I love the concept of Steemit.
Since joining around 2 weeks ago, I've spent many hours crafting content for peoples enjoyment. Being able to jump onto a blogging platform and start earning cash almost immediately was groundbreaking for me. Knowing people saw value in my content broke me out of a years-long, no-writing slump. I have finally found my joy again: sharing my information with you. Being heard and hearing. It's all any of us really want.
But that doesn't mean Steem is without problems.
As someone who isn't all that technically inclined, posting to Steemit is cumbersome. If you want posts to look nice, you need to have a working knowledge of html. And while there are plenty of code-snippets out there to work from, the process of posting is time-consuming. If I spend a few hours writing something, I can usually expect to spend another hour formatting the post till it meets my approval.
Until these usability issues are fixed, it's going to be hard to get the masses to adopt the platform. Many great content creators find the system to new and confusing. Some, like my girlfriend, who is a brilliant videographer, are just too perplexed by the whole Steem, SP, SBD thing. But that is a marketing problem if anything.
Thankfully, these issues should be addressed in the coming months/years.
The recent roadmap did a lot to build my faith and trust in the platform, and I get the feeling that those behind Steem are working diligently to get the platform where it needs to be. After some research I can comfortably say there isn't another company that has me more excited for the future of content creation.
But there are a few other companies who have benefited from Steem's vision, who have seen where the platform falls short. They are trying to use that knowledge to create their own systems. However, none of them are true replacements. They all differ from Steem in one fundamental way or another. But they're defiantly worth keeping an eye on. Not just for what they could do for us, but for what Steem can learn from their innovations.
Without further ado, here's some foresight into those four sites:
1. Akasha
Like Steem, Akasha user's content is rewarded on a by-vote basis. When you post something to their platform it gets organized by the tag you give it, and users upvote if they like it.
Unlike Steem, Akasha won't be backed by its own crypto-currency to start. Instead the company has decided to use Ethereum.
"We chose to focus first on building a working decentralized application and learning from the actual use what sorts of problems we should be solving with a custom token," says the website.
Although it's still in it's infancy, you can download their alpha software and give it a shot.
Pros
- Ethereum is a well-regarded token with a stable price-index. It's popularity and wide-spread use ensure that it won't be loosing much value over the coming years.
- Basic file hosting is built into the platform, and creating posts is fairly intuitive.
- It is a decentralized platform that uses P2P to store data. I'm not an overly tech-savy person, but in an age that values artistic liberty, it seems like a good way to circumvent censorship
- It's creators all use their real names/reputations to back the platform. They seem trustworthy.
Cons
- So far the only way to see what's posted is to use the app they have. No idea if they mean to make it accessible via a web browser or not. But having a standalone app is a barrier to mass inclusiveness. It's a lot easier to make people visit a webpage, than it is to make them download and app. (however I realize with the decentralized nature it can't all be via the web (or can it?!).
- How Ethereum factors into the platform isn't quite clear. However I noticed when upvoting others posts, my own supply of test-ether diminished. This could mean that the project doesn't actually generate wealth, it just re-organizes it. For instance if you wanted to have an impact on the platform, you'd need to spend money to get it.
- The company seems to be unrealistic about their goals, or bad planners. If you check out their roadmap, you see that they actually planned to be in beta by Oct 2016. There are very few blog posts in this regard, and progress lacks transparency.
2. LBRY
LBRY is another platform with its own currency (LBC). However it differs from Steem in a major way: all LBC that is used on the platform must be purchased or mined. Like with Akasha, the only way for content creators to get some is if someone gives it to them by supporting their post.
It also looks like the company is focusing on video content. From what I can tell, any incentives they offer go towards video-creators. And most of what they've published uses video creators as example users.
Still this could make for an interesting platform, especially for indy artists who want to cut out the middleman. But it's more of a content marketplace than a blogging/aggregation site.
Pros
- Decentralized network that pays users to host content
- Pay content creators directly
- Very active Dev team, with daily blog posts
- Currently on-boarding a ton of creatives to jump-start the platform, making sure it has good content that will grow its user base
Cons
- It looks like it'll be a decentralized version of Medium
- Don't seem to be interested in courting print media
- Users are expected that people will "buy" their content. They set prices on how much it costs to view. If the New York Times can't get people to buy content, what makes them think this platform will?
- P2P content sharing and hosting means there is a massive chance for copyright infringement
3. Synereo
From what I gather on Synereo's website, it looks like their decentralized app is meant as a complement to existing social networks. What I mean is that instead of being a place where people actually create content, it's a place where people share it.
