The generation of shares

I was just scrolling through @abh12345's latest script report post which outlines various metrics with one being, most resteemed post for 2019 and as I suspected, about 80 percent of the most resteemed posts are Steem related. This is observational of course, but what is interesting to note is that people like @meesterboom and @josediccus who generally don't blog about Steem also had Steem posts as their most shared.

However one looks at it, the Steem community is very Steem-orientated and hopefully the content that promotes the benefits of Steem gets shared externally. The things I consider the most important are the censorship resistance, the security from banning, shadow banning and centralized demonetization, the ability to leverage readership across the entire network, the ability to develop easily, build personalized and owned communities, high possibility to earn something on content, with investment in a guaranteed earning through consumption via curation and of course the main point, the possibility to own a piece of the network itself and the possibility to direct the flow of reward, content and development.

While not everyone need agree with me or my view of Steem now and in the future, one thing is relatively certain here and that is, demand for the ecosystem is what drives the value of it. When people talk about the transactions of a blockchain having value, it is going to matter more and more what those transactions are doing. I believe that if a blockchain is just transacting automated gambling application, t is eventually going to be relatively valueless as it becomes a type of massive circlejerk draw on the pool that eventually requires no investment in, just cyclical transactions. There has to be a reason to use a blockchain.

Why I think that Steem has a lot of potential is that it is looking to make inroads into the largest purpose the internet is currently used for from an enduser perspective, social transaction. Sure, there are plenty of other aspects for internet usage, but when it comes to spending time on the internet, people are consuming content of some form, whether socially like Facebook and gaming, or individually like Netflix and YouTube - and the individual uses are heavily integrated with the social aspects through shares, conversations, reviews and the generation of more content based upon them.

When it comes to the value of the data generated, the reason it is so valuable is that it tracks relationships on the network between people, who is connected to who, who likes what, who buys which product, who does one group themselves with, who shares what and perhaps most importantly is, who has influence over others in their network. Being able to identify what kinds of people are able to share and have the greatest impact on behavior across various data indicators allows for precision in targeting and efficiency. The value of the data itself at a practical level is through scarcity as only a handful of organizations are able to gather, collect and interpret it at large scale.

Steem transactions not only track the relationships between nodes on the network, they also apply a value of some kind to each individual action in a number of ways. This allows for all kinds of value to be tracked and generated across multiple use case environments while still conforming to the same set of rules that the blockchain enforces. A simple example is of course the calculation of earning from post reward and curation activities - while the values an change and social relationships come into play, the blockchain treats every user absolutely fairly as it is completely impartial and makes no opinion.

The only opinions on Steem are the ones driven from the community and due to the decentralized nature of it, these opinions can vary a great deal. On a centralized platform the opinions are driven by a narrow subset in power and they themselves are driven by the profit model, and due to their reliance on advertising, they are going to create and break rules based on what maximizes their profit, this means bowing to governments and corporations who enable them to exist.

The Steem blockchain exists outside of this model to a far greater degree and does not have to change its ways unless the decentralized community agrees - even though it does connect at various points with the traditional processes, for example in the transfer of STEEM value to fiat. When it comes to content creators however, there is very little possibility for a user to be "kicked off or banned" from speaking their mind, although their direct earnings from the post could be taken away, if the community decides - NOT the blockchain.

Over the last few days we have heard more of YouTube banning and restriction of entire topic groups like crypto content and that is far too much power for a platform to have. How long until they repress based on the wishes of the governments they bow to? Oh, they likely already are which is why crypto was targeted.

This puts all users in a predicament and while they like to consume the content there, over the next few years many more are going to realize the damage and cost of participation and support of a centralized system. Sure, most won't change, but small percentages add up until critical masses can be achieved and the flood gates open. I might not live long enough to see this happen, but I don't mind living a life playing a part in the process.

However we look at it, promoting Steem is a tough sell in the current environment as everyone is driven by convenience and the far more clean and polished experiences the centralized platforms offer users. No one really cares about the damage inflicted on others, until they come for them. At the moment, there are plenty who are feeling the yoke of control close upon their neck and hopefully some of them will choose to break free and find a place on Steem, a place they can own.

We talk about the X-generation, the Millenials - the next to come should be the Share-generation.

Own your shares

 
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]