The Mainstream Is Helping To Make Steem A Huge Success
Sometimes we get so immersed in our own situation that we miss what is taking place outside of it. At the same time, it is easy to miss what our most valuable asset is.
What would you think if I told you millions of people are ready to join Steem this moment? They would love the platform just as it is. No matter what the problems, they find it to be a just what is needed.
Would you believe me?
Looking at it from the angle we normally do, this is absurd. The DApps that we have on here are immature at the moment. They are evolving yet, for the most part, do not rival what is already out there. We still have a distribution model that heavily favors a few large accounts. There is no effective advertising or marketing of the platform.
I am sure more can be added.
The truth is, to the people I am referring, none of this matters. Steem, to them, is ideal because it solves their major need. Products that solve needs are worth a lot to people.
So what is this need? In a word: FREEDOM.
In the last 6 months, we saw a major leap by the traditional social marketing entities in the area of control. They are exerting it in ways not seen before, at least on a global level.
Most are aware of the YouTube, Facebook, Apple, and others that banned Alex Jones. They claimed violation of terms of service but everyone knows it is because they did not like what he was saying. Whether one is for or against Alex Jones is not relevant. What needs to be relevant is that we all need to be against censorship.
And this is something that is starting to move en masse. People are waking up.
@anomadsoul had an excellent write up yesterday about what is taking place. It is his belief that the Internet, as we know it, will be dead in a little over a year. Steem is providing the ideal alternative.
In his article, he lists a number of actions taken by mainstream companies that limit people's ability to freely voice what they believe. It is well worth a read.
https://busy.org/@anomadsoul/the-normal-internet-is-dying-or-the-steem-ecosystem-is-the-future
Of late, I came across a number of different articles and Tweets about Patreon. It seems they are going to same route as the others. PayPal is starting to cut off people's ability to transfer funds if they do not approve of the organization. This is similar to what the banks did with cryptocurrency.
It takes some real balls to tell people that they cannot sent their money to legal entities.
Steem provides an oasis in this mess. For all our problems, what we do allow is people to post what they want. Steem can be sent to any wallet, regardless of what that wallet is tied to. There is no mechanism that I know of that can stop one from transferring Steem.
In fact, there is no mechanism that can stop a post from being put on the blockchain. A post can be downvoted yet it is still on the blockchain. It will only appear invisible in certain interfaces. The post is on the blockchain. It can be reversed by the Witnesses with a supermajority which is not likely to ever happen.
As a side note, it is important to remember pictures and videos are not on the blockchain itself. They can be deleted and taken down because they reside on the application's servers.
For the moment, this is Steem's major selling point. One does not have to surf too far on the web to find articles talking about another batch of people who were deleted, demonetized, or thrown off one of the major social media platforms. If we add in hacks and how accounts are targeted by angry ex employees, it is easy to see the opportunity that Steem presents.
Perhaps Anomadsoul is correct. If 2019 ramps up from the later half of 2018 in terms of the censorship, there will be tens of millions of people who are displaced. There are billions of people around the world who cannot freely express themselves and never could. These individuals are not put out by it. Those who, however, were able to state what they wanted and had that removed, that does not sit well with them.
We talk about monetization, community, and the ability to utilize a great number of applications all within one ecosystem. That is all true. However, our biggest selling point might well be the fact that we allow anyone to post what they want. There is no censorship. Anything that is written using one of the Steem interfaces and submitted, is on the blockchain.
Steem's growth in 2019 could see an incredible boost by the mainstream sites. If they insist in pursing an agenda of censorship, political correctness, and thought policing, then millions will seek another alternative. From this perspective, Steem already provides that solution.
For this reason, we must all be dedicated to working to decentralize Steem as much as possible. The moves that are taking place, especially with the smaller master nodes, are crucial. Steem needs to have thousands of nodes spread throughout the world. If this is the case, we are looking at a blockchain that completely opposite of the present Internet.
And the need for a new Internet is something the world does not realize it needs yet is waking up to.
Ironic that Facebook and YouTube could be Steem's greatest ally.
If you found this article informative, please give an upvote and resteem.
Steem isn't completely anti-censorship. If people don't like what you are saying then you can be down-voted into the ground. It won't remove your content from the blockchain but it can remove your ability to profit from Steem and destroy your reputation score. Steem doesn't remove censorship, it decentralizes it.
I like that @samuel-swinton “Steem doesn’t remove censorship, it decentralizes it.”
So yes, people can flag a post into oblivion, but it still gets posted. It will be interesting to see what happens when a flag war happens in masses.
So far flag wars have been mostly between individuals and small groups, but should there be millions of users, then that would be much more interesting.
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In history it has been referred to as 'tranny of the mob'. It is a major pitfall of a democracy. To stop this, most modern democracies have constitutions that preserve rights of the individual.
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Steem is sailing the blue ocean in my eyes, since it provides a lot of value in terms of security and privacy. Maybe we can see people using the platform much more efficiently in the near future. I think this is the main point we have to use when we talk about Steem.
We have to forget the idea that you can make money with steem and focus on the fact that the platform is totally decentralized, secure and private.
Cheers!
I wouldn't say that it is totally decentralized at this moment although we are working in that direction. The issue with Steemit still is there although it looks like progress is being made.
But I agree, let us espouse what we can offer especially compared to the alternatives. We do not have the centralization of those platforms and can offer a voice to those shut down by the mainstream.
I think if we can show them the secure, private and almost decentralized platform they will come here to that, and the money that they could make here will be a extra... That could really make people stay in platform, instead of tell them they can make money and after see that is kind difficult to do that here, leave after a few weeks/months.
Cheers!
I agree completely. We offer a lot more on that front than the traditional platforms. This is something we need to showcase and espouse.
When you think about it, it is a rarity in the world today.
Agree with what you said about Alex Jones. It is not relevant if he's a stupid blabbermouth or not. But when it come to censorship of centent, it has to be discouraged.
I like what Elon Musk said on JRE last year, "You shouldn't discourage or take away the rights from anyone trying to spread their voice. Just make sure they aren't elected leaders later."
Haha, Love this last line:
SO TRUE!
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As the world realizes the potential of decentralization, more will flock to ecosystem being created to support freedom! It will be an interesting process to experience being an early adopter.
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Taskmaster.... maybe we should try to put some sort of drive together to get Alex Jones’ attention to get him to post on Steemit! I wrote to him through the infowars website once. If enough people contact him, maybe we can persuade him to come onto here. I’m willing to bet Jones would double Steem’s market cap overnight if he posted here!
We can only hope STEEM becomes more popular and is utilized for more things over time. Right now there aren't that many uses IMO.
You might just be wrong about that. Please checkout https://steemprojects.com.
It is astonishing how much content has been created on top of the Steem Blockchain.
Thanks for that link I will check it out.
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