Dear Steemit, Discovering Your Site Provides Hope—It's Time to Listen to the Blockchain Generation and End the Fading Business Model of Facebook

Hello Steemit! I’m Alice Horrigan (from Connecticut, USA) and this is my first post.

I have a master’s degree in cultural sociology and currently work in information technology business management for a global industrial company. There is so much happening so fast in digital technology today, and--having a bit of a knack for explaining complex concepts for the layperson--I'd like to help shed light on this critical juncture in history.

As a next career step, I've been contemplating a return to journalism, my first chosen profession. But these days, earning an income from writing isn’t easy--especially with the business models we currently have to work with.

$70 Billion to One CEO

Billions of advertising dollars that previously supported many newspapers and magazines each year now get sucked up by social media companies like Facebook and YouTube–which of course also serve as giant spying machines for marketers. This New York Times article describes the problem well.

It is astounding to think that nearly nearly half the digital ad spending worldwide in 2017 is expected to go to Facebook and Google, as CNBC recently reported.

Social sites gleefully circulate content from media companies (who employ fewer and fewer journalists) and shady content mills, while the world’s musicians, photographers, filmmakers and consultants post their best creative works for free, in hopes of gaining exposure.

This model is good for Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who according to Forbes has amassed more than $70 billion, and for the likes of Justin Bieber, who got his start on YouTube. But it's not for the rest of us.

Blockchain Generation Rising

Despite the challenges of making a living in journalism, I started looking for a field to write about that is big enough to hold my interest and niche enough for specialization. I stumbled upon articles on blockchain—bitcoin’s underlying technology—and wow, was I amazed. Not only is it a fertile field for writing, but blockchain technology has the potential to transform local and global economies. Here’s a great intro Ted Talk on the subject by Don Tapscott.

Part of blockchain technology’s potential is to support business models that enable the creative class to make a living by exchanging value. The fact that it enables transactions using digital currency with a high level of security means anyone anywhere in the world can pay anyone else without having to go through an intermediary (like a bank or PayPal).

By cutting out intermediaries, also known as “central trust authorities,” blockchain technology has many potential applications. These include:

• Smart contracts, which release payments when certain conditions are met—such as delivering a product or service to the customer
• Micro-market solar energy exchange
• Financial services for the “unbanked (helping the poor more easily exchange small amounts of currency in their local economy and send money across borders to family back home)
• Music-rights management
• Tracking products in the food supply chain (provenance)
• Simplifying processes for financial institutions and enterprises across industries

New Business Models

At first, this all sounded pie-in-the-sky to me. But I soon discovered that there are several companies already developing business models based on blockchain technology. Among them is Steemit, which uses a blockchain to connect creative people and their supporters–and allows them to pay one another for the value they bring. It’s a decentralized social media site on a blockchain where people can put up their best content and get paid.

No spying, no selling data to marketers, no advertising!

This explanation of Steemit by Christian Lains (@clains) is illuminating.

Steemit is still in beta, a socioeconomic experiment in the making. But if successful, it will not only provide an alternative for those who are unhappy with Facebook. It will make obsolete the current Facebook business model. The rising blockchain generation may skip Facebook altogether.

For a good comparison of the business models of Facebook and Steemit, check out this video by @robcubbon.

To adapt, Facebook and its ilk perhaps will have to acknowledge the value users bring, start to pay people for both their content and personal data, and reduce profits to more conventional levels. Zuckerberg generously plans to give away billions, but surely technology can facilitate an economy that gives people opportunities to make money on the front end, rather than rely on a philanthropic dynasty to redistribute it on the back.

Goodbye to the Siren Servers?

Of course, blockchain is not manna from heaven and there’s a lot of marketing hype around it. My friends have rightly pointed out that we all had similar high hopes for the internet when it first arrived: it had the potential to democratize systems and help solve world hunger. Everyone loved to say it would “level the playing field.”

Fast forward to today and the global division between rich and poor is bigger than ever. Democracies are flailing.

It is undeniable, however, that public blockchains do offer the possibility--if not the probability--of disrupting the business models of the “siren servers” of Silicon Valley, to borrow a phrase from the venerable virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier in his book, “You Are Not a Gadget.”

With the right leadership, we just may be able to deliver some of the initial promises of the internet.

Fertile Ground for Analysis and Reporting

For my daughter Madeline, who is a budding singer-songwriter, it would be good news, for example, if a blockchain-based performance rights organization were to arise to ensure she receives a bigger slice of the pie than musicians get these days, which is a pittance.

It could be that millions of talented creative professionals globally will be able to use the internet to flourish, rather than barely scrape up the cash to pay for their internet connection.

Because of these glimmers of hope for local and global economies and citizens of the world, discovering Steemit has been one of the highlights of 2017 for me.

Blockchain is fertile ground for analysis and reporting. I invite you to stay tuned (click my screen name at the top of the page and choose “Follow”) if you'd like to learn more. I'll start by reporting on the upcoming 100X Blockchain Investors Summit this week, which features several excellent speakers.

Here are some of the topics I hope to cover here on Steemit:

• Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency–explaining components in laymen’s terms and exploring applications such as smart contracts, provenance and music rights management
• Artificial intelligence (AI), additive (digital printing), and other disruptive technologies
• Income equity, democracy, environmentalism, feminism, privacy, data ownership
• Silicon Valley ideology, the future of work
• Writing and editing as a discipline

I’m looking forward to joining the blockchain generation in making the Steemit community a success!