Maybe Steem(it) just needs more people like you :-)

I like to think that the current Steemit Inc. has a vision: monetize creation (via tokenization mostly).

They had that vision, until they planned to "tokenize the internet". I asked Ned at Steemfest in November 2017 exactly that (what's your vision for 2018) and that was his answer.
Now we see that this vision was probably too big, so I'd love to see us going back to the initial idea of "giving back value to those who create value" as initially proclaimed during Ned Scott's keynote speech at Steemfest 2016. As you can see, Steemfest and keynote speeches are totally my thing :-)

My question about SMTs is: how independent can Smart Media Token creators (owners) be after launching their own token? As far as I understand the concept, a SMT is a protocol that can be custumized according to one's needs. So the exciting question is: will we need a support or maintenance from Steemit, Inc's development team after lauching our own SMTs - or do they just work as stand-alone / autonomous tokens? That's where the true secret of decentralization lies to me. Cause if they created SMTs and made us dependent on their dev team, then we'd be at the exact same point where we were a year ago.

Btw I would like to invite you to Steemspeak on discord - a chatroom that includes a voice room where we frequently talk about Steem (and other things that matter). Not sure if you're a person who spends time chatting, but if you do then feel free to hit the button at any time :-)

https://discord.gg/agq5weK