Facebook’s dwindling popularity is no secret, as users and organizations alike have criticized its ever-changing algorithms and lodged claims of censorship. In light of the most recent algorithmic changes, which have prioritized users’ friends’ posts over posts from public pages, even Facebook has acknowledged a decrease in the amount of time people are spending on the site.
Though there is currently no major alternative to Facebook that compares to the way Facebook served as a replacement for Myspace a decade ago, emerging options reflect the new paradigm: decentralized blockchain platforms.
In what is arguably a show of major recognition for these new options, Bloomberg Technology reported Tuesday on Steemit, an increasingly popular blockchain-based social media and blogging platform that allows participants to earn cryptocurrency for posting, commenting, and voting on content.
Steemit is already gaining traction with independent media outlets and journalists who have seen their reach on Facebook and traditional platforms suffocated (journalist Ben Swann recently joined Steemit, as have Anti-Media and many of our reporters, including myself).
Bloomberg’s report on Steemit documented the growth of the “financial internet” in general and its potential to disrupt the established internet order:
“The so-called financial internet stands the Facebook business model on its head. With Facebook, users post content on the site and the company collects the money — last year, $41 billion in revenue. On Steemit, the money goes in the other direction. Facebook, with 2.1 billion monthly users, may not even see Steemit, which says 9 million users visit each month, in its rear-view mirror.”
Bloomberg notes there are at least 1,000 projects that “record data onto digital ledgers and are called dApps, for decentralized applications, are live or in testing.”
Kenny Palurintano ( @kennyskitchen), who has established himself as a veritable Steemit expert (full disclosure: he operates my account, as well as accounts for Anti-Media journalist Derrick Broze ( @dbroze)and @AntiMedia, among others), has explained how Steemit works, highlighting its foundation rooted in the blockchain, decentralization, and open source technology. He also discusses how content creation factors into that:
“Everyone on Steemit is either creating and/or curating content. Even if you’ve never put up a single post, your comments on other peoples’ posts are still content, still adding to all-that-is the Steemit platform. The more value other people see in your content, the more upvotes it gets, and the more you get paid out. Curating is the act of up-voting and flagging content on Steemit. As you can see, it’s possible to create quite an abundance flow, simply by helping abundance flow to great content creators.”
Steemit CEO Ned Scott discussed the site’s popularity — there are over 100,000 content creators — attributing this rise, fittingly, to a decentralized, word-of-mouth form of promotion and the potential to earn cryptocurrency, namely, Steem and Steem Dollars. As he told Bloomberg in an interview:
“I attribute almost all of Steemit’s growth to the reality it’s distributed money to members of the community. There’s been very little marketing. It’s been all organic conversations that have led to the growth of the platform. A majority of the people who continue to stick around are being compensated for their time.”
Steemit, which doesn’t sell ad space like Facebook and other traditional platforms, instead owns a portion of the tokens. Though the financial internet currently only pays users about $3.5 million per year, that figure could grow to $50 million in two years, according to Susan Eustis, CEO of WinterGreen Research. Billionaire investor Tim Draper, who is heavily invested in digital currency, believes that within ten years, tokens and cryptocurrencies will account for 33% of all commerce.
Steemit isn’t the only blockchain-based platform that’s paying users and attracting attention. Projects like Storj, Golem, Matchpool, Augur, and Cryptokitties are also allowing users to generate income for a variety of services and activities ranging from end-to-end encrypted cloud storage (Storj) and predicting future events (Augur) to collecting, breeding, and selling digital cats (Cryptokitties). In another example, Brave is an open-source, privacy-focused browser that blocks ads and allows users to earn tokens.
Though many of these platforms are not yet prepared for mass membership and use, those in the sphere are confident that over time they will adapt. “These decentralized systems are just not made to grow and scale for the masses yet,” co-founder of Ethereum Anthony Di Iorio said. “There are always problems with early technology. It takes time.”
But those in the field predict major gains and applicability. Draper, for example, believes that within five years, cryptocurrencies will be used to purchase everyday items like burgers and coffee.
As Di Oiorio said of these growing decentralized systems, “This will be more important than the internet. It’s going to be massively disruptive for every sector.”
Facebook and Twitter have not yet responded to Bloomberg’s request for comment on these new platforms, which increasingly appear to have the potential to disrupt their monopoly over the internet as we have known it.
