To all our new members that have just joined us recently, I wrote this for you, I hope it helps and I hope you like it:
Our story takes place a little over a year ago. You wake up one morning and receive a message from a friend who tells you to check this new thing out. While the most normal response is to ignore it claiming that you don't have time, you remember that you never get new opportunities or meet new people if you don't open yourself to new things. So luckily you don't discard that message, and that's the main reason this post exists today.
In the Beginning
The minute you come across steemit, the first thought that would pop in your mind is how revolutionary this platform is. You’ve never seen anything like that.
The idea is amazing, you think at first. The more you look at it, the more you fall in love. This is going to change the game, you say to yourself.
You tell all your friends about it, but only two of them join.
It’s okay, you figure they will join later. As wise man once said not everyone is prepared to be a pioneer. Plus, all new ideas have probably been through the same in the beginning.
Weeks have passed now, though it seems like months judging by the amount of time spent on the platform since you’ve rarely spent that much time in a social media site, but there's just something different about this one.
You’re making friends already, and how can you not? There are some incredible people in steemit, and weirdest of all, it seems like you’re know each other for so long even though you've met only for a few weeks.
July 4th is approaching, the big day. The official launch of this beautiful spaceship.
Some people try to “warn” you that it wouldn’t work, but you don’t mind them. You know it’s not about the platform at all, that it’s not even a calculated conclusion they arrived to after a diligent analysis but maybe just the automatically instinctive response of avoidance to anything that is new.
So you don’t mind them, and you just keep doing what you’re doing. They’ll turn around when the time comes.
July 3rd, the big day is upon us. You can hardly sleep, it’s like you’re about to embark in an amazing adventure, and you can’t wait for it to begin.
July 4th, the gates are wide open and a myriad of new members start joining. There's a great energy pumping all around. In the air, breaths a sentiment of excitement and joyfulness.
Steem to the moon! Birth of a new mantra.
A few days into July, and you’re hacked, and again you don’t mind. You know there are gonna be many stones along the road, and they’re just part of the journey.
Nothing has changed after all, you’re still there with the same enthusiasm even if you can’t write nor comment momentarily.
You write a post, and you send it to your friend Gabe to post on your behalf. I told you there are a lot of awesome people in steemit. @piedpiper, a hell of guy.
The message of the post is: We’re here to stay!
The days pass and time tells the doubters wrong. In fact, more and more people start joining everyday as you begin to see new faces, amazing posts, fresh ideas.. This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for.
You start to see a change of posture in you most skeptic friends, they’re no longer afraid of the new and they’re getting curious now: So… Tell me about that steem thing again.
We’re in August now, and the day is your Birthday, and naturally you log in to different social media accounts to answer all the kind Birthday wishes.
Only that something is different this time, because you also get notifications from steemit Facebook groups as well from your steemian friends.
As you click through to read which of one of your steem friends posted what post today, your eye land on a tiny yet significant detail that blows your mind completely.
It’s the members' section of the steemit Facebook group, a few months ago you had 2 friends, now you have a couple dozens already.
Your personal friends are now joining steemit on their own. That was a great realization on your Birthday.
And now as you’re typing this you realize that in a couple of months it’s your Birthday again, and you’re willing to bet that there’s gonna be a hell a lot more of your personal friends joining as well.
And then your friend’s friends, and their friends too. Even that lousy neighbor who keeps complaining that the monkeys stole his breakfast again.
A Larger World
It started with two people in a garage, like the typical success story you see in a blockbuster movie, only this one is real.
And from there it started growing, little by little. Unlike the typical startup story you see in the movies, because in real life, patience is part of the game, and you can't get a snowball before you gather some actual snow first.
The good news is that whenever you get to the snowball phase, you know that massive growth will go much faster then.
Maybe it’ll take years, maybe it’s just around the corner. Either way, the journey so far have been nothing short of spectacular. And at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.
Right now, there is an entire culture of steemians that did not exist barely a year and half ago.
People coming to write their story and end up changing their lives in ways they didn’t expect before.
Some get absorbed so much by it, that it's hard to remember life before steem.
Some end up meeting some really cool people and become friends, maybe even the people who are going to be friends with for the rest of their lives.
And once a year, they all meet somewhere in the world to celebrate this little awesome thing called steem.
It was created less than two years ago, and then it started growing and blossoming. Certainly due to the dedication and brilliance of so many people.
As you're reflecting upon that you realize that hundreds of people have probably joined on this day, maybe thousands. As it did yesterday, as it will tomorrow.
