How to Improve Steemit - A Collaboration with @hisnameisolllie

This will be my first collaboration post with @hisnameisolllie, we've been coming up with similar ideas and thought we'd have a chat about how to improve Steemit in this beta stage.  

First off we both love the site, in digging deeper into Steemit we think there are certain improvements that can make the user experience more positive in the long run. I'm sure a lot of this is in the works, this has been our experience so far. 

When users first join the site there's no one to really hold their hand, there's no definitive guide. If the platform is coming up against resistance from as simple a problem as a 16 character password. 

Then what are mainstream users going to think when they first see the site?   

Certain things need to be explained with an FAQ

, nothing major, just some simple points to get people started in understanding the basics of the site.  

 Questions like…   

• How is the payout distributed?   
• Why does the dollar amount go up or down without any votes added?   
• What's the reverse auction process in the first 30 minutes of voting?    

 …this ties into another area I think could be improved   

The ability to save posts

There's a real feeling on this site of certain posts being 'here today, gone tomorrow'. I understand people can just use browser bookmarks, but a visual bookmark with the pictures you remember and a list within Steemit would just flow naturally.   

When you combine the two points above you're left with most users lost. They have to actively go on a search to find out the basics of Steemit, they might come across conflicting posts, then they have to either save those posts in their browser building up a picture or just 'kind of remember them'.

...i'll now pass you onto @hisnameisolllie 

Direct Messaging:    

This will be one of the first steps towards making Steemit a truly ‘social’ media platform, rather than a blogging and content site. Something which I am sure is being worked on alongside the Escrow SIP (@dan https://steemit.com/sip/@dan/escrow-sip-steem-improvement-proposal) and the Steemit Marketplace (@dan https://steemit.com/steem/@dan/steemit-s-evil-plan-for-cryptocurrency-world-domination). Nonetheless, worth discussing with the community as to what features would be in high demand…     

 ‘Social Integration’:   

Building out the ‘Following Function’ and linking this to personalised feeds similar to Facebook’s ‘news feed’. This will allow a more broader base of content to get viewed, rather than posts that make their way up the ‘hot list’, or happen to be posted at the right time.   

Password Character Length Too Long:    

16 Character length is activity deterring sign up’s. See @hisnameisolllie discussion on the topic https://steemit.com/steem/@hisnameisolllie/my-experience-biggest-barrier-to-signing-up-friends    

This is the beta, it isn't a finished product, there are still steps and incremental improvements to be made, we both thought it fitting to come together and collaborate on this post.

We welcome a discussion with the community...  what do you think?