"Synereo’s first set of tools will allow content creators to monetize original works on existing networks, without having to turn their channels into advertisment[sic] real estate, while granting their followers the opportunity to become paid affiliate publishers. "
It differs from the rest of these in a more major way however. Instead of creators and curators being paid for votes, they are paid for the amount of eyeballs they can get. Synereo call this the "Attention Economy" but gives sparse data on how this will actually work.
Pros
- If execute properly, the "attention economy" could negate sybil attacks. There would need to be some sort of conformation that a new person is actually reading the article, but it's an interesting thought.
- Decentralized, at least it will be at the end of their roadmap
Cons
- They aren't clear about how this will work. Even their whitepaper uses vague and ambiguous language.
- Taking point one into account with the setback detailed on their webpage, and one gets the idea they haven't actually figured it out themselves
- Not much information on their social currency AMP. Hitting the bitcointalk forums shows that people were pretty suspicious they weren't going to let other's mine their coin. It does seem like a shitty way to start a decentralized network..
4. Yours
Yours is possibly the most interesting of the bunch, but that could be because creator Ryan X. Charles has kept things pretty vague.
All you get when you head to his website is a brief survey asking you what kind of content you like to create, if you like curating, if you're male/female. That sort of thing.
Like Akasha, Yours' economy will be built on an existing token, but this time it's the all-powerful Bitcoin. Reading through his blog, it seems like the only thine Charles has managed to figure out is the tech behind sending bitcoin micro-transactions. These would be necessary to get around the relatively high transaction fees bitcoin imposes.
However, It doesn't seem like Charles has pick how that economy will even function.
"We described our top five possibilities for payment schemes, 1) tipping, which are completely voluntary payments made to content creators, 2) endorsing, where payments deliver 50% to the creator and 50% to earlier endorsers, 3) purchasing, where users see a preview of content and have to pay to see the full content, 4) investing, where the users can purchase shares in future revenue of pieces of content, and 5), a market system where there is no standard scheme but where users pick the scheme that is appropriate for them."
So I can't very will give a pros and cons list. I will say however that is suffers from the same problems that all these other platforms do. That is, it only creates wealth for those who have it. In order to participate, you'll likely have to invest in some bitcoins. And while that may be fine for the adventurous 1% of the worlds population using crypto-currency, it's definitely going to see some problems when it tries to scale to the masses.
Hey, catharcissism.
Thanks for the great post. People around me have been mentioning LBRY more and more, and a few friends who I trust have invested in it. A name that came up the last few times was onG.social. It's a just addition to this list - basically a decentralized social media which pays you ad revenue in crypto. I'm thinking about investing in it when the coin comes out this month, mainly because their platform is already functioning and is being used by many. : )
IMO ONG coin is one of the most promising ICOs coming up since they have their project already up and running with steadily growing user numbers. I'm looking to invest as well. Definitely going to be big :)
Actually haven't heard of Akasha and Yours before but anyway I agree that ong should be on this list as well.
Yes u guys r right. ONGcoin.io is a good project . It is backed by IBM
Then there's Decent, Adzbuzz, Coinsyde, and Respectonomy.Bunches of these type sites popping up!
Decent is definitely a player. Their ICO was pretty huge. Content creators don't draw off a pool though, that's the one thing I notice. But that may have the benefit of making sure people really believe in what they upvote.
Not sure about Adbuzz and Coinsyde. I can't find much about them, even on their respective pages. Respectonomy I'm strait up skeptical about. Their dev page looks sketchy as hell. And their whitepaper is of the wordy, ambiguous variety.
From the Respectonomy ico webpage:
The 25% bonus on day 1 of the ICO is pretty suspicious. But who knows.
Adzbuzz looks good, profile page reminds me of Facebook
Just took a look at that. My only problem right now is that I can't access their whitepaper, and the timer link is dead. I also don't understand what they're doing, replacing ads with ads? Look into the ublock thing, it seems really counter intuitive.
Am i missing a Decent platform? it seems to be just for creating daaps right?
Synero I heard of, the others new to me, will check them
Thanks uwelang. Not sure why you got flagged, but I appreciate the comment.
@asshole is flagging everybody again, including comments now.
