STEEM Success: Applications Helping Applications

The entire STEEM platform is an ecosystem. Therefore, anything that helps one area improves the entire system. The key is to look at the totality of the parts instead of them individually.

Today, there was an announcement from @actifit that really opened my eyes.

In their post, they discussed switching from Steemit to Busy.org. Now, all post are directed to the STEEM blockchain via busy as opposed to Steemit. This is really incredible news when you think about it.

Let me start by saying I love the focus of the Steemit development team. Personally, I could care less about the Steemit interface. I am glad they are concentrating on HF20, the infrastructure, Hivemind, and SMTs. The interface is suffering but that is not the end of the world. There are applications like Busy.org and @steempeak which are more advanced and feature rich.

That said, it is not hard to see how out of date and poor the Steemit interface is. As a landing page, it is abysmal. This is the first representation of the STEEM blockchain that many get and this is what they are confronted with. The idea of trying to increase the standing of other interfaces makes sense to me.

Here is what the @actifit team had to say about this:

As many are already aware, Steemit (the website) hasn't seen any serious improvements for as long as we recall. Busy on the other hand, stands to be a much better front end that provides a richer experience, more functionality, and in short, better represents the Steem blockchain IOHO. Hence, and after suggestions by our advisors, we decided to transition all the links on Actifit.io, to point users and visitors to busy.org instead of Steemit.com. The sole link that still points to Steemit is the signup link, which we aim with HF20 to also move into our own signup process, allowing us to handle that aspect of user signups using RCs. More on that in future updates.

So until the full user experience gets ready on Actifit.io, which we are constantly upgrading, links not supported by Actifit will direct to busy.org.

https://steemit.com/actifit/@actifit/actifit-daily-69-actifit-ios-v0-3-4-major-improvement-busy-website-links-upcoming-competition-and-discord-h-and-f-sessions

This is wonderful news. An up and coming application that is getting more popular now directs all non-Actifit links to Busy.org. This will only help to increase the visibility of that interface while presenting a much different image for newer users who enter the STEEM ecosystem through the @actifit platform.

As they stated, the only legacy link left is for sign ups. Until we get Hard Fork 20, Steemit.com is still the mechanism for signing new people up. However, @actifit is already planning on using their RC to sign users up on their application. This will not only increase the pace of sign ups but also eliminate the need for many to interact with the Steemit interface.

To me, this is the benefit of blockchain. The core development team is hard at work on the base platform. As I said, I do not want them to spend on second on the Steemit interface. What they are focusing upon is more important. What is wonderful to see is developers not associated with Steemit take matters into their own hands and create solutions to problems they see.

Here is an example of one application deciding to drive traffic to another application. Since it is all part of STEEM, we all benefit from this.

Another application that is the epitome of "applications helping applications" is the 1UP system that is the brainchild of one of my favorite Steemians, @flauwy. This system exists solely to help other applications.

1UP is going to provide applications with the ability to further reward their users. This is going to happen in such a way that the smaller accounts are going to benefit the most. This will be enticing to the applications since it should help with the retention rate. Part of the problem for newer people is establishing a foothold among the different users. Obviously, most systems favor the older people who spent more time on the platform.

This system is a curation system. Hence, it is to the benefit of the community account to use the full daily voting power. The trail that is created is reverse from what normally takes place. Usually, the large account votes first followed by the smaller accounts in whatever ordered they are slated. The key is the big upvote PRECEDES all other votes.

Not with the 1UP system. Under this scenario, when the main account vote is activated, the entire curation trail is placed ahead of the community account in order of smallest to largest. This means that not only does the entire curation trail PRECEDE the large account, the smallest ones profit from everything that is larger than it.

Part of the motivation for @flauwy is to provide a passive income for all Steemians. With the introduction of the communities at some point after the Hard Fork, we will see groupings based upon different likes. The vertical alignment of applications will still be in tact with most of the applications, presumably, providing their own token. 1UP offers horizontal integration across all applications since the 1UP system is not app specific.

Again, this is the epitome of "Applications Helping Applications".

The 1UP system seeks to make every single application that incorporates it more valuable. The design is to reward content creators. As we know, "content" is taking on different meaning as we see the evolution of the STEEM blockchain. 1UP simply leverages that.

For those who read my Age of Abundance posts, you will notice how this fits right into that system. We presently live in the Age of Scarcity. This is the system that is set up for us. Thus, we believe things such as competition is natural. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no competition in anything I mentioned here. Instead, we are seeing collaboration. Both @actifit and 1UP seek to enhance other applications on the STEEM blockchain. They have no desire to keep the status quo while only enriching themselves.

This is one of the central premises I hope we see play out on here. As more applications emerge, there will be opportunities for them to combine forces for even greater benefit. We saw that a while back with the announcement of the collaboration between Fundition and Utopian.io.

When it comes to STEEM, the total is much greater than the sum of the parts. Collaboration of this sort provides leveraging which can create exponential value.

And we all benefit from it.

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Images are from the posts by made by the application accounts cited.