Sometimes it is helpful to step back and take a look at things from a different perspective.
We are in the early stages of a very long process. At present, we are about a decade into blockchain with at least another decade to go before we really see the revolutionary impacts upon society. Much of what is coming is reading like a science fiction novel yet it is all grounded in real applications of blockchain.
Cryptocurrency is one application, the first of many, that we will see on the blockchain. Since the development of bitcoin, we witnessed an entire industry prospect in 9 years. While some want to point out Bitcoin's shortcomings (cryptocurrencies in general), it is important to note that the path to wide-scale adoption is never without its challenges.
Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum are pioneers. These blockchains are laying the foundation for what will come in the future. In fact, all blockchains we see today are in that same boat. These are waters have never been navigated before. We are seeing a lot of trial and error. This is a necessary part of the development process.
For those who are old enough to remember, the Internet did not develop smoothly either. There were a lot of ups and downs in the early stages. With blockchain, we are sitting around 1993 if we were to do a comparison to the Internet. Therefore, do not think we are late in the process.
Here is a graph that @cryptoctopus used is a post he put up:
If I were to guess where we are, it is still in the innovators stage. Steemians will not even enter the early adopter phase until there are roughly 5 million people on this blockchain. There are billions of people on the Internet right now, most of them engaging in some form of social media. Steem is closing on 600K with the blockchain world maybe having 10 million people.
Here is his post which is very uplifting view on steemit.
Consider life where blockchain has billions of daily users on it. Imagine a time when social media is all on blockchains like steem; where all content providers have the opportunity to be rewarded for their work. Even at that point, you are still dealing with phase one of the blockchain development.
I recently started to use the term "Cryptocurrency 2.0" to distinguish from the first generation of coins which required one to buy in. This "generation" provides people with tokens simply for engaging in the utility of the blockchain. "Get Paid To ________________" will be the saying for the next couple of years. Nevertheless, this is still part of phase one.
So what does the second phase look like?
That is the age of DAOs. This is a time when things look like a Hollywood film. In this time period, we will see autonomous cars being their own entities. It is possible that there will be mobile "rooms" since the car as we know it is going to disappear. These "rooms" might be stacked and joined with other "rooms" based upon what the individual desires. In fact, it will all be part of a decentralized smart city where most everything is run by smart contracts.
Try to imagine a day when something like that is taking place on the steem blockchain. Now tell me it is took late and someone new missed the opportunity here. Ladies and gentlemen, we have not even begun.
What will steem look like in 10 years? I do not know. It might be a blockchain that ends up with very little usage in the end. Of course, it could be one of the major blockchain housing applications that few of us can even imagine at this point. It is impossible to tell.
That said, it is possible to say that we should see a terrific run over the next 3-5 years on this blockchain. We are currently wrapped up in a built-in cycle that guarantees growth. The only thing that is required is for the daily active users to keep posting. If that happens, we will see growth regardless of marketing or other outside activities.
And how does that cycle work?
Simple. Steemit is seeing organic growth. This growth comes as a realization of being ranked in the search engines. As time goes by AND more information is placed on this site, the amount of data that Google etal run into gets bigger. This only serves to increase the standing in the search engines which facilitates more organic traffic. It is a cycle that cannot help but to keep repeating itself.
Of course, converting that traffic into users is important. That is where the price of STEEM comes in. We all witnessed a tremendous jump in the pricing of the S.T.U.s which is putting some good money in our accounts. This is the second part of the cycle that cannot help but to repeat itself: people talking about their successes. It appears to be human nature for us to tell everyone when we get something good happening. That is what is taking place here. Therefore, we will witness more growth simply by users telling their friends to join since "here is what I am making".
People like to mention Alexa rankings as a means of telling how high a website is ranked, so I will go with that for consistency.
Steemit.com is closing in on being a top 500 website in the US. That is remarkable considering that it just hit top 1000 just a few weeks ago.
What is also impressive is that a second site has been moving up the ranks. While still located way down the list, it moved up almost 3,000 spots in a little over a week. While the placement might not seem that inspiring, look at the growth rate on the graph...it is almost straight up.
Things are happening. One of the reasons I am so bullish on STEEM is because it is a blockchain where utility is applied on a large scale. For the past couple weeks, this blockchain has average around 1.3 million transactions per day. That is more than any other blockchain that it out there. And what is this blockchain used for? Social media. Almost all those transactions are centered around what the blockchain was designed for. At this point, no other blockchain can even come close to making that claim.
Each person on here is pioneer. Many sign up only to move on quickly. The ones that stay are trailblazers. And for that, the possibility exists for millions to be enriched greatly. Early adopters in successful projects tend to make a lot of money. We will see that throughout 2018 if all goes well.
