Upcycling STEEM #4 : Who do we need more of? And how do we get them?
Steem needs to grow. I don't think there is any dispute about that.
Whether by mass marketing or niche marketing we need more people. Period.
There may well be well over a million steem accounts but we all know that a large majority do not represent real, or active, users.
Whatever the real number of currently active users is - 10,000, 30,000, 50,000 - it is way too low to make any sort of impact. Anywhere. Any time.
We need to stick one, or way better even two, zeroes on that Active User count if Steem is to really get known and get heard.
But who do need? Anyone and everyone? Can Steem be all things to all people?
Let's take a brief look at who we need to attract to the platform to really get the wheels spinning...
Investors
Investors are at the forefront of many people's minds these days.
More investors investing in steem = higher steem price = good for all >>> that's the story I am led to believe.
But how fit for purpose is Steem as an investment vehicle?
I'm no investment expert but I do feel Steem may look somewhat rough round the edges to the prudent investor.
Do we need an Investment Task Force to polish up and package up Steem as an attractive investment option?
Or can @oracle-d or the forthcoming Steem Business Alliance handle this?
Entrepreneurs
We need people with smart ideas to come to Steem to set up new ventures on the blockchain.
What do we need to do to attract them?
I guess that is a mix of technology and business environment.
Who makes the pitch on this?
Is that one for the Steem Business Alliance as well?
Developers
If entrepreneurs come up with project ideas they are probably going to need developers to build things.
I understand building dapps and apps on steem is not too difficult.
But we will still be competing with other blockchains that may be better known and more financially rewarding.
What do we need to do to entice developers to the steem blockchain?
I don't know the answer. Is this something Utopian can pitch in on?
@therealwolf had some thoughts on this a couple of weeks back in his Real Talk: The Future of Steem.
Content Creators
This is where it all started really.
We need people that write, long and short form, people that make music, that draw, that take photographs, that make music and videos.
We need content creators.
But do we need any content creators? Or do we just need good content creators?
Good, bad or indifferent of course is all subjective.
But quality must rise to the top, and we should find ways to ensure our Proof-of-Brain system truly rewards accordingly.
Perhaps too we need to keep our 7 day reward window under review and scrutiny. I know many established YouTubers who look at Steem find that a hard nut to swallow.
And we must remember, and we must remind people, that not everyone can be, will be or should be a good content creator.
That's now why we have dapps and apps like Steem Monsters, DLike and SteemHunt for example where anyone can contribute, and earn rewards, without needing to be a top notch wordsmith, an ace photographer, or an accomplished musician.
How we attract new content creators with potential and promise?
In specific niches like music and video I guess that ball has been thrown up in the for the likes of DSound and DTube to catch.
That leaves though a bit of a void in the middle. Whose job is it now to market to attract bloggers and poets, and crafters and painters...?
There's not an app for them. Or is that for Busy, and Partiko, and eSteem and Steempeak to tackle?
Consumers
And here is the big fat herd of elephants in the room.
We need consumers. Consumers of blogs, and recipes, and videos, and art and music...
We need players of games, collectors of SteemMonster cards, posters on DLike, restaurant reviewers on Tasteem.
We need lots of them, and lots of them and lots of them.
We need them to come here, enjoy themselves, make new friends, earn some steem...
And then power up that steem into SteemPower.
That's what we need.
Pretty soon. And pretty big.
We need sign up and onboarding nailed down so it can't wriggle away.
We need everyone recruiting. All the time. Everywhere.
And I wonder, wonder, wonder .... would a recruitment incentive system do the trick?
Yes I am sure people would try to game it, but we have great, great minds here who I am sure can figure that one out.
ONE MILLION ACTIVE USERS. In double time. Please.
[ graphic by @pennsif ]
One thing that put me off of Steemit for a while was that 7 day window. There's a lot of great content that becomes valueless and then gets ignored once it gets to 7 days old. In some areas that's ok. In all the finance and crypto blurb and investment areas filjs keep rehashing the same basic low quality stuff and earning from it, after all 'Steemit to 10 dollars' kind of posts don't need details but get votes again and again and again while more meaningful stuff just sinks into oblivion.
I reckon that if an old post is found and commented on, upvited or resteemed it should get a new 7 days from the date of that action.
Posted using Partiko Android
I would agree. Particularly in the area of video.
I have shown Steem to established YouTubers and the 7 day reward limitation was a deal breaker for them.
I believe it is a strong limiter towards more quality, evergreen type video content.
That is evidenced by the lack of that type of content on DTube.
Editor of the The State of Steem SoS Daily News.
Promoter of The State of Steem SoS Weekly Forums.
Editor of the weekly listing of steem radio shows, podcasts & social broadcasts.
Founder of the A Dollar A Day charitable giving project.
It's a major hurdle indeed
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We need better ways to access and engage the blockchain. I'm using esteem right now on my phone but I find it clunky and not intuitive.
We also need to make everything accessible to people with disabilities, access and functional needs.
Better sharing mechanisms to be able to share content between platforms. I'm on three other social media platforms, none of which can share to or from steemit without copy/paste.
We also need a form of active curation so that new people don't get overwhelmed with the shapeless mass that they encounter when they first start. We need a guide to good content, otherwise people get so overwhelmed with the crap posted by some people that they just quit using the platform.
Just some thoughts from here...
Case in point...no confirmation that my reply posted so I had to force close the app and restart before I could see that it posted twice!
😒
I am not a phone user, but I believe Partiko is good. Try that and see how it compares with eSteem.
Again I haven't used it but would Share2Steem be any using for sharing content between platforms?
Accessibility should be baked in, but I fear it isn't.
And curation is a must. But even the best curators are paddling in little boats against gigantic waves of 'less valuable content'...
check out steempeak, it's a great interface!
It all sounds good, wish I was smart enuff to know how to make it grow... I know it starts with simpler and more welcoming environ
Posted using Partiko Android
If we can get those basics right, it will be a good place to start.
Editor of the The State of Steem SoS Daily News.
Promoter of The State of Steem SoS Weekly Forums.
Editor of the weekly listing of steem radio shows, podcasts & social broadcasts.
Founder of the A Dollar A Day charitable giving project.
Great thoughts on Steem there. While we've read plenty of opinions and call of solutions on how to "fix the system", We believe that it all comes down to grassroots action to introduce users one by one to Steem and its Dapps - this is true across all blockchain based projects aimed at mainstream usage.
Hang tight, stay strong, come together. We're positive the Steem Community will come out of the crypto-winter stronger than ever.
The State of Steem Forums are part of that process. I hope you can make it along to Forum #3 later today...
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