It is ironic.
The fact that STEEM is barely on the radar of anyone in the cryptocurrency world, and almost nobody outside of it, means that all FUD is coming from Steemians. It is the people who are on STEEM who are spreading the negativity.
Of late, it seems like the popular mantra is the STEEM competition. Many are pointing to other projects that are going to take out Steemit.
I just shake my head when I read stuff like this. Do people really understand what is going on here?
To start, for the umpteenth time, Steemit is not STEEM.
Steemit is the fisrt application on the STEEM blockchain and, at present, the most popular. That said, there are other interfaces now that actually, in my view, are better than Steemit.
It is also tied to the development team that is working on a host of applications and upgrades for this blockchain that are going to enable it to maximize its potential. There is little need to rehash all of them as they can be read in the developer's blog,
Blockchain is a new industry. The technology is still under experimentation. Every day we are seeing more being developed that is enlarging the entire ecosystem. Since many see projects that are similar to STEEM in that they are based around social media, we get the "next Steemit killers".
This blockchain has more than two years in operation. There was a report that came out last week that said most blockchain projects last a little over a year. STEEM is already establishing itself as one designed for the long-term.
Two years provided invaluable experience. Read through some of the posts that people who were here the entire time and you will see some of the growing pains Many mistakes were made which required a lot of adjusting. I wrote a couple posts about Minds. That is a project that has a Facebook feel to it. One of the things they are doing during their testnet is to figure out the reward system. STEEM already has that taken care of. Minds could spend the next 6 months trying to determine the best course of action with that.
Blockchain success depends upon community. Many like to talk about 1M users, a number that means little to me. A lot of people agree with me on that so they allude to the 60K who transact on a daily basis. From a long-term perspective, that also doesn't tell me much.
What is the telling sign, at this point, is the developers. That is what is the separating factor. STEEM spent two years attracting people who wanted to create applications and tie them to this blockchain. It seems there is a post on a daily basis announcing another application. The rate of development is really incredible.
Like anything else, it is a numbers game. There is really no way to tell what clicks with the online crowd. Who foresaw the success of CryptoKitties? Yet that was a game that torched Ethereum's blockchain. A simply game maxed out the transactions on that blockchain.
Many of the applications that are developed on the STEEM blockchain will not go anywhere. Failure is a part of development. That said, there will be some that do become screaming successes. That is the main attraction.
Also, the Smart Media Token protocol is going to really send things in an upward direction. From a development standpoint, that targets a completely new audience. Instead of STEEM being of interest to those who are on here, suddenly websites that create content while also being interested in giving their readers incentives are potential candidates to join this blockchain.
Does that mean there are not other choices out there? Of course not. I fully expect many social media projects to arise over the next year or two. Many will have the advantage of copying what STEEM already accomplished. Such is life in an open source world.
Even those that copy what is taking place here, they still have a huge mountain to climb. Like all blockchains, there is the issue of scaling. Even if one is a graphene-based blockchain, the back end still needs to be able to handle the volume of transactions. That is something the STEEM development team is currently working on.
Also, STEEM has a multitude of applications that spent the last 6 or 7 months doing update after update. They are far removed from version 1.0. Another blockchain not only needs to get the applications, but also get the updates going. As we know, version 1.0 of any technology is not very stable and usually full of bugs.
There will be other social media blockchains and applications that probably are better than Steemit. Heck, I am convinced that there will be many applications on STEEM that end up surpassing Steemit as we move forward. I recently read there are now 3.6B people who are connected to the Internet. Unless you are someone who thought that all 7B people would eventually be on STEEEM, the fact that people will have choices should not be a surprise. There will be other social media blockchains that have hundreds of millions of people.
The difference is track record carries some weight. I see the same FUD spread about Bitshares and the fact there are other decentralized exchanges coming online. Bitshares also has a track record of success in conducting transactions. Like STEEM, the people involved in that blockchain learned a lot over the past few years.
Speaking of exchanges, many like to point out the fact that STEEM is not listed on a ton of exchanges. That is true. What many overlook is a new social media blockchain is listed on less than STEEM. It takes a while for newer tokens to get listed. STEEM worked on it the past couple years. A new blockchain is going to have a tougher time getting recognition unless it gets the fanfare of an EOS.
