What is Wrong With Today’s Social Networks and Can They Be Fixed? Part 2 of 2 – Steemit and the New Social Networks

Steemit has a new social network business paradigm that is powerful and revolutionary

Steemit and communities like it seek to create a new paradigm in social networking starting with putting the content creator at the center of the value matrix. This approach seeks to reevaluate the traditional model and create a direct creator/follower dynamic that promotes creator growth. It is an interesting model that has lots of potential.

It can promote existing bloggers and youtubers who are successful currently and seek more control over their audience and to generate more revenue form their efforts.

It can help to create new bloggers who are interested in developing their skills in front of an audience that can shows it immediate appreciation or disapproval.

It can create a community that has an ability to assist in social issues in a meaningful way.

It can be a fair voice in projecting and disseminating important points of view and other information to worldwide communities.

It can be a counter to the existing controlled media organizations who only present one side or a skewed perspective of news.

It can empower alternative voices and give them a foundation to have their voices heard.

The platform is certainly making a name for itself in all of the above even though it is in its beta stage. The promise that it is currently showing may point to a powerful new voice in the space threatening to revolutionize things and do away with the current centralized behemoths.

Steemit Has lots of Challenges

There are challenges currently and in the future that will truly test the Steemit model. They include:

1. Being able to scale the model globally. The larger the network grows the most costs will increase from a variety of things including housing and managing data. These costs are in the billions every year for companies like facebook and youtube. Someone has to pay for it, and it can cause a company to have to change revenue models which may negatively impact feelings of the community.

2. Competition. The Steemit model is powerful but not unique and there are others either entering or planning to enter with the same model. How does Steemit stop these groups from siphoning off their members when they will certainly offer similar or perhaps better terms to content creators? The answer is complicated but for the most part must be met with Steemit building a value proposition beyond financial. It must prove to members that it is valuable in their lives. This is no small feat and is more challenging trying to develop on the fly and with competition circling. The best approach toward this is to work thin the community and fight against the feelings that grip many fast growing companies which is to be less receptive to quality input.

3. The Steemit Model Itself. I was asked to participate in a social network that sounds eerily like Steemit nearly 3 years ago. I have been in tech for 2 decades and am always looking for elegant solutions that help to empower people and break up the status quo that keeps the average person down. The person who approached me was a Bitcoin expert who had been in the industry since 2010 (great guy by the way who go into Bitcoin when it was at $2). He approached me with a model for a social network built around rewarding creators for posting, sharing and liking. It would reward members with a proprietary token that would have a value within the community and a greater value outside of the community (sounds familiar, huh). He was interested in me because I had been asked to advise on a social network called Tsu that when it started look about ready to topple Facebook. It did not use a coin, but it paid people for posting and sharing.

I evaluated Tsu and ultimately turned them down because the company model clashed with my goals and beliefs. I personally believe that when money sits at the center of anything, you create an environment that cannot be about helping. I communicated this to my Bitcoin friend and told him I had the same concerns about his new venture. He and I are still friends and when I asked him about Steemit, it was in the context of my thinking it was in fact he who had gone ahead with his idea. He told me he was not involved. I still believe that Steemit will have great challenges because of how prominent the desire for money is in the community. Money corrupts and people will often do unsavory things to get as much of it as they can. Even lots of good people will do this and justify their actions later.

At worse and in the case of Tsu, it will collapse the community. This is and will be a growing challenge for social networks like Steemit going ahead. The lure of money will get people to come but only a small fraction will ever generate enough to make it a reason to stay. So why will they stay. Responding to this questions powerfully in my humble opinion will determine if Steemit reaches its potential.

I will add that the other reason why my Bitcoin friend contacted me was that I had worked out a new social networking model that is more powerful than facebook, Twitter and the rest and has community at its center (and rewards people). He wanted to modify my model to include some of the great benefits from blockchain and crypto. I agreed to that but timing in life is everything and it did not work out. Meanwhile he is on a beach somewhere every day (I am on a beach too most days).

In the meantime, I am a great supporter of Steemit. I like it here, have learned some things, and have begun to meet cool people, so I want it to survive. Along those lines I am always available to offer ad share ideas to grow this community.

My business background has taken me to more than 30 countries on five continents and I have learned much about building in a high pressure environment and when the odds are constantly against you.

These thoughts are my own and thanks for reading my ideas. I do not purport to know or understand it all but I am learning every day and as I know more I am sure my thought will be modified. In the meantime, follow your dreams and always believe in yourself. All the best to you all.

I would love to start a conversation around this so please provide your feedback in the comments below. Also please resteem if you think it is valuable info for others.