Steemit - Problems With Different Platforms Showing The Same Content (Opinion Piece)
A great thing about Steemit is that the platform is open-source. This means that anyone with the skills can build their own version and even a completely different style of site - showing the same content.
It is fantastic that we can expand upon a platform like this. However, because of the nature of the content on Steemit, it does not always easily translate to all other types of platforms in my opinion.
I have seen a few sites and apps up and running already, and some that are upcoming.
Busy
Busy.org is probably one of the most popular alternatives, as far as I have seen. What it does, is show the Steemit content in a Facebook-like feed. Other than that, it enables direct messaging and makes finding people you follow easier in a Facebook friend/chat-list way. Right now, the content I have seen is the same as on Steemit. On Facebook, you are more likely to see smaller status updates, whereas on Busy.org, because of Steemit being the main Steem content platform, I have mostly seen Steemit blog style content on the site.
At the end of the day, if users keep using Busy.org in the same way, they do now, I do not think it will have much impact on the Steemit site.
SteepShot
One thing that might change people’s behavior is the Instagram user-interface styled app called SteepShot. SteepShot is as of right now an image posting/viewing app but promises to integrate Instagram like filters and cropping features soon. Having diverse ways to browse Steem content is splendid, but since everything posted on one Steem site gets sent everywhere else, we end up with a problem.
Now if I post a picture with a small text on SteepShot, and it shows up on Steemit, it is probably no big deal. People are doing that already.
But what when I post a guide on Steemit on some topic, and it just shows the first picture from that guide on SteepShot?
Having a picture saying “Steemit Guide” is valueless for SteepShot users, if there is no actual Steemit Guide included. I wrote a Mumble Guide for Beyond Bitcoin hangouts for example.
What use would a SteepShot user have of this banner?
Let us see that in the context of SteepShot:
And here is the picture in the SteepShot feed:
The small text entry below the image is actually the headline on Steemit. In other words, it says, there is a Mumble Guide, but that guide is nowhere to be found on SteepShot, misleading the viewer.
The point
My point is, it provides zero value to have the Mumble Guide banner on SteepShot. If I prefer to mostly post articles and guides, and I sometimes want to engage SteepShot users, then I will be flooding SteepShot users with useless content. If I prefer to mostly use SteepShot but sometimes want to engage Steemit, I might create a strange feed, where Steemit readers would miss my posts, because of all the pictures I uploaded in between.
What I would prefer is having a side-chain, or even just a way to only post pictures on SteepShot, that did not show up on Steemit, as well as post content on Steemit, that did not show up on SteepShot. This would give the app exclusive content and my profile there – value to viewers. At that point I would even prefer it to Instagram!
Do not get me wrong, the SteepShot app looks really slick! The developers seem to grasp what Instagram is. The content there, however, is the problem, when it also automatically pulls content from Steemit and vice versa. The same way I would not want everything posted on Instagram to show up on Medium or Reddit, I would much prefer to have some way to separate the content showing up on Steemit and SteepShot.
Sometimes having different content for different platforms is the best, I think.
What do you think is the best way to post and browse Steem content on different apps and sites? Tell me in the comments below.
Yes, man.. That is a good point. its like someones Instagram getting filled with filler photos, that are just there to enhance text on steemit posts. I think that it should only draw from the photography tags and etc maybe.. A side block-chain is an idea too though
Exactly! I think it leads to a mess, and that is sad considering the good work that's already gone in to SteepShot for example.
mah...I think Reddit, facebook, instagram, etc are failed architectures... that's what I see looking at 10 years from now unless ofcourse they make a drastic change now or at least in the next five years...the surviving of those platforms is indirectly proportional to time...I believe blockchains system are by all means the future for sometime ahead..today I read a post of a few ones that I encountered about "decentraland" a new "my farm" type of game that uses the blockchain tech. https://decentraland.org/ I believe in those "things"...I have youtube and facebook notifications piling up to the ceiling lol I feel sorry for them one of these days I will make an official farewell post to at least facebook..almost all my major youtubers are migrant here so :D
Whether or not those sites are failed architectures is not the point though. Think of having the same content from all those sites show up on every site. It would be chaotic. This is what other Steemit related sites and apps are doing, as mentioned in the article.
I focused on a particular point , you are right.. I just can't stand fb and company...:) but even steepshot or whatever else is out there are "copy cats" and again lacks fundamentals for long term survival...I see them as a side publicity to steemit :) because if you think about sites like hi5 and even messengers like yahoo and msn that preceded fb, reddit, instagram etc you will see that the pattern is repeating...It's Iike a caesar's salad now... dont know ultimately what's happening I just know that people will migrate when they see that they are being rewarded for their time and effort and thus steem will rise to higher grounds
Reddit's actually planning on implementing cryptocurrency on the site at some point in the future. The content and discussions on reddit are far better than they are here and if they're going to pay people to use the site like steem does, steem with its handful of power user that dominate the site will be abandoned faster than digg was.