One thing that I already see developing is that STEEM is starting to be able to bypass the exchanges. While we only see a couple of alternatives, the ecosystem is creating an outlet for people to use STEEM. We are at the point now where entrepreneurs need to create business on STEEM to offer people goods and services that can be purchased in STEEM. @steemmonsters is a prime example of this. Although it is a game, it is a place for people to use their STEEM for purposes of getting something they want.
We are going to see more of these creations over the next year. STEEM is to the point to start building out the commerce end of things.
Another beneficial aspect to all this is that the options available to use STEEM will, essentially, be available to any Smart Media Token. Since they are all paired with STEEM, anyone earning a SMT can convert it to STEEM and spend on whatever is available on the STEEM blockchain. Hence, STEEM might soon be offering built-in commerce to the SMT package.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain are new technologies. It is best to remember that. Anyone who knows about venture capitalists and Silicon Valley understands that the failure rate is about 90%. A VC hopes to hit on 1 out of 10 projects funded. There are a ton of variables to creating a successful technological project.
The reason I bring this up is to highlight the idea that just because a project is slated to be the next "Steemit killer", that does not mean it will ever get off the ground. There is a lot that can go wrong.
Yes there will be other blockchains similar to STEEM. However, for everyone that succeeds, there will be a bunch that fail.
Keep this in mind when concluding that something will destroy STEEM. Just because it sounds good in the white paper, that does not mean that it will even come off as the founders envision. Talk to any developer, there is a lot that can go wrong.
The entire blockchain industry is only 9 years old; STEEM is operational for over two. For such a young industry, that is considered an old-timer.
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I understand everything you are saying mate, but EOS not only has Dan in their pocket, but they also have a 4 billion dollar purse at their disposal to boot.
What does this mean exactly, it means that unlike Steem, which does absolutely no marketing whatsoever, EOS is going to get all the major players in the blockchain development world, and I don't really see Steem surviving such a thing.
I think Steem was a stepping stone for @Dan, as was Ethereum, just to get ready for EOS, which will undoubtedly replace Ethereum as the worlds decentralized playground.
EOS is not built to be an Ethereum killer, or a Steem killer. If EOS is really successfull (which remains to be seen at the moment), that should only lead to more crypto adoption and prove to be beneficial for Steem as well (and Ethereum too for that matter. In some use cases a Proof of Work based smart contract is simply the best suited). It could be the case that EOS has a higher growth rate compared to Steem or Ethereum, but that does not harm the others.
Consider this, e-mail killed writing letters per physical post. However, sending orders for products worldwide has become so incredibly easy that the worldwide postal services have seen an explosive growth! Steemit has the challenge to not stay a purely postal letter service (i.e. just steemit.com), but branch out with communities and SMTs. There's some time pressure there, but as things look now, I feel comfortable they will launch in time and successfully.
FUD is for noobs. I'm a Daniel Larimer fan, I truly am, but I'm holding my Steem Power.
PS I reject the theory that Block.One would purposely dump huge amounts of ETH to buy EOS in order to crash the ETH price and artificially pump the EOS price. That would not be ethical and it would go against everything @dan stands for. In that case, I will dump my EOS tokens (and buy back later when the correction takes place).
I don't think Ned and company have what it takes to take Steem where it needs to go sadly, they had a two year head-start, and yet they are still in Beta. I do wish you luck though mate.
The project is open source. "Ned and company" may end up having little to do with Steem success in the long run.
@dan is a smart guy but he can't just BEEP BOOP BOOP click click and have a fully functional blogging platform deployed on EOS. Development is time consuming. It's not magic although it certainly feels like it sometimes because the tech is so complex.
Also, do you really think @dan is going to put competing with Steemit at the top of his priorities list when there are literally a million other things he could be doing?
Like you said about Steem, EOS is open source, so Dan may not have anything to do with the next big decentralized anything platform, only time will tell. EOS does have the popularity though, and is giving away tons of money to incentivize folks to build for it though.
