During my time in crypto, I've been involved with many communities, doing a lot of research and reading countless articles.
One of the major problems with being in a smaller crypto community is the lack of exposure. While coins in the top 10 receive tons of media coverage, which only seems to increase their dominance in the market, smaller projects that can show more potential often get left behind.
Throughout my time being involved with these smaller communities, links to Steemit posts became more and more common. I would often be asked to give an upvote on the post, considering they likely wouldn't receive much exposure. However, I lacked a Steemit account, and never felt like making one just to upvote somebody's article.
As time went on, I would see more and more posts that I wanted to upvote, and would get frustrated because I couldn't be involved.
I don't know what took me so long, but I finally decided to join.
I was unaware that the approval process would take as long as it would, but all this did was make me more excited to be on the platform. As I was awaiting approval, I started to to look into what made Steemit unique. The more I learned, the more I wanted to be involved with the community.
Recently I've noticed how controlled and centralized the media is, and it's made me more interested in looking at alternatives to the way that we all consume it. I believe in free speech, and I believe that algorithms that drive revenue and invasive, persistent advertising shouldn't be what drives us to a certain media source.
We should be able to choose what we say, do, and who we want to support.
I'm glad that I considered Steemit when I did, because it seemed like the perfect solution to a lot of the problems that I'm seeing in media, advertising, etc. I never planned to write anything here, but just thought it would be a refreshing new place to consume the media that I was interested in. I didn't have a great grasp of how people were able to earn on the platform, and while I am still learning, I think I finally can see how this can be a platform that people go to not only for a better experience, but also to give earnings back to those who really deserve it: the people.
With the major platforms that we use today, people are often hit with censorship, or they are banned or penalized because what they say isn't something that the centralized body controlling the platform endorses. As time goes on, everything becomes pretty one-sided, and intelligent conversations become more and more rare. The creators have to follow rules that they hate, and they only get a small percentage of the revenue that their media creates. The revenue is created through algorithms that increase revenue by increasing audiences and invasive advertising to the consumers, who don't get anything in return except for an overall bad experience. Meanwhile, the companies get tons of ad revenue, and continue to earn, often times making their stock prices go higher and earning them even more money. Even if the content creators make a lot of money, they are generating way more, and the companies control everybody involved and get paid every step of the way.
I won't go into detail about how Steemit operates, but ultimately good content is rewarded with a lot more of the earnings going to the creator, while those consuming have the ability to earn as well. You aren't hit with super invasive ads or ridiculous rules, and you are able to have more control of the media you are consuming and creating. Creators are able to grow their following much easier, and can get much more support from the community as they aim to continue to get better and provide higher quality content for the consumers.
Ultimately, Steemit just seems like the place to be for me.
While I will continue to support Steemit because of the way that they operate, I think many people can come to a similar conclusion on how revolutionary this platform can be, and I think that this allows it to become a great investment as well.
I don't really have a way of analyzing the price of Steem, as the value is pretty dependent on how many users can come here in the coming years. However, if even a small percentage can see the benefits of this platform, I think we can all agree that Steem is severely undervalued.
Let's go to the moon.
Good choice. :)
Great post @cooperdoran!
STEEM is such a slept on coin. Steemit alone with take out all social media platforms. STEEM one of he few coins that is actually being utilized today and constantly growing community :)
Hey @cooperdoran, gotta love Steemit! Still awesome platform and community and it's nice having great people contribute so we all benefit. Keep up the good work! Cheers!