Further, as Palurintano told Anti-Media, echoing Draper and Di Oiorio’s concerns but expressing optimism at the new systems gaining traction:
“Being covered by such a large, mainstream news source as Bloomberg will provide a huge leap in the reach of the STEEM blockchain. We, as the community creating content and building tools, should take this as a great sign… but also as a challenge to step up our game. There are still many many technical issues, community-splitting conflicts, and a very steep learning curve, all of which create a barrier to entry for the average, non-tech-savvy folks who just read about our wonderful platform. What can each of us do to make STEEM the best it can be?”
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I agree. Unfortunately, Facebook is full of rubish lats time. :(
When was the last time you popped into the "new" page here? :)
Today I guess... :D
O wow, I am really happy to see steemit going places ☺️
Like if Bloomberg is writing about steemit then man it is a really big thing.
Websites That Pay Users With Blockchain Aim to Disrupt Facebook
That was the headline, Steemit has a long way to go to improve it's snobbish attitude before they'll ever replace FB.
sunlit7 wrote, "Steemit has a long way to go to improve it's snobbish attitude before they'll ever replace FB."
I don't think their goal is to 'replace FB'. I think their goal is to empower users with rewards for user-activity. If that also happen to replace FB, then so be it. It's not snobbish to call a thing what it is, except to those who are a part of what-is, and who don't like being correctly identified in unflattering ways.
I don't know why they'd fight the change instead of embracing it.
FB is full of s**t now, I am happy steemit is there now :)
Steemit is not a decentralized platform. It is a privately held company whose top tier hold all the power.
Steemit also is given to much credit for not censoring....if one can destroy another through flagging just because of what that person says that is censorship. I don't know how many times I've seen people say "don't poke the bear"....meaning don't poke a whale. That's censorship, if people can't feel free to speak their mind without being destroyed.
Good point. This is the biggest problem Steemit faces. People not speaking their mind because they are afraid of getting destroyed by some angry whale. Imagine someone quitting their job to blog on Steemit, then writes something "wrong" and is then constantly downvoted for writing the "wrong" content or having the wrong political views.
Thank you so much for this information; the fact that Bloomberg did an article on Steemit is huge! I've been off FB for some time, mostly due to its' negativity, but also to the privacy issues I have with it. I can't believe that there was 41 billion in revenue for them last year! It's nice to be on a platform where the revenue goes in the opposite direction for sure.
I really like Palurintano's comment, There are still many many technical issues, community-splitting conflicts, and a very steep learning curve...What can each of us do to make STEEM the best it can be?”
I am a part of @newbieresteemday, which was started by @davemccoy and @mudcat36, which began as a resteem initiative (obviously:), but morphed into a welcoming, supporting, and educating/mentoring community to help new and not-so-new folks with "the steep learning curve" here. The hope is that by building and creating a stronger younger foundation, they will in turn grow to do the same for other new people who join. Some of us have also created a @friendsofgondor curation trail to help with the "community-splitting conflicts". The "technical issues" are way out of my league however:)
Thank you again for your post @careywedler! Cheers :)
Then it's surprising you'd come to Steem, where literally every write action one takes on the site is public to the entire world. There is no privacy whatsoever here.
hahaha fair enough! Allow me to clarify @sneak ...on steemit I know everything is public and I'm ok with that; I joined with full disclosure. It's the more insidious nature of the privacy issues on FB that I wasn't so crazy about.
Good catch though!
well said;
I’ve been saying this from the beginning. Why spend time on Facebook where they milk you and make money off your data, when you could come to Steemit, make new friends, and earn a little on the side, or even a lot! Hell, even if you made pennies here, it’s still a few dollars every year that you wouldn’t have made on Facebook.
Once users start to realize the power of Steemit, we will surely grow. Like MySpace before it, Facebook will undoubtedly collapse and its user base will flock to this platform. All we need now is a mobile app and we’ll be golden. Can’t wait to meet all the new people!
Hardly. Constantly telling people you aren't making money because you are not producing "quality" content isn't going to keep those people around, it's just going to intimidate them to go back to FB.
The money here is an added bonus. Even if you made 1 cent, it's more than FB will ever give you.
I guess that went over your head.
sunlit7, for one who in an earlier comment talked about Steemit's alleged need not to be snobbish, I perceive a lot of snobbery coming from your comments.
Facebook engages in its fair share of censorship. And they never, ever, EVER pay their users just for being there. On Steemit, there's an opportunity to engage, and if you're polite and well-reasoned in your comments and posts, there's an opportunity to earn some crytocurrency.
What, exactly, is your problem with that framework? From what I can see, your problem with it is with the freedom of the community to down-vote your content. Is that dynamic particular to Steemit, or is it also in action on Facebook? I think we both know the answer to that question.