I didn't know about those 2 platforms till this post. Could be great that they try to provide the same interface as popular websites/apps but it's not for all people. I'd love for steemit to have those looks/functions, but all in all steemit should create a website that looks their own, when people see it - 'oh that's steemit'.
Steemit isn't creating the other sites. Those are created by different people building upon the steem code in one way or another.
Steemit will keep being Steemit :D
Yes, but Steemit has to improve - lots of things missing here. Even basic notifications when people mentions you don't exist (or they do but they don't work).
That's true. That's actually the main reason I have eSteem (although I don't get any notifications currently for some reason).
I was gonna check that app out for that reason. Hopefully they fix it? Btw, does it list all the previous mentions somewhere?
The app shows notifications in the top bar, but it does not save them. You can try and search through mentions on something like http://steem.cool/mentions/
Thank you! This will be really helpful for me!
Hi @rawbinhood :)
This is a great article! I knew about busy but not about the other two platforms! It's fun to see all of the new sites being created and integrated in.
I wonder as well what will happen to Steemit with these new platforms... in some ways it makes it more accessible... that could be a positive and a negative. Right now with the learning curb as it is here on Steemit, it seems to act as a boundary for some... sites like Busy make it really easy for anyone to get on and figure out how to start posting. I see a lot of people coming over from IG so it'll be interesting to see how things go around here! Thanks for sharing, have a wonderful weekend my friend! :) XO
Hi Heart! Long time, I hope you are well in your new spot!
Busy might make it easier for Facebook users to move over to the steem-o-sphere and it would make little difference to the content being produced, I think.
Instagram people would love SteepShot for sure, but I just hope they won't be confused by all the strange banner images showing up in their feed. Or really, I hope SteepShot (and others) can find a way to have exclusive content for their apps / sites.
Hope you and the four legged have a wonderful weekend too. Tell me how it goes on Discord, when you are settled and have time! :)
Hey Robin! I actually am back in Bali (thank goodness- praise the airplane for gently letting me down again!) I'll give ya the lowdown soon! Right now I am playing catch up with this madness I started before taking off ;)
Hmmm I see your points. In so far as Insta is concerned, I have seen friends come on here, posting a picture and then getting disappointed they aren't making thousands of dollars. I just hope it stays a place for quality content and that it encourages creativity in the way it has been so far. It would be a shame to lose the thing that makes Steemit unique in all the attempts to make it more accessible.
We'll see :)
Let's catch up soon!
XO
I don't think there is a significant difference between the platforms. I use Steemit when on my laptop and eSteem while on my phone. It's only a matter of preference that should cause you to use one platform or another, but in the end, you'll receive the same content.
There is no real different for the intended content on Steemit and eSteem. SteepShot however only shows an image and a headline. There is no post text, meaning, a lot of banner images, that are useless without context, will end up on SteepShot.
That's what I said. Content will be completely the same across all platforms. I think the real problem will be with people seeing these posts that originated from SteepShot and confuse people on another platform who will start downvoting this content thinking it is just spam. In this case, I really don't how it could be resolved.
One of my suggestions above is having a sidechain. If that's not possible currently, then I agree that it's hard to separate.
Sidechains aren't always great. We could look at Golos as an example, but we can't be assured that another side chain would be as successful. We also have to consider Steep Shot's traffic. Is the community large enough to be able to support a completely different blockchain?
It is not yet, but it could be. In my opinion the advantage of having exclusive, relevant, content outweighs the logistical problems. However, I am very open to someone developing a better solution, that's easier to implement and run.
By the way, I remember you from the LFN logo content. Right your BitShares account name on the following post, and I'll send you 15 LFNCOIN for you entry in the contest: https://steemit.com/lfncoin/@rawbinhutt/logo-contest-1-all-the-winners
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To be honest, that is always a concern of mine. Having such a fantastic concept be open source means there will be others that can tweak and possibly make a better product. That really should be a benefit to everyone as competition is great for the consumer.
But I quite like Steem. I'm sure we'll be fine.
The other platforms, Busy and SteepShot, uses the same content as Steemit and you have the same wallet. Therefore, they are not competitors in the same way that Steemit and Medium competes.
Have never heard of these other platforms, so your post was of great interest to me, and now I shall be up half the night checking them out, I get the impression that content will be shared whether authors like it or not, and I don't. But hey, I;m getting used to having less and less choice about what happens to things I produce. Just made the reluctant switch from windows xp to 10. That was a shock to the system. But what I found hardest was the way in which work you produce seems to get posted everywhere. Carefully downloaded software to a usb drive so I could produce bitcoin paper wallets offline and keep them secret last week. Then I produced a second lot that weren't going to be shared on facebook, twitter, blogger and the cloud and emailed to all my contact list. Sometimes I want to close all accounts just so my pc is MINE once more.
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STOPVery interesting post
Very interesting post @rawbinhutt, thank you!