Hi
Thank you for this post. I really think that this comment hit the nail on the head. It resonates with me and is really a paraphrase of my explanation when I tell people about Steem.

Everyone should have the ability to earn a stake in the communities they add value and in order for that community to be sustainable that stake has to be proportioned to the value they add.<

All of us who joined Facebook and Instagram in their infancy contributed to the growth of those platforms by providing content and recruiting people to join the platform. Our use of the free software helped build the business. But we were consumers only and we didn’t think of our selves as promoters of the platform which is what we were. I think Steemit is our second chance to be a paid promoter and participant in what may be the next big social media platform.

We can work a little and earn a little or we can work a lot and earn a lot. Or we can alternate between these two extremes or simply earn passive income. It’s our choice. This is a very flexible and varied user determined opportunity.

We are not “all powerful” and participants influence is limited by stake, but that’s how life is in general and I think it isn’t a bad thing. You influence in any venture should partially be determined by how much skin you have in the game and how much work you are willing to put forth. Personally, I think we have more influence here then other platforms.

Lastly, I am very optimistic about the future of the platform. People with different skills are stepping up and creating the things they want to see and being the forces for changes they want to see take place. The variety of talents on the blockchain is very diverse and the acceleration in development is astounding. For example , I think the current applications which provide graphic user interfaces which attract different skill level platform participants are very important.
And the surge in gaming and gambling applications is also encouraging as they represent additional use cases for the blockchain.

Remember Facebook is a great social media App but millions use it just to play “Candy Crush” LOL 😂. I think usage, usefulness and just plain fun drives adoption and growth in many instances.

Those are my thoughts.
Shortsegments.