In the kind of community you seem to be advocating, a complete lack of community feedback would be indistinguishable from a place where spam runs rampant and the community can't police itself. Is that really what you'd prefer as an alternative to Steemit's current community feedback schema?
To my knowledge I haven't been down voted yet and I've actually made some pennies on some of my comments. You are at a twenty five so I assume you are new here and haven't seen how they insult people by telling them that their engagement isn't good enough as a reason for not getting anywhere on here. It much harder than you are aware of at this point. You will see as you see people who try and then just plain disappear off the site. Some of these people put their hearts and souls into writing at a level that they are capable of and to me that acknowledgement or having acknowledgement of that effort means a lot more in acceptance of everyone as a whole who really believe in the concept that this could be a valued added aspect to spending time on a site. I had a son with a unspecified learning disability and I always told him it was better to try then not to try, trying deserves reward and recognition not being told you are not good enough.
Another reason I can tell you are new is that you haven't run across any of the flame wars either yet. I wouldn't recommend getting involved in the majority of them but they are a learning experience. Bots are being used to spam the rewards pool at the last minute, whales up voting themselves to rake in hundreds off the rewards pool, and people are incapable for whatever reasons....they are afraid of a whale taking them down or flagging them into oblivion, there's no policing on the site, it's totally incapable out of fear of policing itself. I am not trying to scare you, like I said the best thing to do is stay out of the majority of the fights but you should really educate yourself about what's going on so you see where the money is going that could be going towards growing the platform instead of repeatedly by means of abuse making the rich richer on here. There, at this point, isn't anything anyone can do about it. Just carrying on around them, I wish you lots of luck and good fortune.
I don't believe in eliminating somebody from the market but should have a good competition
Steemit makes facebook look like exploiters. I actually wish all the time I have spent on facebook were judiciously spent there.
"look like" ? ;)
@careywedler
I agree with the censorship part. In fact I wrote an article just yesterday about being too dependent on google. and making the decision to slowly migrate away from some of the services.
One of my YT videos got demonetized just because the word "death" was in the title and that referred to the death of a service.
FWIW, at the moment, not all things are suitable on Steemit, like photos & content that I don't want to be locked into the blockchain forever.
Search is not really working yet, and the platform has other issues too.
I think people are just tired of social media. I got started early in social media, and remember the days when I signed up for almost every new social media site that popped up. Many of these smaller sites closed and we are now left with a few big ones.
Now if another social media platform is to launch, it like "meh".
Too much social media time is not healthy, according to Sean Parker founding president of FB "purposely hook and potentially hurt our brains."
Before Steemit, I've decide to limit my own FB time, but Steemit seemed to have drawn me back in. In someways, not really healthy but I'm testing out to see what it has too offer.
Hey @careywelder, excellent post. I like to read that Steemit is being mentioned in main stream media like Bloomberg. On-boarding for Steemit is still a challenge, but I believe in future the process will be simplified. Steem on ... 🚂
That's the technology. Every day there are new things that are ready to compete. Facebook is a victim of healthy competition from the advancement of human thought and civilization. This is a great post.
Allow me to resteem and translate it into Indonesian @careywedler
So what if people just realize that these tokens people are paying so much for....are basically just points. With more and more cryptos, there will be a greater need to focus on utility other than just "points". I think steem has a lot of potential as a utility, but it needs to expand beyond just a social network.
Ultimately, the free market will decide and i am not going to argue with it-but i will tag along for the ride as i have been. Glad I done this instead of a youtube channel.
Very interesting.
I see Steemit grow in the future. But will it survive?
I see big problems. Whales have too much power. They control this platform. If you say something they don't like , they will flag you and you willl lose your rewards. I'm afraid to write my opinion because I don't want to lose any money. Is that fair?
If your opinions can be justified with facts, statistics or real world examples, I don't believe you would face major reprecussions if theyre stated in a civil manner.
Yes, you may lose followers or not get as many votes, but its a small price to pay for the freedom of speech.
It depends on the maturity of the whale I guess... :)
Wow!! It is very interesting. Steemit community go ahead. It is the best platform to prove oneself. Thanks for sharing the informative post.
