There is a lot going on of late. While we await the announcement that the coding for SMTs is done, people are starting to look at what I feel is the major "elephant in the room" regarding Steem.
It is no secret that Steem, along with the entire decentralized blockchain industry, has onboarding issues. Taking a look at the reports by @penguinpablo tell us how bad this is. Overall, we see a few hundred sign ups a day. Most of this is done by Steemit Inc.
Source
We also know that the sign up process they utilize is very slow. It is common knowledge that people had to wait two weeks or more to receive approval of their account. This is something that does not fly and will not promote growth.
Let us all be honest with this. The likelihood of someone becoming active after waiting two weeks to sign up is highly unlikely. People often sign up for something after finding a site by chance. Something interests that individual so he or she decides to look into more by signing up. It is easy to figure out that by the time the approval comes two weeks later, most people have forgotten about it.
I just think about my situation. My arrival was based upon someone at a crypto function mentioning it. Fortunately for me, when I signed up in August 2017, I was approved within a day. I cannot truly say I would have got active if it took weeks to get my account.
Yesterday, Steemit Inc put out a post on their blog stating they are entering "thrive" mode with their sign up process. Since they do most of the account creation, this is a good thing. According to the post, they state they reduced the sign up time by 85%. To enhance this process, they ask that people with valid emails and phone numbers be sent to save time. This also makes a great deal of sense since the goal is to get as many people signed up while reducing abuse.
https://steempeak.com/steemit/@steemitblog/account-approvals-enter-thrive-mode
In the article it mentions "sign up your friends". This is where I think we encounter an issue.
By this point, most of us have talked to those we know about Steem. Friends and family are starting to treat us like that drunken uncle who nobody wants around. They see us knowing we are going to corner them at the family gathering and tell them about Steem and cryptocurrency. They avoid us by talking with Aunt Mary who is an Amway rep.
If we are talking about growth on any scale, we need to focus upon those who are showing up after following a link. They do not know much about what is going on yet they find something about one of the particular applications or tribes interesting. Thus, they are willing to sign up.
That, of course, means we are going to get a range of people signing up. Some will be serious, others just spammers. Having a system to differentiate between the two is vital. It is good that Steemit Inc put some parameters in place.
Overall, faster sign up time will help. We will see how that reflects in the numbers over the next few weeks.
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Fortunately, they are not the only ones addressing this issue. Many of the applications are starting to implement systems that will ultimately be a feeder system into Steem.
D.Tube just announced the opening of their sign up process. This allows anyone to sign up for one of their accounts. By doing this, one gains access to D.Tube but not Steem. This is going to be reserved for those who prove they are active on that platform. Thus, they are looking for people who create their own content and are engaging. Those people will be offered Steem accounts through D.Tube.
@threespreak also is approaching this situation in a unique way. It is allowing for people to use non-Steem accounts such as Google to sign up. This enables ones to comment which, in turn, could earn them some Steem. Obviously, this is held in an "escrow" type account until the individual earned enough to pay for the account. Those that do, will be offered a Steem account.
Finally, a recent announcement came out of the @travelfeed group shows another approach. They took on more than just onboarding, they also are proposing a way to make it less complicated for new users.
We all know the general public has no idea about keys. When it comes to Steem, this is magnified by the fact there are so many different ones. It is often a turn off to new users. Most are not going to investigate something to confusing.
Travelfeed designed an Easysignup and Easylogin process. People can get accounts instantly and free, simply by signing up and creating their first post. This leads to a manual approval of an account within 24 hours.
At the same time, the person can choose how he or she logs in. One can always opt for the traditional sign in process that Steem uses. However, the Easylogin is also offered which simplifies the matter ala Steemconnect.
https://steempeak.com/travelfeed/@travelfeed/easysignup-easylogin
I am encouraged that there are groups that are looking at this issue. The time to take it on is right now when the demand to join Steem is not overwhelming. It is far worse to be in a situation where the applications are doing a lot of marketing yet losing potential users because the sign up process is broken.
