Community Created Content Campaign for gifting the Steem Blockchain
The Steem blockchain is almost a year old. I would call this a community marketing campaign, but there is nothing to sell. The Steem blockchain is a gift, and we should always think of it as such when promoting it.
In this post entitled Beyond Steemit I outline the need for promoting Steem’s currencies and the technology of the blockchain.
Keep in mind that:
“A new logo, logotype, and clearly distinguishing color scheme will be developed for steemit.com to differentiate it from the Steem Blockchain (which will continue to use the existing, widely known logo) - Roadmap 2017
Steemit is still developing and is undergoing rebranding, but this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be extolling the virtues of the Steem currencies and the Steem blockchain.
The Steem blockchain’s greatest strength and greatest weakness is Steemit. Steemit is a weakness in that it is a bubble. Those who know about Steem get brought onto Steemit and post on Steemit about Steem. This prevents a lot of information from getting out to the rest of the masses who do not use Steemit or know about the Steem blockchain.
Aim of this campaign:
- Produce community created content that promotes Steem currencies and the Blockchain.
- Brand steem as smart money or something else positive and sexy.
I agree with @pfunk’s "smart money" post that cryptocurrency and other terms have negative connotations. We should trademark Steem as “Smart Money” or at least associate it with more positive terms such as being the leviathan of the blockchains, the true king of the cryptocurrencies, or anything else.
The noun “smart money” already has two meanings:
1. money bet or invested by people with expert knowledge.
2. knowledgeable people collectively.
3. money plugged into the Steem Blockchain.
Community Created Content Campaign
Mission: Create infographs & videos
Key infograph ideas for sharing across interwebs:
- What it is - Explain steem currencies (Steem and Steem Dollar) and why it’s better than bitcoin.
- How to get it - Mining Steem, how it is mined? By interacting with it. Comparison to “old” cryptocurrencies like bitcoin + (Environmentally friendly!)
- How to use it – How to use as a "smart money" wallet and how as a business to accept it.
- How it works - Growing Blockchain functionality and other features Aimed towards developers and businesses.
Key video ideas:
- Steem as "smart money" or superior cryptocurrency. Aimed towards businesses and users
- Steem blockchain technology. Aimed towards developers and businesses
Other video ideas:
- Cool random community made videos with cool music and maybe just text overlaying the cool video, explaining something.
Any and all ideas welcome. The above are just what I believe to be key points to get out there.
It would be sweet to have something like this in the description of our infographs/videos/community created content:
"This video/infograph was produced on the decentralised social media platform Steemit; one of many aspects of the Steem blockchain."
A decentralised social media platform on the Steem blockchain creating media content explaining the Steem currencies plugged into the Steem blockchain. It’s inception.
Worlds within worlds.
If Steemit can create content media of this kind, it shows that we are a capable arm of this blockchain. It shows the world not what we could be, but what we are; a self-sustaining, self-creating blockchain.
Who can help with this campaign?
Anyone and everyone.
- Technical people to provide data.
- Writers to present the information.
- Artists to produce infographs
- Filmmakers, editors, music producers to create media
- And more!
Help out in any way you want. Spread the content Steemit creates, or take your own initiative.
@Steevc updated our Wikipedia page yesterday! Simple things like this make a difference.
We need simple positive promotions towards businesses, users, developers, and investors.
We do not want this…. Dark-x-dash coin doesn’t do this to itself…
How can we achieve this as a community?
- We could create competitions like the Steem-Meme competitions: Infograph or video competitions
- We could fund suggested projects through votes
- We could just work together and see what happens
- So many possibilities
If you are interested in getting involved or have any ideas leave a comment. We should create an easy way to communicate, discuss, and carry out this community created content campaign. We can communicate using steemchat, discord, or other. I often use Steemspeak on discord.
Why do this?
Steemit users are a new type of venture capitalist. We are prospectors of the future. Consider this an experiment into decentralised media content production. We create intrinsic value for the money plugged into the blockchain, through content creation on a social media platform plugged into the blockchain. Through creating content on the social media platform aimed at promoting the blockchain and the money plugged into it, we synergistically accelerate the rate at which we give rise to the value through our creations, while simultaneously promoting the growth of creations within the blockchain. Everyone and everything related benefits.
@RiskDebonair
Irish Writer, Poet, & Lover of Steem
Great thinking here!
I've been also thinking about marketing of Steem lately. Maybe I'll have time tomorrow to write a blog post.
I have to disagree with "smart money". It just doesn't sound good to me, it's quite unclear what it is about when somebody hears the term first time.