If there's one lesson I've learned the hard way in life it's never to underestimate people. Time will tell what lies ahead. I hope it brings much fortune to your wallets, Steem or non-Steem.
I agree, and we shall see indeed.
I agree. Neither of them ever even really seemed to use it. Who knows maybe someday a user like me could help lead us forward. :)
Nice catch, I wasn't aware that not only steemit.com but also the steem blockchain is in beta.
I heard EOS was going to have a version of Steemit. Even if they do though I'm not sure that they can come out with a better version even if they can actually do a faster less buggy version.
Depends on what your definition of 'better' is. Some elements will definitely be faster (block times 6 x faster compared to Steem, but that doesn't say anything yet about the complete user experience.
It will certainly be different and I think that's mainly positive news for Steem.
Maybe you can do a review when it is fully up.
You might want to sign up for @dustsweeper.
Exactly, it feels like 99% of people are falling victim to the Halo Effect. They project competitive corporate capitalism onto blockchain tech because it's all they know
Welcome to cooperative open source capitalism. They are completely different. There is no competition. Everyone is helping everyone.
Although I generally agree with you that the landscape of things is different in crypto, saying that "everyone is helping everyone" is a bit on the overly utopian edge.
Many things and developments in cryptoland are as ugly as people can be. Betrayal, fraud, greed, ego, scams and rivalry, cryptoland has it all in abundant supply.
Let's remember that at the end of the day we're still all human. With imperfect system settings and much cognitive bias.
And compassion, cooperation, and synergy can be found in our current system of competitive capitalism. This is a numbers game. It's all about the statistics. When every project is open source saying "everyone is helping everyone" isn't ridiculous.
If an EOS platform comes out that completely blows Steem out of the water pretty much everyone on the planet wins except for Steem whales who are exploiting the system. Sounds like a good trade to me.
EOS is open source. It is also based on the same tech as Steem. That means Steem can integrate EOS if need be, like they are talking about doing with Bitshares. When SMTs, Communities, and effortless onboarding are ready, which is supposed to be soon, Steem WILL be marketed.
I think they should all merge.
For 0.5s transaction times they had to sacrifice a little decentralization though.
Is it just me or does anyone else see a little resemblance between @ned and tom? Of course from a purely physical appearance point of view :)
HAHA! I've thought this several times. I even looked up that picture a few weeks back just to make sure I wasn't remembering it wrong.
Thank you! Finally someone who is putting the entire scope into perspective. I have tried to explain to novices the idea behind it and that Steemit was just one part of a big pie. I'm hoping others can realize the versatility of the steem blockchain as well. Thanks for the article. Resteemed.
Most probably people are complaining out of dissapointment that they have not turned financially independent after a short time on Steemit... For me the major driving forces to be here is curiosity and an interest in basic income and related topics.
I think you once again hit the nail on the head. The Steem blockchain is so quick and powerful and full of potential. I think things like steemmonsters and Steemhunt are amazing proof of concepts and we’re seeing a real expansion of how people are using the blockchain. With its ease of development and SMTs the sky is the limit, it’s only a matter of time before we get that “killer Dapp” and rocket to the mainstream.
As you have correctly pointed out, most users on Steemit still think Steemit is synonymous to the STEEM blockchain. They still fail to understand that STEEM is a platform. A platform with open APIs for developers to build applications. A platform with data stored on a public blockchain. STEEM provides a framework for apps that heavily rely on content generation and social interactions.
It is easy to say that there are potential STEEM-killers. However, as of now, there aren't any decentralized social network that is as developed as STEEM. Even if there is, STEEM has already started to gain traction and network effect, making it very difficult for any competitors to catch up. Network effect is key for all social networks and that is why Google Plus is never able to catch up with Facebook.
The STEEM network is the most heavily used blockchain based on stats from Block'tivity. To further illustrate this point, I recently made a post to understand when are STEEM users most active on a typical week. Through this, I was also surprised by how many articles are being posted each day. At the peak of the selected week, we are seeing 2324 new posts created in an hour! I think stats and data speaks louder than words when it comes to this debate on STEEM's competition.
