Onboarding New Steemians - That's Over For Me
I have a lot of new followers I've never told about how my attempts at onboarding new people to Steem failed. In the summer of 2017, when I was bit a of a spring chicken on Steem myself, I decided it would be great if I could get my friends and acquaintances to migrate from centralized social medias, mainly Facebook to Steem. We could all keep doing what we do and make some money on the side. I mean, I had been blogging for years even before Facebook when nobody knew what a blockchain let alone cryptocurrency was and how you could get paid for blogging and being an early adopter.
I would bring up cryptocurrencies, Steem and blogging on Steem at the go club in Tampere where I used to live. Because it was summer and a holiday season, I had an opportunity to spend time there. I was mostly met with indifference or scepticism. Some of the guys knew Bitcoin which was the first and the only thing they knew about the scene. One of guy who is a software developer knew about blockchain technology and the hype around it.
I met an old friend of mine in Tampere about every couple of months. I used to talk a lot about cryptocurrencies, blockchain techonology and Steem, of course, far too much in retrospect. This guy apparently had some issues of his own and he'd also got fed up with the no-holds-barred banter and sense of humor many of the club members had. We no longer talk. All I got from him was extreme scepticism and tulip mania comparisons.
It's been an uphill battle. I've come to the conclusion that trying to get most people to become Steemians or interested in cryptocurrencies or the blockchain movement in general is pointless. Most of my friends are not even average people. Many are IT professionals. One guy told me he believed that the powers-that-be will eventually put a stop to this whole thing.
People seem to have completely bought the idea that erosion of privacy and freedom are inevitable hook, line and sinker - despite the fact that the tools to put power back into the hands of the individual are all there. There is no need whatsoever to submit to living in a world where everything we do is stored in vast centralized corporate or government databases and analyzed to exhaustion. I had a debate with one guy (in IT as well) who has quite statist and left-leaning opinions but with whom I otherwise get along great. He said the kind of radical transparency where state knows everything about us and we know everything about the state would be a good thing. He did not take into account the vast power differential between the state and an individual. The state simply does not have to even care if it's wrongdoings are widely known. Another important thing why privacy should be considered a human right is the sadism of the crowds. Radical transparency has potential to lead to a number of nightmarish scenarios.
The crypto-space, decentralization and the potential they have stand in direct opposition to the talking points often heard and repeated by my friends. I have given up on trying to get people to join us. The masses will join the crypto-space in their own time. Being part of it now is being an early adopter and early adopters are always a small minority.
The mass adoption of Steem will most likely take place a few years down the road from now when decentralized apps using the blockchain and its cryptocurrencies start cropping up by the thousands. I'm pretty sure Smart Media Tokens and Communities will play an important role. That we don't have crowds banging on the door right now may actually be a blessing in disguise since there will be more STEEM to go around for us current Steemians to earn.
I share the exact same experience as you, of all the people that I have told to join, only a handful did, but no one is active today. My conclusion of this is that most people can’t really grasp it quite yet, and like you say some time will be needed before mass adoption. But, like you say that’s definitely a blessing in disguise
I agree with you markku. I have bought in around 10 people and only one or two have stayed. More Steem is good for another year or so.
Its annoying when people just brush stuff to the side and isn't even curious about trying something new.
I am new on steemit and I havn't talked to friends about it yet, since much people wants to see result before wanted to try and I am currently trying to figure out more stuff about steemit before I talk about.
I liked your post :D
Depending on where you live even small earnings on Steem could be significant. But do we really need people only interested in short-term personal gain? In the past couple of years since the launch of Steem, a class of future owners of a potentially very large network has been taking shape. At this stage, it is best for the network to onboard people interested in the long-term success of the platform and capable of becoming minor stakeholders in a Delegated-Proof-of-Stake network.
I agree.
My comment wasn't entirely focused on make money.
Its was more about just seeing the progress of ones account, interactions and growth. Weather you are here to make money, share stuff with people or use your SP to help others do more good things is really up to the person I believe.
And results can mean alot of things in this sense. :D
I brought over a dozen or more people. Happy to report several are very active like @molometer. I have to say there is some anecdotal evidence of interest in crypto. For example I saw a huge digital billboard (big money) by the major airport advertising where to buy Bitcoin.