In the process, a couple of influencers will join as well. And then a couple more… And growth will accelerate even further.
Until the day the comes where the snowball becomes not only inevitable but unstoppable.
That’s the day you will write a hell of a story, your own story about how you lived through one of the exciting platforms of our digital era.
And I wanna read that story.
I hope you will be here to write it.
All the best!
The Alien
It's been an incredible journey and Steem/it is just getting started!
Incredulous! I remember you too.
Yeah it's has been incredible indeed, and it's just getting started :)
Legendary times ahead 💨💨
I've been here for a week now and it really does change you, I look around for things that could help someone or something interesting I could share. A comment that I could write that could help someone hugely. I feel some need to write that I never had before, and then to be awarded for your effort feels amazing especially because i'm still in high school where there are no rewards for your effort except marks. The whole concept of steem looks like those scams, it look too good to be true, like that perfect thing everyone searches for, and this utopian society offers it. Good luck to everyone and keep steeming!
First of all, I really love your attitude, you try to add value every time and that's quite frankly amazing.
About the concept of steem, I've been here for over a year and there's absolutely nothing scammy about it. It's just that it's easy for people to attach that word to anything they fear. Also. it's not a utopia, but there's no need to attach Utopia to everything either ;) You can have an amazing place, that's just that, amazing :) No need for Utopia comparisons in my opinion.
@the-alien
I must confess. I am one of the newbie that ignore to join last year or early this year, but hey I'm in now and learning the rope or replicating the pioneer success, and maybe someday I will be able to share my own success story.
This article deserve my up vote.
Newbie here, please follow me @Yehey !!!
We need a mass effort on facebook to promote steemit and then shut down our individual facebook accounts. Make it a publicity stunt! But I don't have enough clout yet here.... Yet!!! I love steemit. Peace out peeps!
totally agree 1,000%%%%
Heck, high schools could even use the technology:) GradeCoin? lol
i like your story and what makes it good is because of the originality of it. Your art of writing is like my drawing @johnlue colourful and detailed. Your story inspires me and i know that with people like you around steemit the only way for me to grow is up.THANK YOU for your post..
Thank you John for this great comment!
Amazing post friend. I love the platform, I have been here for a month now and I am seeing great development.. On a personal and large scale views..
Thia is one of the places to be and thw time is now, before it blows u..
Rejoice and cheers 💘
Much love from me friend 💘❤︎💘💕!
-Goldie
Thank you Goldie!
I'm so glad you're enjoying the platform :)
Very well said @the-alien. I can totally relate to your feelings and emotions in this post despite having joined just a couple of days ago. I do regret the fact that I did not know about Steem a year ago but at the same time I take pride in the fact that within an year I am going to become one of the very few who joined when steemit was just a baby :)
Absolutely! This is just the beginning!
And before I forget, I think a welcome is in order :) So congratulations on joining!
Thanks a lot :)
It does feel great being part of something new, I really hope it takes off big time, I think it still needs work but we are evolving and testing all the time so that is good, I hardly ever touvh facebook now it's quite incredible really!
Yeah me neither. I touch Facebook to share steemit posts hehe
Killer post. Love the excited recap of your time here. Thanks for that. :)
1
This is really splendid. Was spellbound till the end ;)
I smile everytime I remember the pre-July days. A handful of people believing in something revolutionary. It's been over a year for me too. And its been splendid knowing you guys.
I know man! It has been splendid knowing you too! One year has passed so fast :)
I am saying that steems time has come and that sky is the limit. When someone blesses you with such a gift as we are blessed with steem you put all your intelectual and financial power to keep it going. Dear steemers our time has come and it smells like success. Not just that we are producing quality content we are educating each other in ways that no books or universities do, but we also are winning money from it.
Amen to that!
good posting
Thank you!
steem can go over $10 this year
That would be a truly amazing thing!
Another beautiful story worth sharing, thanks a bunch for it. Many parallels with my own experience kept on resorting to the surface as I read through it.
Keep your smile, thrive on and Steem on! Namaste :)
Thank you Eric!! You're with no doubt one of the kindest and awesome people on steemit. Thank you for spreading great energy for all this time!
Man, I'm feeling those vibes you are sending me through these words. You are a potent individual and your words carry loads of goodness for us all, always.
Thank you so very much for it all, I'm surfing its light. Namaste :)
Oh no, thank you for all what you bring to the table man, you lift everyone up and I'm grateful to you.