Is there a chance this entire thing crashes and burns? Not likely but it is possible. Could Steemit become the next MySpace? That could happen without continued development to this site and the blockchain in general. Is it possible for something else to enter the picture and create a better "mousetrap"? This is always a consideration in any endeavor these days.
All that said, there is one advantage in this situation: we are on the blockchain.
The better "mousetrap" that upends Steemit could well be another app on the same blockchain. There is nothing to prevent someone from creating an alternative on here that more people gravitate towards. That is the wonder of what we are involved in. MySpace bit it because its developers didn't stay ahead of the curve. On here, the developers are anyone banging away on his/her laptop creating apps. The next "big" thing on steem could be created by someone who will not be here for another 6 months.
The Age of Innovation is just getting started. Being a Steemian means you are ahead of almost everyone else. In the end, you are going to be one of the people who lay the foundation for what comes next. We all are.
Remember this the next time you hear someone espousing FOMO.
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The Alexa rankings are really impressive. But moreso how they seem to be accelerating higher exponentially.
Very true...growth is only exceeded by pace of growth...and you are right it is exponential....
And that is what is so exciting...I expect that to continue for another couple of years....
There are so many factors feeding into this blockchain it is really amazing.
I think the way innovation is rewarded on this blockchain is its biggest asset. How can a normal centralized company ever think they can keep up with permissionless innovation.
I have recently started a small open source project myself with the aim of making it easier for billionaires invest in steemit. I would love to know if you have any thoughts?
https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@tony10/new-project-helping-billionaires-invest-in-steemit-100-upvotes-for-contributions
He is right and that is why the calls for bitcoin's death are pre-mature...that is the only animal that has the liquidity Wall Street requires for large scale investment. People who are dropping $100M arent going into a market which will not allow them to get their money out easily.
STEEM isnt the place for high net worth individuals..yet.
Too much of it is tied up in SP (which is good for the long term pricing) which makes it really unattractive. There are only about 60 million tokens available for sale....that is not a lot.
At this point, I think the tokens will be swallowed up by smaller players...once it start to get near the $100 range, then you are looking at the market size the buyers you mentioned are seeking.
A couple months ago, I decided not to install Facebook on my new phone as a friend a convinced me that the app slows down my phone. I had my own motives to quit because I felt like I was wasting a lot time browsing Facebook, absorbing fake news headlines and bombarded with tons of remarketing ads. Turns out it was one of the best decisions I have made and suddenly freed up a lot of time leading me here. After learning more about steemit, the more enthused I became and ever since have been spreading the word to friends and family! Let's keep on growing, to the moon!
I think it was one of the best decisions you ever made @dirkboy41.
There will be millions more following you in my estimation. This place is going to get packed very quickly.
Thank you for your comment.
Your projections for this wonderful platform, steemit has become my dream. I look forward to your motivational posts because it spurs me onto greater heights. Right now I am recruiting members of my family because I am on the bigger picture. Thank you for inspiration.
I am glad you appreciate it and am happy to do it for you #edith4angelseu.
You are one of the success stories on here..thumbing your nose at the establishment and making it off steem.
That is the blessing of this place.
I always think if the Facebook will be the next Orkut, and if the Steemit will take out the Facebook hegemony.
I guess that is not gonna happen so earlier because in the Facebook we have a lot of spammers and trolls, things that will never gonna happen here in Steem, since if you try to do this, you will receive more flags than you can see in the 4th July... hahaha...
Steem is not for everyone, just for them who write and comment seriously.
Wow Orkut.
I havent heard that name in years....I forgot all about that one....there was a messenger system called ICQ way back when too.
Steemit is going to affect Reddit more than it will Facebook I think...at least in the short term. This isnt as feature rich as FB...but it does align very well with Reddit, which still have 250M + users.
Yeah, ICQ... It's the begginer of chat... I don't know in USA, but in Brazil before that, everyone access a public chat called CHAT UOL.
I agree with that too, since the FB have all the information private, but I guess that, our children, maybe, will see the importance of information on blockchain, and maybe, they will use more blockchain social media than us.
Try to imagine a day when something like that is taking place on the steem blockchain. Now tell me it is took late and someone new missed the opportunity here. Ladies and gentlemen, we have not even begun.
Yes, we are just started and going through your posts, I see one who is critically analytic but I am glad to announce that your analysis is just what is happening on steemit , and I think steemit is going to surpass all predictions. Thank you for being hope.