Ahhh, jolly good. Pippip
Have been trying out AKASHA for a week now, i like the idea, but is has a long road ahead to be just as good as Steemit. I believe Steemit will be number one in the upcoming years! They are way ahead in developing compared to most of the rest platforms. I do believe Busy.org starts Beta tommorow doesnt it? Great article!
Thank you!
Does busy start tomorrow? Where did you hear that? I've been waiting to try it out. I think it could add some serious value to the block chain.
I believe i read it on steemit.chat on the #busy channel :)
Learn something new every day. Nice.
I've been waiting for Yours for a while, before I knew about Steemit, which has first mover in the space for sure. It's been up, running, and working for a while. I will check out Yours when it comes out, though. I'm on Akasha but I haven't really played with it yet.
I made a post on Akasha today, just to check it out. It's only in the alpha stage, and everything is transacted with test-ETH.
The posting interface is strait forward and it ran fast enough. Not all that well organized though.
Yeah I'd made a post and looked around, upvoted some things. Thinking about sharing a photo or two to see how it looks before the release and then I'll post more after release and see what happens :)
Couldn't hurt. What's your stance on Xposting between the two sites?
I will definitely be xposting if it's worth the time.
Yeah, I can't see the harm in it. People will vote with their wallets anyways. Heck, when sights get large enough even reposting becomes viable.
popchest.com is another beta project that allows you to upload video content and set a price for viewers to watch. It is based on BTC. heres a screenshot
https://popchest.com
http://prntscr.com/e2iqbu . You obviously have to purchase BTC if your there to browse, but it also presents opportunities for video creators to make coin. I think we will start to see many sites like this popup in the near future. Hopefully steemit streamlines there platform to take the lead, or at least have a better working version.
I agree, there's going to be a lot of competition. But that's good for the user, as it means better services.
Steem is already out ahead of everyone else. Be nice if they can stay there.
Popchest looks pretty straitforward. More of a competitor for youtube than anything. It doesn't have the aggregation aspect Steemit does anyways. Not built off the blockchain either (admitedly that only matters to/is understood by a really small percentage of the population). But they have a site up, which is more than a lot of these companies can say.
nice article
Great post, very very interesting. Yesterday I also wrote post about LBRY. Telepathy!! 😊
Haha, I saw that! You had some awesome detail/insight about them. If only the were interested in writers :(
Interesting and educating one, thanks for sharing
My pleasure. Glad you got some use from it.
Very informative post. I was not aware of these other platforms. Thanks for sharing!
yup me too!
My pleasure. Thanks for commenting! Make's it worth it.
Does this qualify for #4KHQ status @stellabella?
I am pretty sure that @stellabella wil not answer.
May be @stellabelle will.
Your comment is rated #fauxhq ;-)
I confused what I call her in my head, with what needed to be pressed on the keyboard :<
I hope to check them out and find out something better than Steemit. Stem it is flawed the whole non-equal voting system, no block feature and only getting paid for your content for a limited time when youtube videos, and your own blog, or Kindle books will pay endlessly. Those are all huge problems and the reason why I barely post anymore after thinkning this was the best thing since sliced bread.
My experience here proved that. I pissed of the whales after being attacked by conservative anti-nudity people and it's not worth posting anymore even though I have plenty of people voting and that bot telling me my post is undervalued. I had high hopes for it... but Steemit is just a reflection of the problems in the real offline world rolled into a website. Too few having all of the power and a currency backed by nothing, and people attacking each other and people buying their way to the top to have power.
Nice helpful post thanks!
Kudos to you, a quick google search on sites like Steemit (I meant blockchain and cryptocurrency operating, but it worked out!) brought your post to the top of my search results. :)
True whitecollar SEO :)
wow definitely checking these other ones out! Thank you
I'm new to the world of cryptocurrency and I must admit that I need a mentor.
Me too. If you find one let me know hoe you did it.
Thanks. I'll be expecting 😊.
Hi
I am about two weeks on Steemit. I am artist and do paintings and digital art. Can you give me an advice, which website is better for artist to use ?
I think this is a good post. I upvoted it and included a link to it in a post today at @debmund. Thanks.
That's very useful to know ! Thank you very much!
I was researching different web sites to publish articles and writings. I will evaluate these options, which will be very useful. Thank you.
With Steem about to breach $10, sooner or later we are going to see more platforms coming up on similar concept. Interesting times ahead.
Hey @catharcissism, I just looked upon this post now. I'm fascinated by it...but except synergeo the other three sites including ong, I have not been able to find out... can you please help? Thanks.
Hey! Great article. Keep posting such articles.