The people I've told about Steem having an interest in crypto was probably the part that was missing from my approach. With general interest in crypto comes an investor's mindset. What we need on Steem at this time is people willing to invest their time and money in this. This is not Facebook with money. The idea that Steem can be the data and money layer of decentralized versions of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. with hundreds of millions of users who make any kind of money off of it is ludicrous. The value of a single Facebook account is tiny, only about $40 or so. And Facebook is a well-oiled machine geared towards squeezing every drop of value from its user base. There is no money to be made from capital that small. The vast, vast majority of future Steem users have to be paying customers - even if their only form of payment was their attention - of apps using the blockchain for our investment to be worth anything. Only the top few percent of Steem Power holders can ever hope to make any money off Steem in the future.
Hi! Long time no see!
What's your secret? I've only been able to bring in 2 active and 3 inactive users.
What did you say to them that made them stay?
People on my job actually feel sorry for me since the market is down. There's this doctor who knows I'm investing in crypto and he kept telling me to sell when it was at $20k. Yes I missed that opportunity but I'm still happy to be here.
I did manage to convince or people to join but they are not active. All everyone wants to know is "how much are you making?" . If it's not a good amount then they go
"no thank you". I understand though, I guess people have different priorities and responsibilities in life.
Those people would be useless as Steemians. Actually worse than useless. Mass onboarding will by mathematical necessity have to be by paying customers of apps using the Steem blockchain and not paid content producers like us if STEEM is to grow in value. What we need now is people with the mental fortitude to ride out extreme volatility and an understanding that this is a high-risk investment in a very immature industry that has great potential nevertheless.
Alot of people are way to focused on make money, so they can buy the latest new thing even when the thing they have is perfectly fine :/
My story is a bit different @markkujantunen. The person who brought me and 16 other people to this platform has since been inactive along with the 15 others. Am the only one taking the platform even remotely serious. Many felt it was a get rich quick scheme and left out of disappointment
Interesting. My not even being able to get anybody on board and hearing many such stories has made me give up on this. But it's ok. As @taskmaster4450 has written many times, it's some of the apps using the blockchain (and quite likely some Smart Media Token of their own) that will bring the masses to Steem.
I think that maybe people don't get it. The whole privacy issue. As you say the public at large have swallowed it hook line and sinker.
The unique selling point of steemit is not the money that we could potentially make but more importantly the fact that they are not selling us out by scraping or data.
Maybe once the penny drops for the masses. Then the steem based apps will be ready and waiting.
I too started blogging a very, very long time ago. This is the first time that I have had control of my earned assets anywhere online.
I'm an ICT teacher and as soon as I found steem via @old-guy-photos I knew this was the place I wanted to be and to do some software develop work on.
The people I brought onboard are still here as passive investors.
They are all in their 30's and can see that this is going to be big in the future.
We need more and better apps with a freemium element built in. That will appeal to a wider cross section of users.
The Steem blockchain is completely public so anyone who wants to data mine it can do it and will not have to pay anything for it. But the fact remains that using Facebook or any of the big centralized social medias comes at the cost of a loss of privacy.
This is the Internet of Value, a key piece that was missing for decades until Bitcoin came along and was followed by other projects.
Yes, the freemium element is important but paid services and content will also be needed to give STEEM value. The beauty of STEEM is that it can serve as the backbone for a very large variety of projects, making owning Steem Power a pretty safe bet in that sense.
I agree with your point about the steem blockchain data being easy to data mine but the value of it would be limited as it contains no information as to age, gender, nationality, buying habits etc.
The freemium apps that I suggested must be built onto the steem blockchain using smt's but in order to compete they must be something that users can find value in using.
I do have a few new ideas of what may work which I am currently developing in my spare time.
I agree that holding steem long term is the way to go.
Nice work! You are speedily progressing like a speed boat!
But not all people like to travel by boats!
?
It seems onboarding has become a hot topic not just here on STEEM(it\peak|busy) but in the cryptosphere as a whole. I've mentioned the comments by ETH and DOGE creators in a post a while back that supported the notion that viral onboarding is done and over and that it's the quality of services that will determine our shared future.
Heck, I'm on STEEM not because I'm an idealist -- it's just a platform uniquely suited to my tastes and needs (I've outlined that in my first ever post, but rather poorly so no sense linking it). Before STEEM I was just a mostly reclusive introvert that has no use for social networks -- I naturally admire privacy-minded individuals, but the topic didn't bother me that much because I used to be a mostly invisible person by my very nature.
I do share the view that most people who only feel secure by retaking their privacy are already in the cryptosphere, and those who feel secure in spite of or even because of giving up their privacy can only be lured by the promise of rewards they don't get with traditional tech.