I agree. Even though I am only 6 days old here on steemit. I can see what an amazing opportunity this platform is. I have already connected with people from all over the world in all walks of life and have learned so much. Just think of how far a crypto like Bitcoin came in one year. Think steemit has a lot more mass people appeal. Who knows if we all work hard where it could go
Great progress on your 6 days.
And you are very perceptive....this place is a wonderful opportunity. Do not hesitate to jump in with both feet. Addiction to Steemit will serve you well.
Get as much SP as you can...you will be happy you did later on.
nice post, would definitely love to live in a decentralized autonomous city,
Steemit is going to be much bigger than Myspace, and that i think will happen in near future, its main USP is the amount of transactions it can handle, no other blockchain even upcoming ones are no match for its speed.
Actually Bitshares and I hear EOS will be able to ...both are build on the same technology.
I think the USP for Steemit is the content creation/reward system...nobody else has it right now. Post your stuff and get paid for it....that is genius....and Steemit is getting further ahead of any startup each day.
It will be interesting to see how FB and Reddit respond.
rightly said about eos and bitshares, from the same family i would say.
telegram is promising million of transactions per second, if implemented i think it is going to be huge.
It's an excellent point you make @taskmaster4450. It becomes easy to think that Steemit is more developed than it is when you're on the inside without taking a larger view. The platform is almost certainly still in the innovator stage with just over 500,000 users. By the end of 2018 we'll be in the early adopter stage with over 2 million users, and will be growing at an amazing rate. I too use the 3-5 yer time frame when thinking of the sweet spot for growth here, but it could come even faster than that considering that everything about the crypto space seems to be on steroids right now.
Great points @moneyinfant...everything with crypto seems on steroids. That said, development progresses at the rate it does...that cannot be sped up. There are a lot of amazing things being worked on and I bet you see a lot out of the creators on here...2018 will flourish for that also. That said, all new stuff has bugs and takes time to work out.
We are going to see massive growth in this platform...that is guaranteed...the ranking in the search engines and the amount of articles posted will ensure that. With over 20,000 authors each day (that is probably 30K-40K articles), we are adding to the size of this ecosystem by a large number. That is a lot of pages to add each day.
Give it another 6 months and I think you see things really accelerated from where we are now.
Yes, I realize bugs take time to work out. One area that shows great promise, but I think will grow more slowly than currently believed, is smart contracts. Contracts can be very complex and detailed, and will take time to get right, outside very simple and basic automation.
Regarding the Steemit platform - As long as Google doesn't decide to "downvote" the Steemit domain. Even with that I believe the platform will continue growing at an accelerated pace simply by "word-of-mouth".
Another great piece.
I saw the post from @cryptoctopus earlier and it was a fantastic topic.
I have been here for a couple of months and I feel you guy's have nailed it.
Even if Steemit doesn't kill any of the competition it will still dent all them hard.
I'm sure it would have been said a thousand time's before but this is the Linux of social media....Look at Linux's foot print now and the term Open Source is becoming a house hold word more each year.
It is opening the door for a lot of things right now. The steem blockchain is really introducing people to cryptocurrency. This is a platform which will have a major impact in moving the entire industry forward.
I feel extremely grateful that I found, and got into Steemit. I discovered it last month and I'm not turning back!
I very rarely log into facebook anymore. I have a local band in St. Louis, so I post my events there.
I'm hoping to stay here and get into the community. I know there are a few discord channels I need to get in.
One important thing is not to botch your introduction post. I came here just jumped right in without much research.
I'm finding it is a much different beast than the idea I had of Steemit.
Big ups from me,
JGV
Great to have you here @jgvinstl.
We are still in the early stages so you are entering at a perfect time.
The new communities feature, when added, should make your promotion much easier. You will be able to invite your fans to follow you in an easy manner. A great way to interact.
So i guess it is reasonable to say we can start to look for a private island while we wait for people to catch up? lol
Yes @holm, you can start looking but hold off on the down payment for a little while longer.
In fact, give it a couple months and you can look for one for me also...maybe we will get a discount for volume purchasing.
This post hits a home run with me. Your point about the Internet didn't develop smoothly is a perfect analogy! Windows 3.1 for Workgroups with Netscape and a 14.4 modem ... what was that IRQ again? Why isn't it working?
How about Windows ME? Remember that mess?
Of course, Microsoft still have bugs even years after they release something.
The world will be better off when it migrates away from the large corporations who just take money only to stalk people for their data.
Your vision of the future gels with me!
Bringing up Windows ME raises my blood pressure!! Why did they release that terrible OS?
@taskmaster4450 - noticed something strange going on with many accounts being undelegated all at once. Any ideas what's going on?
Someone mentioned this morning it seems to be a glitch....notice Neds rep went to 25...like a newcomer.
