Yours and Synereo could drive users to Steemit: Thoughts after earning almost $1000 in 2 months here

I've noticed recently some people are starting to talk about the upcoming launch of yours.network and so naturally I went and checked it out, just like I went and checked out Synereo when I first heard of it as well, and you know what my thoughts were?

"This could really drive a lot of people to Steemit"

How does that work Dex? Is your brain really so twisted up and confused that you think the launch of a platform that is directly stating it is going to be competing with Steemit going to drive people to the platform it is meant to compete with?

Yes, yes it is... my brain... twisted that is... sorry if you're having trouble keeping up here. Lemme 'splain.

First off, what's this "yours" thingamergeigercounter yer yammerin' on about??

So in case you haven't heard yours.network is an upcoming social media platform designed sortof after the Steemit model. It's going to be a place when content creators can go and post their content, with the hopes that they will get paid in cryptocurrency for their hard work. So how is it different than Steemit? Well yours.network is going to be based on bitcoin payment, which some people are saying is the problem with Steemit. Altcoins can never compare to the original bitcoin, so why not create a blockchain based social that works with bitcoin. Problem solved! yours.network is poised to take over and crush Steemit right!!??

Not so fast speedy mcrush and jump

I must admit, I got a little excited to see that there is a Steemit style blockchain based social site coming out that uses bitcoin as their author and curator payment... then I dug a little deeper... and started thinking. How does yours.network pay out? Well, similar to what Synereo's model will be, (if they ever actually release anything) Yours will be a "tip" based service. What that means is that whenever you up vote, or curate and article that you enjoy, it will take a certain small amount of bitcoin from your wallet and "tip" that to the author. Cool right!? Oh wait though, how do you get the bitcoin?

That's right, you have to buy it first, or earn it straight out from posting. I see a few problems with this.

Problem 1: It's free to like something on the mighty Faceboosh, and you get paid to like things on Steemit

So who in their right mind is going to abandon a platform like Steemit that PAYS you to up vote deserving content, or at the very least a platform like facebook that doesn't charge you to like something, and jump onto a platform like Yours that CHARGES you to up vote things? How does that make sense? Yes you can potentially earn BTC on Yours from posting, and they seem to have some sort of system worked out that if you curate a post before others do, then you will receive a portion of the rewards from others curating that same content, but the fact is it still costs everyone something to do it, and Steemit pays you to do the same thing.

"Been on Yours for a couple weeks and wasted a few bucks worth of BTC voting on posts that didn't go anywhere? Why not try Steemit, you'd probably be a few bucks worth of BTC ahead by now."

Problem 2: Voting power

Steemit has (in my opinion) a very intelligent, though still improvable way of scaling voting power. The more you invest into Steemit via Steempower, to more your vote counts. The more your vote counts, the more people will want you to vote on their content. The more people want you to vote on their content the more they are going to follow you. And the more they follow you, the more you can potentially make from your own posts.

I see Steemit as a perpetual motion machine. If you work it properly you will end up getting more out than you put in. In the long run we will all win with Steemit, but how can that type of voting power system be transferred to a platform like Yours based on BTC? The only way I see it being possible to increase your voting power on Yours is by increasing the amount of BTC you tip to a post you want to upvote, which drives us right around the block to problem #1, it COSTS you to curate, Steemit PAYS you to curate.

"Hey, spent $15 worth of BTC to upvote that post you thought would go viral and didn't? Why not try Steemit, you could have spent that $15 worth of BTC on Steempower to increase your vote weight, or at least spent it on promoting your post and potentially making way more."

Problem 3: Investing in Bitcoin is super scary for noobs, I know, I was one before Steemit.

The absolute only reason I ever became fully familiar with bitcoin and how easy it is to actually use is because of Steemit. Steemit offered me an absolutely risk free way to enter the crypto currency world, and I was stoked about that. Once I figured out the basics of Steemit, I proceeded to go and sort out how to translate that sweet sweet Steem into Bitcoin, and from there it's simple enough to translate that into other currencies. The way I see it, no crypto noob like I was would be willing to jump into something as scary (and it really is to noobs) as Bitcoin, so that they can then use that bitcoin to pay to promote other people's work. On the face, it looks like an absolute waste of money. Steemit actually gives you some Steem to start out with, there is literally zero risk, you can only go up from where you start.

"Been hearing about this yours.network thing but kinda weirded out by cryptos and don't want to take the risk? Why not try Steemit, they actually start you out with a free dose of Steem, and you can literally only increase it. Zero risk, only rewards."

Am I missing something here?

The way I see it, these platforms that are going to be based on a tipping system are only going to make Steemit's Steem and SBD based system all the more appealing. I know I personally would not be inclined to invest any amount of money into Bitcoin anyhow (since I never did before) not to mention that the only thing I can do with that Bitcoin now is spend it on paying other people to post stuff I could probably see for free on Facebook or Google.

I really feel that Steemit will benefit from the launch of these platforms, because it is established, and it is a great system. The people like you and me who are sticking with Steemit see its incredible potential, and that potential is verified by the other platforms that are jumping on to the blockchain social train right now, but I think Steemit is doing it right.

Why I'm staying all in for Steemit

I have a dirty little secret: For a little while I was splitting up my author rewards, keeping some SBD for promoting and donating, and dropping my earned Steem onto Poloniex to play around trading alt coins. I gathered up a fair amount of AMP for a while, wondering if maybe it was the next thing. Soon I started to think though, and I started to realize many of the things I've written in this post, so a little while ago I made the decision, put my foot on the floor, traded those AMPS back and bought the balance in Steem. I brought that Steem back to my wallet to immediately power up, (which was a nice little Steem power boost at the time). I've been powering up ever since, and I've noticed that since I dove into Steem full force I've been growing my wallet at a much quicker rate than when I was sitting on the fence.

In the two months since I joined Steemit I went from a crypto uber noob to understanding this whole crypto currency thing, something I've always wanted to do but have never had a risk free or easy way to accomplish, until Steemit. I've also managed to earn almost $1,000USD worth of crypto currency, something I honestly never imagined I would say. Steemit is what made this happen, but there is something even more awesome that Steemit has done.

If you're a follower of mine you will probably know that the majority of the work I post here is stuff that has been sitting in darkness on my hard drives for sometimes years. Photos that I always meant to share with the world, but I never had time, or a reason, to share them. Steemit has given me a platform to share some of my most amazing memories, places I have traveled, photos I have taken, personal projects I have never shared with anyone, Steemit gives me a reason to share these things, and I love doing it. Bonus: Steemit PAYS you to do it!

So what's the point here? Well every now and then I like to take a break from my photo centric posts to just write something. I've always enjoyed writing, but I'm not that good at creative stuff, so I like to just write my thoughts down. My thoughts are: Steem on Steemians. This platform is amazing, and the principals and ideas that are driving it are the right way to go. I think that when, or if, any of these other platforms do launch, they aren't going to pull people away from Steemit, they are going to drive people to it.

Well that's the end of my rants for now folks, as always if you like the post feel free to toss me one of those sweet sweet up votes, you know I always appreciate them! And be sure to follow me @dexter-k on Steemit to see new original (mostly photography) content all the time.

I welcome any comments, criticisms, etc. that you might have as well! Am I way off base here, or am I making sense to you? Let me know, and thanks for reading!

Dexter