Facebook need some changes because too many annoying notifications, unknown page posts , too many ads and too many dull videos on timeline sucks. Thanks for the post
Someone told me this a couple years ago, If you're not investing your money, then you're wasting it. Question is, what to invest in? Steemit seems like a good investment, especially if you're a person who tweets/posts to twitter/facebook. There are billions of tweets/posts everyday. Imagine if the people who used those social media platforms knew that they could create an income by investing their time in Steemit instead of twitter/fb? Use twitter/facebook as your own advertisement tools to promote Steemit and your own perception/perspectives. That will force twitter/fb to evolve or they will no longer exist. Be the change you wish you had. We can change the future by taking action now. I personally deactivated my fb account over 4 years ago. I only created a new account to post news from current events, history we were never taught or history I need to re educate myself with. We have the power to change the world with our own fingertips, but evil does exist. Is Steemit evil? Who knows? It's time for a change is all I'm saying. Welcome to the digital revolution
Thanks for covering this. We're the future! Steem on!
The concept of Steemit is better. FB trying to social engineer. They decide what is "best for us"
I am happy to see Steemit grow, but let the trolls stay on Facebook! It's a totally different atmosphere here and I don't think I would like it as much if everyone came here instead - it's probably way too complicated for a lot of people. I've been really straining my own brain getting used to it, so I guess I don't have to worry too much yet! Thanks for the article!
Steemit model is very attractive. Facebook and other tech giants have to adapt inorder to compete. I do believe they will introduce some sort of decentralisation and probably a coin of their own.
It will be a tough fight for them another problem they have is censorship. It appears people who do mot share certain world veiws are censored and banned from the big tech platforms that will also have a detrimental impact. Check out this shor blog post on censorship.
https://steemit.com/news/@daveboss/censorship
Interested
Steem has a great future, but so far it is not available half the day.
When is it not available? I haven't seen any problems like this
Maybe yura81 is offline or has flat batteries half of the day?
Imagine FB having over taken My Space by not being available for half a day.
Invest your time on steemit
Resteemed to my 7000 followers!
lol you follow 35 k ?
35 k and one, just hit the follow button in your blog, baby! Wow! Thank you for all the work you do for our community.
The guy don they get the vibe ... Steemit is the new boss in town .
Good news! I also believe that someday, Steemit will be the main thing. Here, our time is not wasted.
It's always nice to know that you are a part of something that is gaining recognition and going places. I am still new to Steem and I don't expect overnight results. I will see how well I do a couple of years down the road.
I've been telling everyone that I know:
This is the year that blockchain begins disrupting major industries. Already we have top content creators from YouTube switching over to Steemit, and looking to bring their communities with them. There's growing discontent with Facebook, Google, and other major companies and this is going to lead to a widespread adoption of new, decentralized apps.
Those of us who get in early will reap the greatest rewards, and those who adopt later not so much.
I'm excited to see major publications picking it up, but it just means that the timeframe between when widespread adoption begins occurring will be shorter!
every people has age, every age has the people. may be now is the steemit age. and Facebook has passed his time.
#gosteemit
Nifty. I'd love to see Steemit defeating facebook
Thank you for an informative read. Steem it UP!
This is wonderful news and a well-done article! Thank you for sharing this with us!
I am Upvoting, Resteeming, Following ... Thanks again!
Wow, we're so fortunate to be part of the revolution, eh?
The fact that a share on Facebook icon exists on each post indicates Steemit's vision of working alongside/together. A company like Facebook has too much influence and cash to be killed. Find your niche and overwhelm that niche.
This is so true. I was just talk about it this Saturday with my friend. Steemit could really kill Facebook. Like how ICQ, MSN Messneger and Myspace got wipe out from the surface of our planet.
I think it will really become a competitor to Facebook when it comes to having a very user-friendly mobile application.
Esteem is not even user friendly.
For the win. Mic drop.
Thanks for bringing this huge bit of news to my (our) attention.
Very nice. Resteemed.
FB and YT are going down....
The level of real life engagement that Steemit is giving right now is unrivalled on any other platform - do you think this will be sustainable is it grows to Facebook proportions?
I have some idea is better than fb
I also include facebook users, and your posts are very good and provide good information, hopefully steemit will be advanced and beesinar like facebook that already many people know, semoha success for you
Who the hell needs Facebook when you have Steemit. I replaced my time spent for nothing on Facebook with Steemit instead.
Best decision I ever made.
Steemit >>> everything else. :D
Waw... Sungguh mengharukan...
Even if steemit will not challenge the dominance of FB and twitter (which I think might happen in a few years), it will grow to a size where it can't longer be ingored and thus will put pressure on the giants to change something for real and somehow reward their content creators.
Since I met Steemit community, I am not even opening my facebook... It is very clear in the future money will not be known as just made by papers.. Our money perception will change totally.. We will be sending money to someone in seconds without a bank or another mediator..
This really highlights how Steemit is the perfect counter to the current monopolies in the social media world.