STEEM Evolution: SteemPeak!

Source

A couple of weeks ago I ran into a number of articles that recommended starting the use of SteemPeak as the way to interact and engage on the STEEM blockchain. We all know that Steemit has really been focusing on the development of the infrastructure of the blockchain to support future exciting projects which has definitely limited the progress of making Steemit more functional for users (its actually still in Beta!). However, since STEEM provides the ability to build DApps to interact with the blockchain, couple of developers have started to build front-end alternatives to engage within the ecosystem. SteemPeak is one of the latest and is actually quite impressive.

When you get to the site, you can immediately see the visual improvement of the interface as they have provided a more artistic approach. In addition, the site provides a number of alternatives to change the look of your feed including filters to show what you are most interested in. For example, you can see stories in a tile like format or the more traditional list format. You can also filter out resteemed posts if you would like. While this alone is great from a user interface perspective, the site goes much deeper into some improvements. There is an alert/notification section that lets you know what is going on while you browse.

From a publishing perspective, the platform provides some great options for active users. One feature that I have enjoyed is how the creation of a post provides a side by side view of your post and a preview instead of having to scroll down. In addition, before publishing you have some great options for the post like adding beneficiaries and automaticaly upvoting your post (which was eliminated a couple of months ago on Steemit). Even more exciting, you can save a draft of a post if you need to cut your writing session short and continue later before posting.

Another great publishing option is to setup templates to work off of if you have some standard information and links in your posts. For example, some posts have links to other social media accouts we like to share or to comunities we support. This allows us to be more efficient when posting more often. The best feature here is that you can schedule posts for the future. This has come in handy as I recently had to travel and was able to setup posts for 3 days in advance to ensure I did not miss out in case I did not have access to the internet or was busy due to work. All of these features have worked very well for me so far.

The platform also provides some great data for users to analyze their use in the ecosystem. These are in a dashboard section which provides some great informtion that we previously had to go to different web services to get. For example, I use Steem World multiple times a day to ensure that my Voting Power is being used to support the commuity and is never below 80% nor at 100% for too long. This along with some great information like vote value and bandwidth is available at the top of the page. This defiitely saves time as you engage with the ecosystem. While other sites continue to provide great value for analysis, having it consolidated in a front-end site allows for more efficient interations which provide more time for browsing.

The dashboards also provides some great statistics to monitor many key metrics like rewards from authoring and curating posts. There are also metrics to see the amount of activity in posts, comments, and replies over time in the commuuity. It helps provide a visual representation of how active you have been recently. This visual approach also makes the analysis muc quicker that manually counting and evaluating your engagement by searching the blockchain for this data. I personally depend so much on the data that it is a great feature to have this available in one package.

While my experience has mostly focused on its uses for an active user, I think that this type of interface could also open the way for more users to engage as it looks more attractive than the Steemit site. With the upcoming HF 20 whereas we expect more users to join, this could be a great gateway to maintain user retention and engagement. As most come from the likes of other centralized social media platform, it is important that we modify the approach to help motivate an easier transition into the #STEEM ecosystem

In my first try at the platform, I can see the great advancement that Steem Peak provides to us users. The visual improvements with the integration of key metrics and data points helps me spend the time where it is most valuable, engaging with the community.

Have you tried this front-end alternative to Steemit or any other? Let me know your experience as I continue to explore the different ways we can engaged around the ecosystem without being tied to Steemit. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback in the comments below.

All Screenshots were taken directly from the SteemPeak website

Follow me on Twitter: @NAICrypto

If you are like me and interested in continued personal growth, invest in yourself and lets help each other out by leveraging the resources they provide by using my referral link:
https://www.minnowbooster.com/referral/530636

Start your collection of Steem Monsters today at my referral link:
https://steemmonsters.com/?ref=newageinv

_{^{DISCLAIMER: The information discussed here is intended to enable the community to know my opinions and discuss them. It is not intended as and does not constitute investment advice or legal or tax advice or an offer to sell any asset to any person or a solicitation of any person of any offer to purchase any asset. The information here should not be construed as any endorsement, recommendation or sponsorship of any company or asset by me. There are inherent risks in relying on, using or retrieving any information found here, and I urge you to make sure you understand these risks before relying on, using or retrieving any information here. You should evaluate the information made available here, and you should seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, to evaluate any opinion, advice, product, service or other information; I do not guarantee the suitability or potential value of any particular investment or information source. I may invest or otherwise hold an interest in these assets that may be discussed here.}}