I first thought that this was going to bring down facebook.
Haha let's hope :)
Congratulations @the-alien!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following categories:
Thanks Arcange
Upvoted/followed. Great post. Great writing skills. Also, I want a framed picture of that snow globe. It's really cool!
Thank you!!
It has been a wonderful journey at Steemit. So many supportive and helpful Steemians. Steemit will continue to grow and evolve.
It has been indeed :) Here's to more growth!
May Steemit become the social media platform of choice.
I write poems and positive posts, do check them out when you are free
I was just telling my wife yesterday. I think there's something about the idea that there's money tied to what you do on Steemit that means everybody's on their best behavior. And I'm very glad of that.
that's the interesting thing about steemit! normally on the internet, people just say and do whatever they want because of the lack of ramifications and the guise of anonymity.
on steemit, though. you can still choose to remain anonymous, but there are still real consequences to any action that you take, be it your posts or comments.
it all kinda feels like a game. but i'm a gamer, and that thought comes naturally :)
Me, too with the gamer thing. :P
Thanks for clearing things up..Id been wondering why everyone's being so nice! :)
:P
Yeah that could be. Never thought about that actually.. Thanks for sharing!
Read @stellabelle's post for the gift economy. It will help you get it evwn better.
Beautiful reflection. Thank you for all you do for steemit!
I only try to contribute a bit if I can, but thank you!!
Been on now for 11 days and its the best thing to happen to me lately...definatley going to be here for the long haul...I used to spend wasted hours scrolling through my facebook feed and staring at the same shit people write everday
But here the whole topics of conversation amazes me and gives me a real buzz...got plenty of stuff to blog about but trying to build up my followers before letting all my secret weapons out..
good read thanks for the help and morale booster
That's a great way to it! looking forward to see how the secret weapons :)
Thanks btw!
Great article. It's useful to see how other people started, something to learn from.
I've been carrying around that story for 50 plus years, and whether I make a dollar off of Steemit, it has most definitely changed my life.
I frequently wake up in the middle of the night now, with some idea, some dream and have to write it down, because I know that something is going to come from that idea/dream.
Very nice post thanks.
SDG
Thank you SDG!! :)
Great Post! Looks like you have been where I am looking to go. I am here to stay and will hopefully continie to learn as a follow your lead.
Thanks for the validation of my current experience in this community.
Thanks for the great comment, I'm glad you're having a great experience! Little by little it gets better and better :)
For me it's only been two weeks, I cannot go day without thinking about Steem and the SteemIt community. Yes I have been paid so far to upvote content and write comments but I find the sense of community here more fascinating, I never got the same feeling on Twitter or other social platforms. I am eager to write my first blogpost and then a year from now a blogpost with the same sentiment as this one. Thank for sharing this the-alien.
That would be great, I would love to read both the post now, and one year form now :) It's when you look back at the great journey :)
Awesome post bro :D
But dont forget to upvote my post too :D
thank's
Thanks!
Incredible post. It's more like a welcome from the heart. I've been here a little less than 15 days and I love this place. My first thought upon logging in was - wow, this is unlike anything I've ever experienced. I look around me and all I see is amazing humans - lots of them - helping others.
I'm working harder to get all my other responsibilities out of the way, to be able to spend a lot more time here, getting to know people, enjoying all the warmth this place exudes, helping others the way I am being helped now and being an integral part of this family.
This is the kind of content I look for in my feed.
Thank you!! Yeah this was my first impression as well last year, getting to know people and enjoy the experience, I'm sure you'll have the same or hopefully a better experience a year from now :)
Thank you!!
You are welcome my Alien friend. If you ever want to chat about Extraterrestial life please chat me up @cem on discord or steemit chat
Haha will do :)
I have been here for like 2 weeks now,and to be completely honest,I'm still lost on how things on here exactly works. So i try and read up as much articles like this to increase my knowledge about Steem. Thank you!
Hey Kayden, if you're still lost on how things work, please feel free to reach out on the steemit chat (steemit.chat), and I'll be happy to help you out with any questions you may have, as will many other steemians :)
It's great community we have here. :) I'm sure you'll have a great time here!
This is indeed a fun community! Thank you for pointing me to steemit chat,I've actually been trying to find that for a while now LOL
Hello again @the-alien,why can't i access steem chat with my Steemit log in infos? Should i register separetely for steemchat? Please bear with me as i still havent had the hang of things on here LOL
Haha no worries, of course I'll bear with you, don't worry :)
What I forgot to say earlier, is that there has been some difficulties lately with the steemit chat, in the last couple of days, so it could be just a technical problem.