At some point, I believe the floodgates will open. My guess it is when SMTs arrive and a couple decent sized sites start to adopt the protocol. However, with the talent levels of some of the project teams on here, there is a chance one of them hits a healthy lode of users.
Regardless of when or how it happens, Steem is going to struggle without a fast and effective way to get new users signed up. To be honest, in this era of instant gratification, even 24 hours is still too long to wait for approval. That said, we have to start somewhere, especially since it is a vast improvement over two weeks.
Everything we are dealing with is like putting together a puzzle. One piece builds upon another which helps to figure out what the next one will be. There is some trial and error involved since not every piece tried fits. We see times where a lot of pieces come together quickly while others see us sitting there for an hour without getting one piece in place.
The same ebb and flow is seen on here. Each problem is addressed in many different ways. Some solutions provide instant results, others do nothing. In the end, it is crucial that we just keep moving forward. We all love the 75 yard touchdown pass but, with technology, it is often a matter of moving things down the field a yard at a time.
It will be interesting to watch how the onboarding process is addressed over the next 6 months.
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I think the major problem is retention, with over 1+ million accounts created... there’s probably only 3k active users currently. Let’s see what happens in 2020 😎
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Still here.. still hoping ;)
You're right. I have a feeling Hivemind Communities will improve engagement in a major way.
I wonder, would a instant sign up with a trial account, or a probation period, where they can start interacting right away, but no earning ability till they are fully registered, be possible? That way they don't forget about us over 2 weeks, and if they are spammers we easily close their accounts or deny them full membership?
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There's been a lot of improvement and hopefully, steem will get there
Good news, I didn't know that STEEM Inc take off the improvement of sign-up process.
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I think, inadvertantly and due to frustrations of the bear market Steem is creating a great foundation.
Better sign up options. The invite token helps to stream line the sign up process as well (but the account has no SP).
More articles written about steem by 3rd party (most recently about the dao), more content on social media like twitter and reddit, and more successful dabs.
Tribes with leaders buying up stake on the platform so they have a voice in the direction and it helps more people to be seen and earning faster.
Better communication by all in general.
I had to laugh about the party scenario where people would rather talk to Aunt Mary, the Amway rep, than hear from one of us about Steem. But yes, all of the issues are nearly insurmountable hurdles, and it’s so great to hear that a number of groups, as well as Steemit Inc are working to fix it! Woo hoo!
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Thank God! Someone else is admitting that all these keys to log in with are so freakin annoying lol!
I totally agree with you here and the on boarding process, we are in cryptocurrency which is a pioneer in tech and innovation. This can’t we make it easier for more people to join us and have less keys?
We are an Awesome bunch, but we will miss our on tons of growth and opportunities to mingle if we don’t listen to taskmaster4450 and people like them.
Let’s do this!
Funny but accurate.
I myself am not worried about user sign-ups. I'm convinced that the payday fur those of us holding Steem will be as an incone stream from leasing rcs to companies. Steem as infrastructure. Most users won't earn Steem or even be aware that Steem is the underlying data base.
I'm mainly worried about accumulating steem. Which is why I'm buying for me and my wife @rachaeldwatson.
Good post as always. Keep at it.
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I find it encouraging that the on ramps to Steemit are becoming more numerous and easier to navigate. I like the Dtube model where you can sign up easily and later have the option to explore Steem. If Steem rises in value even just a little bit, I think we will see a large influx of new users.
Oh, now I know why nobody invites me to a party.
PRICELESS!
I does not matter how many people come in the door if we do not support them when they get here. I stopped recruiting after failing with 20+ sing ups and every one of them gone within a couple of months. At least half of those content creators will talk smack about steem at the drop of a hat now. So what was the point of dragging them in?
My effort now is to help the people who do make it in the door and are trying to succeed. That is normally people over 45 rep and 100 sp. Sadly those people have been decimated by the fork. Many people under 1000 sp and one year here are now gone.
Until we have a thriving place that welcomes newcomers, bringing a high volume of fresh fish to kill should not be the top priority.
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