Where Do I See Steemit In 5 Years?
This is Day Nine of @ dragosroua’s #challenge30days writing challenge. For more info on the challenge, Click Here. Today’s prompt is “Where Do You See Steemit In 5 Years?”
After taking a short break from potentially controversial prompts, the challenge today could be one of the most polarizing topics of them all. It doesn’t matter who you are, if you’re on Steemit, you have an opinion on the future of the platform. Some people have stronger opinions than others and aren’t afraid to express it, with extra emphasis if needed (flags). Therefore, this will be interesting.
Wow, this is tough to write! It will be cemented in the blockchain so it's going to be very easy to look back and see how right or wrong I was. Also, it's just difficult to tell what's going to happen as there are a lot of factors and many of them are changing. Oh, well. Hang in there, here we go.
Source:Pexels
Look, pretty picture to make us feel better!
Steemit In 5 Years
After taking a short break a few weeks back I determined to come back and be more positive and (potentially) less realistic. I want to do that here, so we’re going to take a positive spin on what I think is the most likely outcome.
As you can tell from the challenge a few days ago, there are lots of people who have lots of issues with Steemit as it stands now. Just check out @dragosroua’s post and the comments with article links. There’s a lot that needs to be improved.
Yes, you can say that Steemit is still in Beta. “It’s only two years old.” Yep, I’ve heard that too. Remember though that Google kept Gmail in Beta for Five Years. Saying it’s in Beta means things are actively being worked on, not that it’s justification for things remaining in a state of disarray. Therefore, I don't think they're really valid justifications, just trying to make sense of things.
Issues for Steemit
Here’s a list of a number of (potential) issues that could be the difference between life and death for Steemit.
- Mostly absent CEO (although he’s been making appearances recently)
- Co-founder left to start a competitor
- Seemingly non-existent customer service department
- Seemingly non-existent communications department
- Seemingly non-existent development team
Seriously, does anyone work for Steemit anymore? - Slow implementation of promised updates (SMTs anyone?)
- Spam Accounts
- Phishing Attacks
- Reward Pool Abuse
- Visibility Issues for Quality Content
- Decreasing Number of Active Users
- New (more responsive?) competitors entering the market
There's a lot that needs to change for Steemit to keep ahead and it doesn't seem that anyone is even assigned to the case. There are just too many issues for Steemit to overcome. The short answer: Steemit will be dead within 5 years.
Dramatization of Steemit's headquarters
Source:Pexels
The Positive
I can already hear your questions and comments. "Um, what? That's not positive. You just said at the start of the article that you were going to be more positive." Well, I am. I'm just going to take a positive spin on a what I see as a realistic and reasonable scenario.
Remember, there's a difference between Steemit and Steem. The former is a platform that is built on a blockchain (the latter). Unless something changes drastically at Steemit, I believe that the platform will fail and be shuttered.
The Steem blockchain has much better chances of success. The fact that a platform with 60k active users was able to be built on Steem shows that the model works. The technology is still one that has potential to change how many aspects of our lives work. It's just going to take time, lots of effort, and some money.
We are already seeing new apps pop up that work on the Steem blockchain. Most people on Steemit have at least heard of Dtube, Steepshot, and Busy. These are successful (so far) apps that allow people to interact with the Steem blockchain in a manner that provides more value to them than the Steemit platform. It could be the user interface, the reach of the app to new markets, additional features or customization. The point is that apps can be made on the blockchain, and they can succeed in getting users.
Source:Pexels
When SMTs come online we could potentially see a wave of users come to the platform. That has been projected for a while, but we have to have a product to give them. I think that SMTs are still coming "soon" and when they do, people will have even more ability to customize the experience on Steem (not Steemit). Companies and organizations will be able to create their own tokens powered by the Steem network, but personalized for their own needs.
That "eave of people" is still probably a ways off, but if they come, expect to see the price of Steem rise, maybe even a lot! Whereas networks like Ethereum and Bitcoin have been hampered by their inability to cope with the volume of transactions, the Steem network has been managing quite well. If the implementation of SMTs goes well and the network continues to process transactions much quicker than the competition, expect Steem to go mainstream and the masses to flock to Steem-based tokens, apps, and platforms. If that happens, it will be a good time to be holding Steem.
What's Next?
I don't know what's going to happen next. Ned seems to be out on the campaign trail and I think that's a positive sign. Still not sure when we'll see HF20 or the SMTs, but we can still hope. The former should improve the platform, the latter should improve the price of our holdings. We'll see if/when either takes place.
I hope my thoughts didn't offend you. That was not my intention. I'm not an insider at Steemit, so I don't have any special insight on the matters at hand. Sometimes I notice things and try to draw conclusions based on what I see. My thoughts aren't an indictment on anyone or their ideas. I'm just trying to make sense of things in a crazy, ever-changing world.