@taskmaster4450 wow, this is a really comprehensive and impressive write up. The potential of blockchain technology really blew my mind, especially when it comes to how it can disrupt conventional businesses and the way they're run.. DAO my friend, that's the real shit here.
By the way, I am starting a podcast featuring Steemians where we explore how the STEEM Blockchain has changed a user's life, and how this user is using the same blockchain to help change someone else's life. Would you be interested to join me as a special guest? :)
Absolutely @aaronmcheong....I would love to be a guest on your podcast....just drop me a line letting me know when and what you are thinking.
Yes DAO can really take you in the Jetsons or Star Trek mentality.
How about joining my discord chat (https://discord.gg/wSgKpx9) and we discuss further over there? :)
Look at us, leading the way.
One thing that may slow a swift mass adoption is how challenging it can be to build a following and generate votes on posts when starting out. Unless you have a little help or are getting your name out there via comments and community involvement it can be slow going.
I think it can be discouraging for some people when they aren't coming into it with the right mindset: long term. Thanks for the reminder, glad to see you back writing articles in full force
I am going to write a post to that...communities should help a great deal.
People need to stay with it and realize that the long term means that after a few months, one can make some headway.
Awesome, I still need to look into communities, do you know when they are being released?
PS. are there any other cryptos you are high on?
Soon, one-day people will realize Steem is a major part of the revolution. I try to tell my friends to join it but some say it looks interesting while others say it's not. When I get back on campus I am going to heavily advocate for it as it is revolutionary. As time goes on those who believe Steem is a get rich scheme will become a slim minority fading away leaving behind trailblazers and pioneers on the platform. Perhaps someone is already building a better mousetrap that will compete against Steem but do not lose faith in this blockchain. Do you believe if more influencers started using the platform numbers would spike up? Regardless, keep up the thought-provoking and rich content, you even gave me some inspiration and motivation for my last post which I am truly thankful for.
Yes...look up Metcalfe's Law....while it was applied to communication systems, I think it is applicable to cryptocurrencies. More users will inevitably lead STEEM higher. There is no way is cannot since bandwidth is required and that is purchased with STEEM. Also, the more activity on here means the entire ecosystem is bigger which has the Google bot slamming into it at every turn.
If the numbers are correct, with 30K authors yesterday, that means there were at least 30K pages added to this site (most like more since many post duplicate times). Do that on a daily basis and the site grows by leaps and bounds from a search standpoint.
Now imagine that with 100K daily authors....the growth actually accelerates.
I think we are in the early adopters phase because I don't think Steemit is ever going to be THE mainstream social media platform.
I think it will be the first, and that it will grow immensilly still. But I don't see it becoming the one the billions will flock to.
I think that honor will go for a second one.
Cheers
That could be...Steemit is the groundbreaker but might not end up being the most potent.
I feel Zappl and D.Tube are going to add more users to this blockchain than Steemit will. Those two are going to have millions of users apiece. Of course, they are all tied together but it is easier to use both of them when new as opposed to Steemit.
Of course, with so much development on here, the second one could well be right where we are sitting.
Thank You for your effort to put it together so clearly, i am ALMOST understanding now !! ;-)
Really, this is so far the best "explanation", on this subject.
very good insight, I also think we still are in the "innovation" process and theres alot more to come, and surely steemit is also at its start of a hopefully larger adventure.
Awesome Post. i like it bro. @taskmaster4450
Very nice, Keep Going :}
Decent post lovely exhibited and clarified. thorough with pleasant data..
Like Cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin has created such a revolutionary history, just as I believe in building Steemit and revolutionary history one day, thanks.
Over 1000% growth per year isn't bad. lol
https://steemit-production-imageproxy-thumbnail.s3.amazonaws.com/U5dre7d32hvdULbhfFw7binx4hQ1UFV_1680x8400
How do I get my image to show?
What image?
The one in the link I posted.
This post very nice ..I like this post.thanks
that's pretty cool to know....
Nice post beautiful presented and explained. detail oriented with nice information. thank you for sharing @taskmaster
This decade are overcome the steemians, time for better purpose as steem hold focus the lighting in near future just carry up with Passion
good post ...this post adds my spirits ...and thank you for visiting my page and upvote me.
Regard From Aceh
Wooow Amazing.. good post Mr. @taksmaster4450
Cryptocurrency menciptapkan revolusi baru dibidang ekonomi dan peradaban masyarakat @taskmaster4450
Awesome post.Much obliged for sharing it
I agree with your opinion
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nice post !
Magnificent article. After reading it, you realize that the depreciation that we have seen, this hour - it is only a temporary phenomenon. In the end, a world of abundance awaits us.