Steemit, the more and more new advantages and applications will be become clear. For example the informative posts that are newly created every day are helping people to learn new concepts, or become more knowledgeable on old concepts. A lot of information on traditional social media platforms tend to be either deceiving, uninformative or just downright useless. Steemit on the other hand uses voter's reputation (STEEM POWER) to hint which sources of information may be more reliable, with an array of different topics that is growing every day.

Beyond the fact that it's incredibly cool that users can get paid for writing informative content, people who may have previously been slightly introverted or shy, are now part of a tight-knit community. This community not only positively encourages one another on whatever their goals, but also gives people an opportunity to get rewarded for their content. This sense of community and belonging is essential to life and may even help people who are in dark places in their lives find a light at the end of the tunnel. It's crazy to think that a social media platform could potentially cure depression, give life direction and even teach peopler about new concepts that they would have otherwise never known existed!

I guess I just wanted to write a post saying how much I appreciate not only the platform but the community itself. It excites me when I think about the future of Steemit, the possibilities are endless.

Where do you see Steemit in the next 5, 10 even 50 years?