📌 Have You Missed the Steem Boat?
I'm getting this question a lot lately so let me just nail it down once and for all.
No. You're not late to the party. Actually, it's still crazy early. The first steem payout happened just one month ago, on July 4th, 2016. To get some perspective, let's look at the first cryptocurrency's timeline for a moment.
Bitcoin began in 2009 and was worth basically nothing at first. A handful of computer geeks around the world started to recognize and appreciate its usefulness so adoption slowly grew over the next few years. It finally became user-friendly enough for wider adoption and spiked in popularity in the spring of 2013. That year, the price of a single bitcoin rose from $14 to over a thousand dollars. Fortunately for us, steem is already user-friendly enough so we can skip over the first few difficult years that bitcoin had to endure. We also don't have to worry about government regulation because steem isn't traded on exchanges directly for legal tender. Bitcoin did most of the heavy lifting and paved the way for us already so the rise of steem could potentially be much swifter than that of its pioneering predecessor.
Of course nobody can see the future for certain and I can't make any promises so I'll just toss-in one last point for the sake of perspective.
We got our first steem for free, just for joining this website.
It cost us nothing. We already post content on social media for free anyway so if we just post it here and accumulate some steem along the way, it's still costing us nothing to build up a nest egg that could be worth a thousand times more next year.
As far as I can see, there's no downside. Of course you could buy steem with money from outside of the platform, in which case, it would be a gamble like any other investment, but I'm not advising that. If you want to gamble, that's fine, but all I'm talking about here is using the Steemit website as it's meant to be used and saving up the steem power you accumulate along the way. Since we're not losing anything, we can just relax and think of every penny that comes from this as a gift from the crypto-gods. Every little bit you gain is reason enough to smile and who knows? If steemit grows up to be at least as big as bitcoin, the little bit we make now will be worth a heck of a lot more later. When that day comes, we'll hear a whole lot of people saying that they wish they had joined back when steem was only worth a couple of bucks... like we did. :)
Ding ding ding!! This is the biggest selling point I've been using to get my friends on board. That and the fact that while some of my other friends have their doubts, I'm over here paying my mortgage with money from this site. This is the first time in my LIFE I've had the opportunity to be this close to the ground floor of something that certainly seems like it's about to explode, and for those of us here now and doing what we're doing, I have this very strong and happy feeling that we're going to be thankful in 6 months, let alone 1 year. I'm strapped in and ready for this ride. :)
It depends how you view this I guess. If you create content online for a living, Steemit might not be worth spending your time on, at least the way things currently sit.
If you are not that person and are hoping to a hit a few home runs from your content take the ride, then it is a good fit.
Spending mass amount of time on creating content here might be better served on other avenues for guranteed payout. Just my thoughts anyway.
Yes, if you're a professional writer, you have to shop around and find the best market for your content. I'm working on a screenplay right now and I know that Steemit is obviously not the place to sell the final product ;)
I can definitely get in line with this thinking. I, too, am writing a script for a short film(that's very cool that you're doing that by the way, @piedpiper ). I wouldn't be posting that here. It doesn't seem appropriate. A story, such as a novel, however...that might be different. But screenplays and scripts are the first step to a larger project. To me, posting a script or screenplay would equate to posting an unfinished painting.
Yeah, I'll post updates as the project develops but the final product needs to get in front of a very particular bunch of eyeballs in order to go into production properly.
Actually, if you build up a following here it is probably the best place for people who"create content online for a living". But no free lunch. You have to put in the effort.
Definitely. Anyone who has a YouTube following tho and is good at making content.. Omg they are better off here, lol. it's hard to get people to see it, they're so used to the old way.
My thought is, I plan on making content anyway - paid or not. Might as well put it in the best avenue which will make SOME money if any at all. For example, we plan on putting out a podcast on the weekly. We plan on posting them to Youtube because that seems to be the channel that gets embedded in Steemit posts. Therefore, we hope to not only generate some revenue here, but we'll also be monetizing the Youtube channel. Whether or not Steemit was here, honestly, would make no difference as to whether or not we start our podcast. Granted, we've never done a podcast before, so it's pretty much aimed directly at Steemit for now.
But...should Steemit take a turn for the worst and sink, we'll continue making podcasts because we discovered this is something we like doing. We'll just have to reconfigure who our target audience is. The podcast will be in regards to pretty much any and all topics in the world one can talk about, so it's for everyone.
This is why I contend that the path for Steemit mass adoption is going to be through such things as a "Disqus" styled Steemit app for existing blogs where you comment under your Steemit name and can upvote content on other websites. Such an app would allow successful bloggers to retain their existing website, followers, and revenue streams while simply layering Steemit on top as an additional source of website revenue. Theoretically, such an app could be used on any website that includes a comment section. Or a website could prohibit comments and only allow Steemit upvotes for people who want to reward the content creator. There are so many possibilities out there for some creative programmers to tackle.