With upcoming changes like Hivemind and SMTs, STEEM is just going to further the gap with its competitors.
Your posts are very interesting especially for me who is
still a beginner and I have to learn more do you want to be a
teacher for me.
The point that Steemit is not Steem is just an addition to my knowledge and I hope same goes for many here.
Excellent publication. Great perspective you have on Steem and the direction it has taken. Now, I want to ask you a question, you say that Steem is not Steemit, and of course, you're right, but is not Steemit the only way to get Steem besides buying it?
As was pointed out, any application on the STEEM blockchain can earn one STEEM. Many can sign up using Steemit then sign into other applications to earn STEEM.
People can even pay to sign up if they want.
You can earn Steem on Dtube, Dlive, Utopian, Steepshot, and many other sites that use the Steem blockchain.
But perhaps these sites are not created from Steemit? that is, are not these platforms an extension of Steemit? Could those pages exist without Steemit?
Agree that the potential of STEEM extends beyond the Steemit platform! The ecosystem is full of potential for many applications of blockchain technology. However, the promise of becoming THE social application for blockchain is one of best uses given the demand for social media and the problem currently with centralized platforms. I believe that the biggest need right now is an improved mobile application given the fact that most users of the internet now access it via a mobile device. Currently, the browser interface has its challenges.
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Reality is that, we are now less than 60K who transact here on daily basis. There has been a drastic drop in the number of active users accompanied with the low market price value of SBD/Steem in the market.
However, it also amazes me how the struggling price induces inactivity in many.
I am always of the belief that Steemit will continue to surpass every other development on the steem blockchain. Despite all challenges, I hope steemit continue to succeed beyond all social and technological boundaries.
Well done @taskmaster4450, this was a thought provoking piece
I mean, you are 100% correct, I couldn't say any better...
FUD is a very interesting phenomenon and very dangerous too. But as you mentioned, STEEM still very small, so all the FUD comes from insiders. Time to stop being afraid and focus on what really matters, promote the STEEM blockchain out there and talk good about it, don´t spread fear that is non-existent.
i will always support you man!!!
I agree with you, if one says a project is amazing in its whitepaper, I can tell him how amazing Steemit whitepaper was too persuade me at the first place. Regardless of some drawbacks, I still considered Steemit unbeatable in a near future.
I am one of those people and I have a fix. I am getting a collection of people that will vote for the witness that gets STEEM or SBD listed on a major exchange. This collective of votes is outgrowing my expectations. I just barely started this movement and I'm surprised that I'm getting people to promise their witness vote everyday to the witness that gets the job done. I post the total everyday.
As a collective we have massive power because witnesses want 10,000 minnow votes instead of 1 whale vote. This is because the whale can change their mind and cause the witness to lose rank in an instant. With 10,000 minnow votes, this wouldn't happen.
Anyway, @taskmaster4450, I apologize for going off subject. I just though you would be interested in my solution. Also, I would like to point out that unlike other altcoins, STEEM has held the relative position in coin market ranking ever since I've been on Steemit. It is rock solid while other coins have been all over the map. You touched on this
I completely agree, it amazes me that so many people want to build their own version of a blockchain-based platform despite all the work that has been done on existing ones. Thanks for the great read!
If another service comes along that completely blows Steem out of the water that can still be viewed as a win-win for everyone. This perceived competition is a fantasy that only runs rampant when the price action of our coin is low.
It is either people are not listening, they don't understand either by choice or by ignorance of what is going on.
Steemit is just one condenser of Steem blockchain. I agree that it is in beta testing and after reading Luke Stoke's article in relation to Dave McCoy's post it make sense why Steemit Inc is pushing for SMT and Hiveminds because the system we have now could be completely different from what we have now.
Every week we have new condensers being developed and released. Now we have steemhunt and Steem monsters that took the imagination and SBD you have.this making it liquid as it moves hands and have utility.
That is the most important factor Utility and movement to increase steem value.
I agree with @tolkatore that Steem barely does any marketing.
Other than that those who are here and FUD about Steem have lost their minds completely.
Even if EOS launches social media - Steemit can still co-exist. I do not see a problem with that.
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