My fears for future Steemit

I am relatively new to Steemit. There are many things I like here and it seems that most people are actively trying to put their best foot forward. It is refreshing to get such a mix of personalities and ideas flowing and I have noticed that many are welcoming and supportive of new members. Many engage in a wide range of areas including those outside of their comfort zones and most do this with a certain amount of civility. There seems to be a positive amount of support as well as a balance of criticism with even this side generally getting delivered with a level of respect and understanding. It can also be that I have managed to avoid much of the flaming and trolling in my Steemit travels. When I have come across it, it generally seems among the established members who are likely be more heavily invested in the development of the platform. Overall though, all is well.

Now, my fears.

When I say fear, I don't mean I lay in bed at night worrying about the future of Steemit although I do hope that the platform expands. What I worry about is how it will expand. Like many, I have several social platform accounts. I don't really think they are very social but, that is the naming convention so I better stick to it. My fears for Steemit in this regard is related to how these other platforms have developed.

Twitter has become a political war zone of 140 characters or less poison. There is so little of value there and the search to find it through a constant stream of stupidity by those that claim to know best, is near impossible.

Facebook has grown from sharing what someone had for dinner and baby pics (stuff for friends) to spreading paid advertisements, sensationalised news, nonsense quotes, videos of scripted events claiming to be candid and lists of 10 things to do before you blah, blah, blah... Oh, and any evidence that supports one's current position, no matter how flaky the source.

Linked In may be the worst at the moment for me. A place where I used to connect with and be found by clients, it has developed into a 'share anything for a like' forum. "Did you know, 98% of people answer this simple maths question incorrectly?" 5400 replies? Please. Most of the posts are marketers advertising how to market your business on social media foolishness. I assume they are from people with no real talent but had heard of how big this social media thing was getting and figured it was perfect for them.

Instagram has developed into a marketing machine for people who think pretty people are valuable because they are pretty. Feeds are filled with 3000 selfies at slightly different angles with 19 year olds giving advice on how to live a quality life and 'photographers' with 'all photos taken on an Iphone 6' in their info lines. Admittedly, there are some quality people there in some of my interest areas and probably other areas too.

I tried Medium also. What could be a decent forum has been crowded out by famous people and their morally self-important, often questionable messages and people telling others about how awesome they think themselves to be.

There are a few others but you get the idea. Of course, I am being a little harsh as each platform does have some sides to it that may offer value and I know, I sound quite a lot like a grumpy old man that just 'doesn't get it'. And this is somewhat true, I mean, Snapchat? WHY?

I digress, back to my fears. Steemit is monetized already and the users decide who gets paid. I like this idea a lot but wonder what happens next. What happens when there are millions of users. What happens when Kim Kardashian joins? She has 30 million facebook fans, 50 million twitter followers and close to 100 million on Instagram. Where do the votes go? When the masses are acting like masses, is there hope that they will say 'I'm sick of Kim Kardashian'.

When there are that many people using Steemit does anyone care anymore about remuneration for comments or whether or not they are going to drop 100% on this story or that? When publicists, paid speech writers and dedicated marketers are posting for the stars and politicians, who is going to listen to what some nobody who likes to think a lot and write occasionally has to say? Are we all going to get crowded out, or at least most of us. Does Steemit follow the pathways of the other platforms and traverse the roads already heavily travelled?

Does it splinter into factions that do not interact, building walls out of filters so each group can remain isolated, insulated and safe inside their own echo chamber? Does the introduction of advertisements start to skew stories and payouts? Do companies start promoting the stories that are friendly to their cause and flagging those that may bring harm? What kinds of bots will there be? Do contributors become slave to popularity and create clickbait?

Does Steemit become a success story to the detriment of the user?

There are many questions I have around this and very few answers but I hope that those involved with the development of Steemit are thinking carefully about how and where it will go. Personally for me, I will take a more stoic view and do my best but prepare for the worst. Regardless of the future, I will continue to do what I do. Mostly for myself, but if others benefit, that is good too. I guess, time will tell.

Taraz

[a Steemit original]