This might be a shocker for some, but the real gift is Steem. Long term, Steemit.com is a business...
I won't touch the 2-3h read only state of Steemit today as I think there are plenty of posts on that and talks on the steemit.chat but something @ausbitbank said today got me thinking and I wanted to share it with you, as I believe it shows a clarifying perspective over an important aspect.
The story starts on Github
Github is a place I should really start visiting more often as that's where the most backed suggestions get posted. I know people are posting a lot of suggestions around on Steemit with things they believe should be implemented etc. but taking it a step further would be to add those to GitHub. I know, there's no upvoting incentive/reward there, but that's the real value of the suggestion and has a way higher chance of being adopted sooner rather than later.
Steem
Definitions of What is Steem? are abundant and you should really check out one of the results of Ned's suggestion about the Steemit Wiki. Head over to this post to get a comprehensive FAQ set (btw. great job @shenanigator and thank you for the mention).
All in all, Steem is the blockchain containing the 'application' and 'database' of everything we see and do on Steemit. From posting to upvoting to rewards and crypto trading, almost everything is done through Steem.
Steemit.com
If you're new here I direct you again to the FAQ post mentioned above to get a better grip on things.
The beauty of Steem is that it allows great platforms such as Steemit.com to exist. The magic happens on the blockchain, but the most triggers and center of attention is on Steemit.
Now, Steemit is just the first application/platform/system to tap into the power of Steem and create the ecosystem we currently have; other ideas can be created as well. It is my understanding though that not at this moment, as even though Steemit is open source, Steem is not ready to take on other apps than Steemit.
The Potential Controversy
The main point I'm trying to make with this post is that we have been given a great gift. And let that be clear: that gift is Steem. We are also taking Steemit for granted , but I believe this is only for a while, and Steemit will have a more business-like attitude in the future rather than a fully fledged, open and non-centralized anarchy system. (I may be proven wrong here as time goes by).
How Come?
A lot of people are dissapointed in the Steem price at the moment. Why that is happening has been discussed before but one thing that has happened is a lack of strong, new investors. And I don't mean here people who pour their life savings into Steemit or others who were holding onto BTC they won in the past years and are now buying Steem with it. The need of fund infusion (investments) to re-launch Steem is in the millions, and those guys don't get on board easily. They don't get on Steemit.chat to see what's up around, they don't check-out the new section etc.. They look at the big picture, numbers, reports, performance and ROI.
What drives the interwebs right now?
What has Google been doing for the past gazillion years that helped it gain more investors? What has Facebook realized later and started focusing on? Advertisement, Promotion, Commerce etc.
It's only logic that investors are looking at the best attributes and most profitable returns of their investments. Promoting content is always profitable. Marketing budgets are through the roof and continue to climb, this is just retail:
Don't take Steemit for granted. Steemit is a business built on top of the Steem blockchain, and it needs to think like a business to set a successful path.
At the beginning of the post I was mentioning what sparked its creation and here it is:
- Adding Support for Promoted Content - https://github.com/steemit/steemit.com/commit/c2a719e24390a48a4d215890b8c9dba86518d70c
- Displaying Bosst Payments - https://github.com/steemit/steemit.com/commit/b40e8ae951cf0816c72f1ea01fd3ad1664efa86d
Both submitted to Github by Bytemaster (aka Dan).
Why is this quite awesome in fact?
Steem is in a low value point right now. I know it's early, I know we're small etc. etc. but we need to grow, and nowadays, companies can't wait years to get to the top. Everything has to happen faster and faster, and be simpler and easier to everyone.
Even though Steemit is to be thought of as a separate business from Steem, the fact is right now one's success depends on the success of the other. If one fails, the other one will fail too. They must work in tandem until they can become completely independent and Steemit needs to be successful first.
For Steemit to be successful first it needs strong investors. For strong investors to jump on board they need to be motivated for such a move. Such motivation needs to be activated as soon as possible, every momentum we have needs to be explored to the benefit of us all.
Can we show the investors that we have millions of users? Nope.
Can we show them that Steem is a leader crypto coin around the world's exchanges and/or e-commerce? nope again
But we can enable features that are appealing to investors right now.
Steemit has millions of visits/month, Google indexes quality content posted here exceptionally and we can leverage that right now through a post promotion initiative that would create more interest.
This will bring more attention (aka investors) to Steem/Steemit, and will increase the value of everyone in the ecosystem. Hold on to your wallets, something great is coming!
One last note:
As any respectable business, besides offering services (access into and to the Steem blockchain), Steemit must also ensure Business Continuity and close to always-on service delivery. It would be nice if everyone at the top would do simple SWOT like analysts on today's events and take some actions out, like full monitoring systems with alerts (maybe they are in place, maybe they aren't), enabling a 24/7/365 always on intervention team that detects issues as they happen and take quick actions, etc.. All that along, off course, all possible backup and options.
We can rely on the community for all of these, but it's much more response and performance oriented when something is officially setup with dedicated, experienced and engaged people.
It's a learning process. #steemtothemoon
GIF source
I hope everybuddy keeps up the excitement!
How can they not :):)
Yes, I feel excitement on steemit, I can post everything, I can express my feeling and people on steemit mostly willing to give and share knowledge. :)
I am enjoying the low price of Steem right now - time to accumulate. With a technology like this we could see one big investor get on board and change everything. Crypto is so new it is impossible to predict. I also see what you are saying about Steemit getting more businesslike as we move forward. Great post.
Yup. Like Microsoft jumped on Ethereum and that really gave it a bump..
Thanks!
Yes, but what if, for example, the rulers of Steemit make changes to the Steem blockchain which only Steemit profits from, but no other interface?
All witnesses would need to be on board with the change. A fork cannot be imposed that easily.
I know what you're saying though. The majority of Steem holders is in Steemit Inc.'s yard but looking at the vested amounts and the 104 weeks limitations, not sure if big pressure can be put on the witnesses.
I kind of like the transparency and sustainability of the way the ecosystem is built on. That is why I definitely think it will be successful long term.
can the SP rules be changed, ever?
They can. Through a fork I believe.
One other thing that might change the game a bit is if the payout rules change to let the user ask for full SBD instead of 50/50. That will increase the liquidity and market movements for sure.
nice. i never thought about ideas like these, maybe because i think they'd be SO monumental that the whole whitepaper would have to be changed. what's cool about this idea is that it coudl be used in "featured-like" type of post and send all SBD to the authors
But i can't see it becoming a standard, i'm afraid it would actually increase the sbd enormously because most ppl would chose to get sbd and quick cash out.
As @hisnameisollie says, easy to fall into the trap of "get rich quick" , right?
@razvanelulmarin: I hope you see this answer as the comment nesting limitation doesn't allow me to reply to your comment directly.
Yup. There's a great risk to allow post payouts directly to SBD as the users can cash-out directly and not go through and extra step towards powering up when that extra step could be their real wallet.
up on the @hisnameisollie part :)