If you are willing to give me five minutes of your time, I would like to share with you an idea which I believe could launch Steemit to unimaginable heights. However, I first want to clarify that not only do I expect this never to happen, but this is not me asserting that it should happen. I just found this to be an interesting concept, and as many of you know, I very much enjoy thought experiments and discussions, so I couldn't help myself from sharing.

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Before I am able to put forth this idea, I must first set the context for which the profound nature of it can be appreciated. I think for the most part, we are all in agreement that for Steemit to attain the level of success that it warrants, a mass adoption has to happen.

This platform is a remarkable work of innovation, and I don't believe that the obstacle preventing mass adoption from happening right now can be attributed to the site itself. What is on offer here, is far better than what is on offer anywhere else. The problem we face, is that generations of exploitation by just about every corporate and governmental body, has left the people in the world with a distrust for newly established businesses.

We need only look at Steemit's competition to find some perfect examples of this.;

At Facebook, 50% of the users were subjected to secretive psychological experiments. Be it in the form of intentionally locking them out of the site to see how long they repeatedly (and pathetically) tried to log in before giving up, or manipulating their news feeds to show depressing stories and attempt to alter their emotional states. --Source

At Reddit, the CEO was editing the comments of users on the site that dared to criticized him. Not only is this a serious violation of the right to free speech, but it brings into question the validity of any and all prosecutions that were brought about as a result of online evidence. In this case, it was just being caught in that act that forced a confession, but how do we know what other social media sites are doing this same thing? No longer can we trust that, because a username is displayed next to a comment, that it means the user actually wrote the words we are reading --Source

These are just two examples, but we could go on for days. We have Youtube demonetizing videosthat their friends in government don't approve of. Twitter banning users for speaking up against illegal content found on the site. We have almost every single website and smartphone app asking for permissions that extend way beyond the scope of what is necessary to execute the function it provides, then spying on users and passing/selling that data on to third parties.

With all this going on, it is no surprise that the masses may be hesitant to jump on board with another newly developed platform. As of now, the key element being used to promote Steemit seems to the ability to make money here. This is great, but I think that humanity is on the verge of an awakening and the sentiment that money is not everything is on the rise.

What could benefit Steemit tremendously, is a magnanimous act of humility or generosity by the founders @ned and @dantheman. I will give an example of what I mean, but keep in mind that this is thought experiment and not a suggestion that they should do so.

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The Idea (Finally)

An example of such a magnanimous action, would be to relinquish 50% of the wealth of their accounts, distributing it in STEEM Power to the very poorest accounts on the site-- say for instance, active accounts that hold less than 1500 STEEM POWER.

I know, this is a crazy idea, but allow me to share with you a few of the potential advantages that this could have, not only for Steemit, but even for the creators themselves.

• Media Attention

As I explained in the first part of this post, people naturally expect businesses to see them as products rather than customers in today's age. Imagine what the reception would be like for a headline like this to appear in the media.

Founders of Social Media Site Donate $1,000,000/Half Their Own Wealth to the Poorest of Their User Base To Assist Them In Getting Started

Now, before anyone jumps in the comments and says that they do not even have the funds for this in their accounts, I'm aware of that. The number is not the point. The amount of people who would take note and think, "A social media site that is ran by people who want to help their users, rather than exploit them for personal gain??"

If I were to read that, having never heard of this site, I would come to Steemit instantly and sign up for an account. At the very least, people would want to investigate. I'm confident that after doing so, they would see the value in what Ned and Dan have created here. There comes your mass adoption..

• Trust is Established.

I cannot speak for everyone, but even at this point, though I love this site and what it represents, I still harbour doubts about the intentions of those at the very top. It's natural to feel this way, especially considering that such a vast amount of altcoins turned out to be nothing more than a scam.

This act would serve as the conduit for which users who are already a part of Steemit can invest their trust in the founder's motivations and begin to purchase STEEM and power up. At the moment, it's hard for someone to be willing to invest their own money into a site where so many of the people who hold the most influence seem to be cashing out desperately.

Between the loyal Steemit users who begin to invest in the platform, and the millions of potential new users who come pouring in also wanting to invest, we could see the demand for STEEM skyrocketing.

• User Retention and STEEM Power Refinement

Now I don't want to be misinterpreted here, because I believe that STEEM power is a fascinating concept. I feel that it isn't working at the moment, however. It seems to me that it was intended for a Steemit where there isn't such a large amount of the influence horded by a tiny, tiny few.

I often see posts with 250+ votes, and only $0.50 payout. On the same day, I will see a post with $250 + payout, with only 50 votes. With the current price of STEEM, it can seemingly take over a 100 minnows to accumulate a mere %0.01. I don't doubt that for those who have been on the receiving end of the hundreds of votes, but receiving tiny payouts, this has served as a reason for users to abandon the site.

With the lowest vested accounts being given a boost of x amount of STEEM Power from the creators, the efficacy of the influence system would be greatly increased. Then perhaps 100 minnows upvoting a post would at least grant someone a few dollars. Obviously there would be the risk that some people would power down their newly acquired STEEM and go back to Facebook, but that could easily be negated by imposing a rule that you have to accumulate x amount of upvotes before you can power down.

With more users not having to rely on getting seen, and then upvoted by dolphins and whales, the problem we face with users leaving the site would certainly begin to improve.

• A Massive Return On Investment

For all the reasons above, such an act of trust and commitment to the future of Steemit, would show the people of Steemit--and of the world-- the dedication that the founders have towards securing the future of the site. When as a result of this people start joining, creating, investing and developing on Steemit, the demand and in turn the price of STEEM could see phenomenal growth. At that point, the 50% of their original account value that was left over after the distribution, would multiple by 10, 20, 50x, equating to a massive gain rather than a loss.

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As I said, this is not a plea to Dan and Ned to do this. I know that if I had put in the work that they have, it would be a very difficult choice for me to give up my hard-earned money--even if I did have pure motives towards the growth of the site. I guess this idea was conceived through my desire to see such an act of generosity in a world where it is all but non-existent. Or perhaps it could have just been the weed...

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Thanks for reading. Let me know if you think I'm way too optimistic in my thoughts on where such an action could lead Steemit.

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As always, if you deem this post worthy, a resteem to get the discussion flowing is always appreciated.

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Have a Great Night, and Merry Christmas, Steemians!

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Note: All images are either royalty free or composed of royalty free images and edited by me. Feel free to use the header image in your own posts if you like it.