The State of Steemit: Doomed or Destined For Greatness?
In today's video I discuss my views on the "state of Steemit," where it stands, the controversies, the negativity, and what's going to happen in the future.
The Key Metric
One of the key concepts I discuss in the video is a simple heuristic that I use to evaluate whether Steem still has some "legs." There will always be people who are upset at the way things are going, upset enough even to leave the platform, and their reasoning may be totally valid. For this reason gaining an accurate view of "what's going on" can be very hard. There will always be those defending it and those critiquing it and and many will be both sincere and reasonable. They may very well be people we like and respect. That's why the main question I ask myself is not, "Who's right?" or "Who's wrong?" but:
If there were no one else using Steemit, would I?
For me the answer is still an emphatic, "Yes." I want to continue creating content and expand into more longer term content-related projects, and Steemit still seems like the perfect vehicle for accomplishing that, at least for me. It gives people who are interested in my work the opportunity to help fund me in various ways and eliminates the requirement that I beg them for money. I only need to earn their upvote.
Actually, Please Leave (JK)
In fact, an argument could be made that the more people that leave Steemit, the better it is for those who stay. They would get to dominate the trending page and improve their odds of receiving large rewards (in Steem). If they could use the platform to attract a large enough audience to bring the price of Steem back up, it would be a windfall for them. Now, I don't think that will happen. Instead this mechanism acts as a lower bound on the platform. As people who have lost faith in the platform leave, the percentage of people who still have faith in the platform goes up, and they are rewarded for their faith with a larger percentage of the rewards. Where that "bottom" is, I don't know, but @l0k1 had some interesting thoughts on that and many other things, so I recommend you check him out.
A Second Chance at Early Adoption?
It's funny, many people are eager to claim that those who "joined early" were just lucky and received outsized benefits, and I suspect that many of these same people are also predicting the imminent demise of the platform. The reason I find that entertaining is because if everyone leaves the platform, then it would be exactly like the very beginning and so joining (or remaining) at that time would make one effectively an early adopter. But something tells me that people with this mindset would once again miss the opportunity. But what do I know, I was just one of those lucky people ;)
I, for one, am going down with the ship. If it goes down, which I doubt. I have nothing to regret about steemit. I have made many good friends and aquaintences on here and I look with only positive eyes on the experience I have had.
A lot of people talking about this right now, including me! Haha. I think you're on the right track, and I think that Steemit's huge potential is going to be seen. Great video, and congrats on getting back to the park!
I was actually participating in a discussion on the Warrior Forum, where all of the so-called "expert" marketers who have never even tried SteemIt are predicting it's not going to last and "it's too good to be true."
Personally, I think they are all idiots. I think SteemIt is going to take off, and I for one want to be on that spaceship when it launches.
I also love the fact that I can create content and be judged on it by others. It is making me a better writer, and I love that.
Those who want to leave should leave. It will just make it better for those of us who believe in the platform and are ready to work hard to see it succeed.
100%. You either get it or you don't. My mind lights up when I'm "on" steemit
Me too. I love it and I think it's going to be a huge success and all of the people who are here contributing and using the site as it's meant to be used are going to be rewarded greatly.
To the mooon!
I'm staying! One of my earliest posts has to do with I'm here largely for the free and ad-free blog features and the finances is extra. (Altho now I'm buying too while the price is low.) But sure if people leave by the masses you are so right, things will improve for those of us who stay. The potential for future growth is still quite unparalleled imho. Loving your stuff sir!
Its really interesting as I also argue that people leaving might not be a bad thing while others right away tell me it means doomed.
I think even seeing people as leaving is short-sighted. If Steem explodes in 6 months, the people who left and didn't power down will be back. Even those who did power down will still have more Steem Power than they started with, and will be back. So think of it more as a leave of absence.
Excellent point
Two thoughts.
Well said I agree
Hasn't the same thing happened over and over with other cryptocurrencies? BTC, LTC, DASH. Surges in the beginning, then the correction hits. Everyone trashes the coin and drops out. And then back up. Demand and interest in the coin and platform should buoy things and then ... rising tides.
Lets hope this is the case.
Yyyyyyup!
thank you for donating some steem to l0k1
Me too I consider it first and foremost as my platform of choice for content creation no matter what the value of Steem or the frequency of interactions on Steemit. I had not been on a social media with such editing possibilities since the old noughtie days of My Space. I've been saying for years that Facebook sucks and that it's far from being optimized as a way for people to express themselves. Still, there I am on Facebook keep posting about under the radar news, Internet trends, austrian economics, etc. never getting a single like by people only interested in showing picture of their kids or in putting on their wall an old sound moral meme image we've all seen before. I won't quit Facebook, but I have diminish my time spent there for the last two months in favor of the newly-to-me discovered Steemit, where not only markdown is possible but also where, I feel, the great minds gather.
I agree with your points, and also think that the conversations here are more positive. Even critical conversations have more an air of helpfulness. On Facebook, everyone is an expert on the very thing you are talking about, and of course you are wrong.
I think a lot of people will leave steemit as they joined in the belief they would make serious money. Unfortunately only a handful actually do.