I always had a slight sense of unease about Steemit. Something intangible, something I could not quite articulate, something I couldn't put my finger on.
Initially I thought it was to do with the payment model. Being paid for a review of 'Trainspotting 2'. If the product is free, then the product is you.
If you're actually being paid for your inane bytestream of drivel, then what does that mean ?
Then I thought ah it's OK - 'it's all about the community'. It takes a good deal of time to build a community and even longer to persuade your friends to join you on the latest social network (that isn't Twitter). Steemit shared a lot of characteristics with Google Plus, Twitter, identi.ca et al. Accept it.
So I dipped my toe in the water. I made $0.27 Steemit cent and was delighted,. At this rate, I'd be rich and could retire in October 2087. At last, a rightful and deserved reward for my quality writing.
Then I got bored at the slowdown on G+ and revisited GNU Social (Quitter.se) and then to Mastodon (I still fervently think they should have called it 'Mogadon'). Mogadon allowed me to follow all my Quitter friends - why it even provided an export/import facility. Which was nice.
Steemit doesn't allow any such inter-operability. AFAIK I can't talk to friends on Twitter, G+, identi.ca or Mogadon from Steemit. Yeah - it's Open Source so 'patches welcome' but given enough time and resources, I could add that functionality and also travel to Mars.
Steemit seems like a closed, proprietary platform - indistinguishable from Twitter to me.
Maybe I'm wrong. I normally am.
Welcome back! I've not used Quitter, but I was on Mastodon for a bit until the node I used died. Most social sites are closed. G+ cannot talk directly to Twitter.
Steemit is its own thing, but it can be a platform to build a new set of applications on. Steemit is just one aspect of it. People are building Instagram and Twitter equivalents on it too that will use the same blockchain and will also reward users. Eventually there may be a video aspect too to replace Youtube. It has an economic model that doesn't rely on ads, which makes it pretty unique.
Whether it can scale up to world-conquering numbers is still to be determined, but it seems to be able to handle a lot more transactions than Bitcoin.
I'm interested to see where it goes and having earned several thousand gives me a nice stake in it. I do intend to spend some of that. There's a few things I need.
I understand. I understand the thought process, the "too good to be true" mindset. I don't claim to understand all the workings of Steemit, but I know I have invested only time, not much money. I know I am getting paid. This is good enough for me at the moment. Join us.