In Bitshares we called price stable currencies as "smartcoins". It was a little bit easier to explain: "it's a cryptocurrency that automatically preserves its value". It had a smart component in it because it was basically a smartcontract.
We should set up a marketing channel on Steemit.chat or Discord for people who are interested in this. There is actually a #marketing at Steemit.chat but it's pretty much dead.
Smartcoin is cool but it is being used by a cryptocurrency.
We'll come up with something 😊
I'm not sure if there is any importance to renaming steem to some new term. I think it's better to teach people why they should use Steem and what they can do with it. That's usually much more effective than playing with branding.
The fallacy of calling something a currency when it is a commodity needs to be expressed and I will continue to do that even if I am speaking to walls.
I agree that to provide the world outside steem with more understanding of steem's blockchain and it's tenants: transparency and accountability for a social media platform, is paramount to bringing more users to the platform. One drawback is when someone gets to the platform and is swept up in a world of cryptocurrency/trading/blockchain technology and little other content, which is why the social media aspect won't change with more content aimed at the specialized experts, yes those few developers and people who seek to adapt blockchain technology might stay and socialize, create content, but the user base is every day people and they will be turned off because of the numerous posts that are alien speak to them.
I disagree in your suggestion of a fallacy being committed. Although cryptocurrencies are classed as a commodity by several institutions. I believe the Steem currencies to be valid, and that in time they will be recognised as such by the institutions who currently decry them.
There is plenty of content for everyone, and when more people join they will be creating the content they want to see.
This is about creating content to promote Steem's currencies, its blockchain, and indirectly steemit. I don't know how you think this is going to drastically change things. People can follow what they like and post what they like.
Edit: Having transparency and accountability within the blockchain and the social media platform is an excellent way to promote it. I would definitely want those words mentioned in the community created content I am proposing.
I know and understand that the social media is the best feature, but it is still being developed and also undergoing rebranding, which is why I think now is a good time to create some informational content about the currencies and blockchain which tie into Steemit, without Steemit being the main focus yet, until a few months down the line.
Which means we need to define money now:
So now money is a medium of exchange, which by definition is
If it represents a standard of value accepted by all parties then by definition a standard is
a required or agreed level of quality or attainment.
Exactly what is standard about steem? Absolutely nothing, just as dollars aren't any more currency, or euros, or anything that acts as a store of value, i.e. commodities.
A standard is defined as means to measure, and for it to be a standard, it needs to be unchanging, otherwise all previous measures are invalidated when the value it measures changes. For example, if a kilometer changes then all future measures will invalidate all previous uses of kilometer, same for every unit of measure, when a degree, or a second changes all previous instruments and therefore measurements will be value nil as a standard.
The Steem dollar! And if currency doesn't exist based on the first definition then we can just use the second definition:
😊
As that can be applied to anything, which doesn't define anything then, it isn't what we can use, it lacks context and without context there is ample room for interpretation and confusion.
Currently currency exists only as an idea, in real world we are engaging in bartering with an ever fluctuating and usually devalued commodity based on the whims of a few sick individuals, just as the markets for precious metals are controlled and devalued at whim, artificially and without the natural supply and demand mechanism which gives them value. To put it short we are bartering with torn sacks of rice which with any transaction lose more value.
Okay currencies may not exist in the real world as you would imagine them, but as what you linked me says:
Steem and Steem dollar serves the function as abstract medium, with the Steem dollar having relative stability in terms of being pegged to the dollar.
And above you use the definition of standard for "Standard of Value" which means An agreed-upon value for a transaction in a country's medium of exchange, such as the dollar or peso.
You have confirmed even more than without a doubt that Steem and Steem dollar are currencies in their own right. Even more so than the "traditional" failing fiat currencies.
In a way they are, but as I cannot create steem then unit creation still makes it not a currency but another token. That and the fact that it's value is subjective and not agreed upon also makes it unable to be a currency, but the first thing that needs to be expressed is the word abstract.
Steem is not an idea, will never be an idea, it is a real thing, albeit not tangible, but it is real as the words that I type are real, and real as it is objectively viewed and understood.