I completely agree. There are going to be tons of third-party apps built on steem's blockchain. Quite a few already in the works.
Exactly my thoughts!
All good points. I do feel like the time scale for adoption of Steem could be MUCH faster than with Bitcoin (like you mentioned). Bitcoin was almost completely new to everyone, and the average Joe had almost no way to relate to what it was. Here, the average Joe probably doesn't care at all about how Steem actually works. All they see is a social media site (which they understand really well), and the possibility to get paid for things they were already doing (which they can appreciate REALLY well). If I were a betting man, I would say that user adoption is just starting to pick up STEEM (wink wink).
Exactly. Most of the friction has been removed this time. Buckle up :)
the biggest bull run in the crypto world is yet to come.
I think so too.
Yesterday, was my first full day of using Steemit. I made $13 in Bitcoin after cashout today. I have to say that is pretty good for my first day using it. Today, I wasn't so lucky with profits but I see the value. I already like hearing myself speak so I may as well make a little coin too :).
Right on! It usually takes time to get established and develop a reputation. My first month was quite slow but picked-up later on.
Yeah, it was pretty surprising. I think it was in the right place at the right time kind of thing.
Thanks for this.
I'm a baby here to the entire concept...including of digital currency...but what really excites me and has me feeling all "warm and fuzzy" is the possibility that I can just do what I do...create. And be rewarded for it.
As a poet, that is huge. I share my poetry anyway without pay, and love doing it. To have a platform that supports creators of anything quality is super rad.
But I feel even more excited because I bring more than my art to the table...I am freakin poppin with ideas of all the stuff I want to write about and it's more like I have to put the reigns on myself!!
So I'm happy to be here and excited about this awesome group of people.
Much love to everyone.
John Oliver
Welcome to the madness, John! I've been writing poems and songs since I was a kid but haven't shared any of them here on Steemit yet... I guess I'll have to get around to that one of these days.
In the mean time, I'd love to see some of your material. Have you set any of your poems to music?
As someone that missed the early adoption time of Bitcoin it's really exciting to be a part of Steemit since this early days. I would like to met some fellow Steemers personally. We should organize worldwide Steemit meet ups.
Yeah, it would be great to organize a big Steem party. I'd consider flying in for that as long as the timing was good.
I have been playing with the idea of hosting a Steem meetup at Princeton University. I could definitely get room space, and possibly get a couple influential computer sci. people to attend. Brian Kernighan (co-creator of Unix) is still around I think.
That could be fun, for sure.
I asked myself the same question since I came here :) I hope you're right :) Actually I still wonder over the investment. In 2012 I was too scared to take the train called "bitcoin". I regret to this day :)
It's up to us where Steem and Steemit will go to. I for my part completely left other social media like Facebook and Instagram to be here. I don't spent my time there so I can enjoy Steemit to its fullest. Despite being here I tell me friends and family about Steemit. Next week I want to make a little promotion in my city
I think the issue is that when people finally started listening about Bitcoin, it looked magical and more. I mean, people became very wealthy from finding old bitcoin they'd forgotten about. That's what the public sees... easy money.
Steemit seems to be the same, easy money. But the truth is anything but. You have to work hard here to get recognized as a valuable contributor, just like you did on the other platforms. Except it's harder here, because every vote counts, comments have to mean something, and just posting a blog doesn't guarantee anything whatsoever.
I, for one, like it. For the most part, I've been exposed to a lot of new subject matter, amazing examples of writing, and a crypto community that wants to succeed together. There's no boat to miss, really. The only boat you can miss here is never joining steemit and seeing what a social network should be
You have a very good perspective on this. Yes Steem dollars earned on Steemit used to buy Steem or Bitcoin are "free money" but if you buy Steem with your own dollars or Bitcoin then it is not free and quite risky. That last part can't be said enough. Now for Steemit, I would not say newbies are late to the party, but it will be harder for them get the attention of upvoters now that there is more content than there was at the start of the party. As for Steem dollars, I personally am not using any Steem dollars to purchase Steem or Steem power. I use it for Bitcoin. You don't have to be like me, but it does give a person the opportunity to diversify (FOR FREE) into Bitcoin. If you fully understand that option you will not pass it up. My latest Steemit post is here: https://steemit.com/steemit/@bitcoinmeister/yours-network-a-steemit-competitor-that-will-use-bitcoin-sneak-peak-and-links-included
Really good points. I'm slowly starting to understand Steem more everyday, and I'm always more excited and more sure this is gonna be a big deal. I don't have that much money to risk and I love that I can actually USE it like I would any other social media and be involved that way.
Considering famous youtubers and stuff like that is still pretty uncommon there's a whooole big wave of people out there who haven't gotten involved yet, and it does seem we're all still super early.