It should normally work with your steemit log in info yes, but otherwise you could create another account just for the chat.
Meanwhile, I'll ask around see if I can get any info on when this could be solved. Normally it doesn't last long :)
Thank you so much!
Anytime :)
Haha love it!
New subsequent values are growing on this blockchain ecosystem.
Always :)
That was a very good detailed deep and thoughtful journey through ones mind.
Very well written.
Had to resteem this!
Thank you for the kind words and everything!
I am a newbie too but I didn't think twice about joining. It is a platform that also helps me writing skills and builds my communication.
Yeah that's yet another additional aspect of it :)
Tnx man :-)
Thank you!
I joined Steemit recently and now it is something that manifests my whole life. I rarely touch other social media platforms now.
Haha I hear you, it happened to all of us :)
A wonderful post! I wish us all the best on this journey!
Thank you! I wish us all the best as well!
It has been a year. I've followed Steemit the entire time but only created the account recently. For a while there it looked like it may tank but then Steemit pulled through.
Yeah, I guess ups and downs are part of everything. Congrats on joining by the way :)
Thanks man. Now to build up a year's worth of following :/
You'll get there :) Good luck to you man!
Wonderul read. It really encapsulates what it is like right to be part of steem and to have been fortunate enough to get on in the early days. Do be someone who brings more people to the platform rather being the converted.
Or we can all be converted and converters :)
Thanks btw!
Exactly we're all part of it 😁😁😁😉
Absolutely!
cool i'm like
Thanks!
Time flies when you are having fun. I'm about a month away from my 1 year anniversary on steemit. I'll probably tell a story about the ups and downs and all the friends I have made. There is something here that is certainly not going away. A new era.
Yeah a new era indeed.
And please make that post on your anniversary, that's also good for all of us.
Nicely written :-)
I've been here for half a year now and am not planning on leaving any time soon. Such a great platform with a very nice community!
Absolutely! It's two amazing things, the community and the platform itself.
P.S: I'm glad you're not going anywhere :)
Very nice post. Next year I will probably have to write a post about how I entered this fantastic place and hope all the best to the new people joining!
That would be great, yes :)
If you ask me, if you tell this story to any friend, there are not a lot op people who will not join. Steemit has the potential to be bigger and better then any other social media website as there is a way of not only doing what you want, but Also making money on it. This will get more and more people interested and I am sure that a lot of people who now think that they better put their time in Facebook will turn arround in the future as they will see this community growing!
That's an amazing idea! I will indeed share this post and even promote it on FB :)
Thanks for the great comment!
You are welcome. Planning to do a lot of promotion myself the comming weeks in order to see steemit grow. Sure can't do it alone, but have seen Some others very busy with getting this up and running, and I Am sure we will get there!
I'm sure we'll get there as well! :)
Awesome post! I've only been here a month, but I can already see the potential for this to dominate social media.. thanks so much for being a pioneer!
Haha you're a pioneer too! This is still the beginning :)
Thanks! I agree
I couldn't agree more with everything you wrote. When I tell my story.. I want it to resonate throughout steemit history. Be patient. :)
Awesome, looking forward to it :)
It's mt first day..and its already amazing! Love ur post. Following you forsure!
I'm glad you're having such a great time :) Thank you btw!
It's the Utopia made real.
Great post! This is my first day, and while I feel like the "new kid on the block," there's just something that intrigues and excites me about the whole system... it seems like this is how social media was SUPPOSED to be, where everyone benefits according to mutual support and is compensated for their valuable input. I can't wait to keep meeting people and using Steemit as a catalyst towards personal and collective transformation!!! Wholeness.
Oh man, that's a hell of a comment. Thank you! And you're right, mutual support is invaluable :)
Congrats on joining, and since it's your first day, I have to say: Welcome aboard!!
awesome post, i just joined recently but i love it :)
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!
It has been a week for me. I hated facebook-dont like showing off my personal and family pics as a way to retain touch with your circle. Steemit posting seems to have a different sense of purpose.
Few things i have not figured out yet. If redditt with no reward sharing for user content is still massively unprofitable, will steemit economic viability be solely driven by the value of the crypto currency so the creators can hopefully sell to willing buyers to pay for the hardware costs??
Yeah it has a different sense of purpose indeed, it was supposed to be a hybrid of Facebook, Reddit and Medium :)
And... the future is beyond us :D
Oh yeah :)