-nesting limit-
I think it's imperative that we don't see it as currency, it has no need to be a currency as currencies aren't abstract but tangible things therefore they are a scam, a sham, but to be in truth it's as simple as recognizing it's a commodity. It being pegged to the dollar has no value once the dollar is no more, and history teaches us that it's only a matter of time for a system that is unbounded and inherently unstable to reach it's final conclusion. That said steem is still a commodity, and it has value, as a store of value it also very hard to be devalued because stability is built into the equation of distributing/creating new steem at a constant rate, meaning that it's not constrained by artificial and arbitrary state budgets and deficits, interest and inflation. It will fluctuate in value based on the markets at large and how people trade and how much SP is invested into the system, giving it scarcity and therefore value, it is a novel commodity in those aspects because it shuns hoarding, and it also rewards investment, it is not bounded by tariffs and regulations outside the system and it is free of fees which will ultimately lead to devalue with each transaction.
I think you can see what I mean when I say that it's not a currency, I am not denigrating steem at all, I want to make that clear. It has potential to replace all other usually traded commodities as unit creation isn't limited by certain individuals and is built into the system and therefore individuals won't create bubbles at a whim, and it isn't limitless either to make it nil as a store of value, because of that it has scarcity, also built into the system not controlled by arbitrary parties. The fact that we use the word currency and money is not an inconvenient reality but a perpetrated scam which then impresses onto everyone stability and standard, if we move away from that we can recognize the truth, that all we have ever done is traded one commodity for goods or services or for another commodity, and there is nothing wrong with that, apart from the fact that the commodity we all consider money is constantly devalued at the whim of arbitrary parties and only certain parties are capable of mining/discovering more of that commodity, and that's the reality, not what I would imagine. So then, making a move to a recognition of reality is paramount to living in truth and not fiction. Then we can be aware of what we use to barter/trade and how those things matter to us instead of supposing that we are engaging in buying and selling when in fact we are simply bartering one commodity that we have no chance ever to create ourselves, for another. If there is no account created and no units agreed upon, then it's not a currency, and what we believe to be the norm: inflation, taxes and fees will equally be repulsive when people realize they are simply bartering, just as it will be repulsive to give our time and effort for sacks of rice with torn bottoms.
For more thorough explanation of what is commodity and what is currency go to http://www.bibocurrency.com
Thanks! 😎
Yes, and it's important to distinguish numbers on a ledger, or currency, from store of value, ie precious metals and such commodities. We can all make our own currency, it has nothing to do with implementing a standard world wide or backing with gold, or any other fallacious suppositions, but with bounded input (debt) bounded output (canceled debt), and there is no reason to use money as we know it as it constantly devalues everything, it is an insane system imposed unto us, we can transact outside interest and fees, outside the paradigm of credit scores and to raise awareness of these flaws is very important, probably the utmost importance. Calling something currency, money, or medium of exchange when in fact is nothing more than commodity continues this false idea, in promoting it as truth, as it is in reality we are taking the very first steps in recognizing the obsolescence imposed onto the world and invalidating the idea itself which everyone holds as true and immutable.
I agree. And I believe pushing towards using "Currencies" on a transparent and accountable blockchain is a step in the right direction. For now though people recognise currencies as what others would call commodities, and so we should use currency until we are established, otherwise it will bring confusion to the average person.
Why not make the first radical step now? I think it's evident that in doing so we won't just be recognized as aligned with radical truth but as trustworthy and genuine in our efforts, as deliberate in our actions. It can start anytime, and the best time is now. Everyone understands what commodities mean: stores of value, there is nothing wrong with admitting to the facts. The system we are all under is built onto confusion, if aligning with their terminology means less confusion I don't see it, I see it as disingenuous but not actually outright lying, scamming or maliciousness.
I was expressing that focusing on one aspect, and that aspect being minute in the real world, and in the community here, that being blockchain technology and cryptocommodity aka Steem, will saturate the content and drive everyday people away by thinking they landed in the geek room and everyone is speaking in terms that mean nothing to them. I think it's a valid concern that more technical content wont necessarily build more interest in the platform, there isn't a lack of posts about cryptocommodities and the problem of creating more explanatory posts about how the system works, how the platform functions is that they will only get minimal views (less than 10 usually) and quickly descend into yesterday's news. One way that we could attract more users or retain the ones we have even is to update the whitepaper and the faq. The system, being in beta nonetheless, is making steady progress and addressing the issues that are important I think:
SP and the respective curves
Increased timeframes for post payouts
Nesting limit
Comment rewards
The rebranding, the ui and other things I would categorize as quirks more than issues and they don't require a hardfork of course, even the nesting limit being turned off will create ui problems that won't need addressing at the core level but only through the front end.
I agree the faq needs updated. Simples things like that!
I just wrote about this topic: https://steemit.com/steem/@samupaha/marketing-for-steem-let-s-get-to-the-basics