Don't worry, I do think platforms like Busy will still be around, so we should still be able to read each other's articles. Sometimes something mediocre has to be removed to make way for something awesome, so if Steemit doesn't work out, look for something even better to come along and replace it. We can all meet up again there! Or, we can all meet up again here... just in a slightly different format/platform.
See, I told you that I'd put a positive spin on it!
Disclaimer: These are just some of my thoughts. My opinion may change as more information comes to light. This is not investment advice. The ideas presented here are for informational/entertainment purposes only. Do your own research.
Previous Writing Contest Entries
Day Five: What Are The Top 5 Crypto Assets I'm Investing In Now?
Day Four: What Are My Top 5 Most Relevant Witnesses On Steemit?
Day Three: What’s The Best Thing That Happened To Me Because Of Steemit?
Lot of common sense and hard truth in this post. Nice job.
I think Steemit as an organisation has a lot of problems. But even if they do nothing, they are still sitting on a very valuable stake and there are others who could carry the development/innovation torch for them. The distribution of tokens is a problem that isn't going away quickly though. So maybe Steemit just whittles away it's stake, selling it off to keep the lights on and the distribution gets more diverse that way.
I suspect the blockchain technology moving past STEEM will be the ultimate killer blow for the platform though. Something faster, better, cheaper will come along soon enough. If STEEM falls behind it will die a slow death and at the moment I don't think it is evolving fast enough.
Thanks, it was tough to make it sound positive, but I tried. I just don't know what's going to happen.
I worry that it's already happening. I think that even Facebook's blockchain can be a huge competitor to Steem. The Steemit team doesn't seem to be very active and it's hard to be agile when you're stuck in one place. I saw a report from them today on a few updates. That's progress, but it's also standard for any organization to give updates, which hasn't been standard for Steemit. I really hope this new push by Ned is something that lights a fire under everyone at Steemit and that they start making improvements quickly. It might already be too late, but they should still try to get some momentum back.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, man!
You went a little farther with your post than I could. You were also more direct. I kind of pushed it back to the lap of users and Steemit Inc.
If SMTs can bring in greater influence, zero out what exists now and spread it out over many more users, then maybe that works. I'm afraid that means drawing in corporations, rather than so many individuals, and I'm not a fan of what that makes STEEM look like, at least not this early in the game.
So, lots of unknowns, and a lot of history to work with that doesn't necessarily point to an amazing future. I hope someone decides that this little venture is worth preserving. Someone with something to lose. Then, maybe we'll see things turn around.
I probably didn't need to be so direct, but decided to go with a bold prediction.
Yeah, I'm not looking forward to corporations entering the space either. I think it will mean more advertisements and less unencumbered interaction with friends and acquaintances. Hopefully there's a way to segregate the corporate influence.
I think there are many people who have a lot to lose and much to gain by Steemit doing well. It's surprising to me that they haven't done something already. That's how things go something though and if it goes down, it won't have been for lack of us trying.
Interesting and well analyze topic post, well I believe that steem truly have a great potentials for the future when they roll out the Smart Market Token (SMT), which will definately change the steem blockchain ecosystem because more application and app will integrate with the steem blockchain . And this will lead to an increase in the value and price of steem . I believe steem will reach about 800$ in price in the next 5years .
I don't believe steemit network will die they just need to rebrand and add some better features into it and also try and review their reward structure . Exciting post @themanwithnoname
Now that's a bold prediction. I would be very surprised if Steem were to hit $800 within 5 years, but more power to you for being hopeful. I won't hope against you. :)
You could be right. I don't think they need to rebrand yet. They could just start making some of the changes that need to happen and it will be a better place to stay.
Thanks for your thoughts.
My main issue is, we want social media on the blockchain. But only quality content? Ever looked at Facebook, Reddit, TV? Music? Soundcloud? Tell me were I can find al that "Quality Content" over there? New Hip Hop yeah sure I like those new rapper but it's just straight up bulshit with a good tune, good Quality? Hell no!! Do I blast these songs more than I ever did with those other rappers years back Hell yeah reason why: It is not to heavy,not to serious. If only Quality Content is allowed we wil not go mainstream.
Social Media can never be quality content, because if social media is only for quality content then 99% of the people on this planet wil not be able to post something.(just from looking at Facebook)
I hear what you're saying. I think there are a lot more factors that will have greater impact on the future of Steemit (the platform) than whether content is "quality" or not. It doesn't matter if the quality is good or bad if there are no users to post it. Steemit is currently bleeding users and it's hard to tell how many of the new users will stick around.
My understanding was that Steemit was created to be a competitor to Medium. They both have the same style, but Steemit was supposed to put the compensation directly in the hands of the readers. It's morphed to become like Facebook so there's a perception that it's supposed to be that, but I don't know that was the original purpose.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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