Reviewing 1ramp's Unique Features

I have been using 1ramp for a while now. During this period, I discovered some unique features I would love to share with you. In order to do a detailed review of each feature, I'll be concentrating on two awesome features that make 1ramp different from other Steem dApps - communities & post rating. I'll also compare it with other dApps and mention some improvements that can be made.

Repository

https://github.com/hapramp/1Rramp-Android

What is 1ramp?

1ramp (previously HapRamp) is a social media platform where creatives come together, join different communities and share their various works. It is based on the Steem blockchain. Just like every dApp on Steem, it rewards its users with Steem native currencies - Steem and Steem dollars.

Currently, the app is only available on andriod. It can be found on Google Play Store.

The lead android developer, @bxute, suggested that I do a review of the app. Here is what I think about 1ramp's unique features.

_{• Screenshots showing 1ramp's Communities}

Communities

The app has a community feature. I think it is something similar to Steemit's intended communities, which all Steem enthusiasts are anticipating. Currently, no other Steem dApp has this community feature, just 1ramp.

Once you sign into the app using Steemconnect, it shows you 8 communities (Art, Dance, Travel, Literature, Film, Photography, Fashion & Design) which you are to select at least one from.

My Thoughts (and Flaws) on 1ramp's Communities

I'll like to discuss 1ramp's communities one by one, from Art down to Design. Art community is an awesome one, who doesn't love a creative artist. Art was my favourite subject in primary school, so sad I'm not into it anymore.

Dance? I feel this community should be renamed to Music. Who dances without music playing in the background? You know who. :) Music community could cover musicians, instrumentalists, dancers and much more.

Travel and Fashion communities are both unique, there is no doubt about that.

Film & Photography can be combined. The community could be named Film and Photography, instead of seperating it. That way photographers and videographers can work together. If it is observed after some time that the community is growing too big, it can then be separated.

I also feel the community list is limited. The community list on 1ramp app primarily favours those with art related skills. It neglects other creatives who are into technology, business (or economics) and philosophy just to mention a few. There could be business, technology and philosophy communities.

_{• Image showing icons of different categories open source contributors can make use of on Utopian.io}

At this point, I think we should compare 1ramp with Utopian.io. Utopian actually supports different creatives - developers, graphics (or UX) designers, content creators, creative thinkers, data analysts, marketers and translators.

If you look at it carefully, it takes creativity to be build something new. Especially when it involves building it from the scratch. I'm not a developer, but I like the work they do. They are definitely creatives. A new community could be created to favour developers.

I didn't miss 1ramp's Design community. It covers Utopian's graphics designers, UX designers, 3d designers, motion graphics designers and Illustrators. The Design community is a fine choice.

Literature community on 1ramp is quite different from what content creators do on Utopian. Everyone into literature is a content creator, but not all content creators are into literature. In Utopian, you can find content creators in blog category, suggestion/idea category, copywriting category and documentation category. A new community could be created for other content creators.

Utopian's marketers and translators could be neglected. Although they are mainly professionals, I don't think there's a need for both communities on 1ramp.

When it comes to uniting these creatives together, 1ramp has an edge over Utopian. Utopian is a platform for creatives to earn as they contribute to the open source community, on the other hand, 1ramp is a platform for uniting creatives while they still earn incentives.

_{• Image showing 1ramp's post rating slider}

Post Rating

Oh yeah, you do not upvote post on 1ramp, you rate it. Just the way apps are rated on Google Play Store, you rate posts from creatives. A 5 - star rating on 1ramp is equivalent to a 100% upvote on Steemit, while a 1- rating is equivalent to a 20% upvote. That means a 4-star rating is an 80% upvote over here, 3-star rating is a 60% upvote, as well as a 2-star rating is a 40% upvote.

_{• Image by mcmurryjulie on Pixabay}

My Thoughts (and Flaws) on 1ramp's Rating

This is a unique feature peculiar to the 1ramp app. Currently, the app only supports this rating system. They plan to include a normal voting slider in the future.

The rating feature has a few challenges. The lowest rating I can give to a creative's post is a 1-star rating. Normally, a 1-star rating signifies poor performance, whereas upvoting a post with 20% vote weight doesn't necessarily mean it's poor. Imagine developing an exceptional app, then after your first 100 reviews you get 1-star rating on Google Play Store. That is really disheartening. You may get discouraged and abandon the project.

_{• Screenshot of my post's rating on 1ramp}

Something similar happened to me recently. The screenshot above shows 141 persons rated my post. It curently has an expected payout of $4.026, but has a rating of 1.4. The rating system is great, similar to most rating system out there. My advice is it shouldn't discourage you.

Also, since normal voting slider hasn't been implemented yet, it will be difficult for most Steem whales to use the platform. Most whales usually vote with less than 20% vote weight, especially when the votes are worth a fortune, or during a spike in Steem price. Voting at 20% vote weight would reduce the number of persons they normally would be able to reach on Steemit.

They also haven't included a rating equivalent to a downvote on Steemit. To reduce spamming on 1ramp, there is a need to add an icon similar to a thumbs up (positive rating) and thumbs down (negative rating). Spammers deserve thumbs down. ;)

---

Conclusively, 1ramp is an app to watch out for! It utilizes concepts that are completely new on Steem, the communities and the post rating feature. If the project continues at it's current growth rate, it is definitely going to win some Steem enthusiasts over and also attract completely new users to Steem.

Glad to see you made it here, Cheerio!

Official links

• 1ramp
• 1ramp on Playstore
• 1ramp's Discord

Series Backlinks

This is the first post on the series.