Around this time last year, an obscure blockchain project known as Steemit beta was released to the world. The project was a decentralized social network that aimed to disrupt the traditional networks by leveraging the attention economy in a way that promised to benefit all parties involved in social media.
If you are on any of the other social networks then you need to add Steemit to your social media life.
Myself, I decided I would participate in a experiment; a one year commitment to a brand new platform that promised to change the way the world engaged in social media. I did not know what to expect, but given my attitude toward social media at the time, I didn't hope for much.
What I never expected was just how completely this social network would upend and change my life, in all positive ways.
Note: For more information regarding the technical aspects of Steemit, read the White Paper or the Steemit FAQ for more information. This piece will not cover that.
"What is Steemit?"
Steemit is more than just your average social network. It leverages the attention economy to generate value for content creators, curators and commenters while incentivizing action and interaction within the global online community. It gives back the value provided by the attention of the users of a network instead of monetizing it for a bottom line.
So you can think of Steemit like any other social network. Just remember: any time you post content or click 'like' on every other social network, the value you generate is sent to the company and never shared with you.
But how Steemit really shines is as virtual marketplace of ideas with a very real world impact. For example, on July 16th of this year the design collective @hitheryon with the assistance of the Steemit community, successfully completed the first crowdfunded design project Steem Park in the Herbert Von King Park in Brooklyn, NY.
That should make any independent designer or architect sit up and take notice. Steemit can be more than just a social network, it can be an online portfolio of professional work and source of crowdfunding for any project.
Steemit is a lot of things to a lot of people.
What I Found on Steemit that I Find Nowhere Else?
Other social networks do not provide you with an encrypted digital wallet where you can manage the monetary rewards you earn, because no other social network even considers sharing profit with the users.
Since there is no sharing of profit with the users who generate the valuable content in the first place, there's no need for wallets or other ways to empower the end user. Stickers, trophies and other gamification techniques take the place of real world value on these platforms, and users are rewarded with these meaningless digital novelties while the centralized companies behind the platforms reap the real world rewards.
Censorship Resistant... To a Point
Other networks utilize moderators to enforce community guidelines, sometimes by banning offending users or otherwise restricting their behavior on the platform for a time. Often, this is done arbitrarily.
But on Steemit, there is virtually no censorship. What exists instead is a reputation system that increases with every up vote from the community. If a person begins to behave like a bad actor, the community can also down vote and begin to reduce his reputation score.
If a rep score falls low enough, the posts and comments of that user will be "grayed" out, or hidden, from other members of the platform. But as a censorship resistant platform, any member can click on the "grayed" out comment or post to see it. There is no permanent delete button, and the consequences of bad behavior are handled by the community through voting and awareness.
Try as hard as you can, you'll never find a social network that is as unapologetically censorship-resistant as Steemit.
It's a Platform for the People
This is a platform that is really for everyone, from any walk of life. From Herpetology (the study of snakes and reptiles - ( @herpetologyguy ) to general science( @justtryme90 ), travel and food( @knozaki2015 ), and an ever-growing repository of the arts, Steemit can be for any and everyone.
The platform isn’t shaped to appeal to one demographic, instead it is designed to allow for the natural growth of communities around subjects. As a result, the only barrier to entry here is signing up and keeping your password safe.
The rest you can and will learn by using the platform and maybe also joining steemit.chat where you can get direct help from other community members.
Among those that I follow or follow me, there are scientists, engineers, teachers, security guards, technology enthusiasts, artists, and many more. You are just as welcomed to use the platform if you are a marketer or a stay at home dad. This is a place where investors and soccer moms might discourse about anarchism, governance models, or the latest @lordvader post.
Over the last year, I have learned that it doesn't matter where you come from economically or geographically, this is a place that welcomes all to the same opportunities.
The Real Cost of Steemit
On the surface there appears to be no cost to joining Steemit. At least, no monetary cost.
You won’t be asked to give currency (though that is surely an available option), but not all costs are monetary ones. To really reap the benefit of what Steemit offers, you have to dig deep, consistently produce quality content, and learn how to network to grow your relationships and hopefully your audience as well.
This is what is known as sweat equity, and if you’re willing to put in the time to develop your account and voice, that sweat equity can pay off.
During the course of the last year, I have noticed that those who consistently participate are generally more rewarded, while those who do not can still be rewarded but have trouble with traction or building audiences.
In the marketplace of ideas, you never know what'll be a hit.
There's Never a "Too Late" for Steemit
This day in July 2016, Alexa website rankings had Steemit at 21,646. This is up from 62,429 just 10 days prior.
Today, July 19, 2017 sees Steemit ranked at 2,106. As a global website, that is more than "not bad," it's downright amazing!
In the ever adapting world of technology, platforms like Steemit will very soon no longer be the exception but the rule. Do you really want to sit on the sidelines when you can at least make an account and see why this new platform has everyone so excited?
If you are an individual:
Steemit is the go-to place to "earn-while-you-learn". Whether it is to join the community or develop your personal writing passions, this is the platform that allows you submit work into a robust marketplace of ideas. The community of comments often helps authors refine their approach and improve their performance, all while potentially earning crypto themselves. In the entirety of social media, it's the only win-win currently available.
Steemit is a chance for the individual to build up a professional portfolio or an awesome cadre of comrades, all while potentially earning all along the way.
It isn't just for hardcore bloggers who have a following of thousands. It's for any individual who wants to participate in a community that values the network users, their privacy, and their prerogative of free expression and speech.
If you are a professional:
Not only is Steemit a great place to earn while you learn, it's a great place to learn and refine.
If you are a designer, artist, musician, or other creative professional, this platform presents an awesome opportunity to not only monetize those pieces in your portfolio, but to receive critical feedback from Steemit members from around the world that can help you refine your work or even lead to further work.
There is, after all, something called Steem Gigs that exists on Steemit and allows the community members to essentially market their skills and take microjobs from other community members who may need commissioned artwork or even transcription services.
All of this consistent development of Tools for the platform convinces me that there will probably never be a time where it is "too late" to join the community and start participating.
You Aren't Who you Think you are
If someone had given you a crystal ball 10 or 15 years ago and showed you what social media would become and the prominence to which it would rise in markets, you obviously would have bought stock in those companies.
Similarly, if someone had given me a crystal ball back then and told me that I'd develop into the kind of writer who moves between poetry, short stories, crypto-currencies and reviews, I'd have laughed. I have always written poetry and music, so that part would make sense, but the rest of it would seem completely out of character for me.
But the more I consumed content through Steemit, the more inspired I became to learn even more about different topics. There's no lack of cryptocurrency articles on the platform, so after a while I no longer felt intimidated by new projects with crazy coin names. Instead, I dug in and kept learning and eventually started trading cryptocurrencies myself.
After all, isn't that what being your own banker is all about?
Before Steemit, I had no idea that I was an aspiring day trader, short story writer, poetry slam organizer or product/services reviewer.
I figured that out over my first year on Steemit.
The Most Important Lesson Learned
If the years ahead are anything like this last year, I have no idea who I will be in a few years time. Already I am vastly different as a result of my participation on Steemit, and I anticipate that this will continue to be the case.
But out of everything I learned from this last year on a decentralized, censorship-resistant social network that pays me for my time and participation, the biggest lesson learned is that there is a voice in each of us.
That voice needs your attention and your care. It needs to be nurtured so that it can grow strong. You do that by consistently using it, though that can be hard to do in every day normal life. But on Steemit, it's exactly the kind of attitude that people respond to and love.
There's a voice inside of you, and it is invaluable. The other great lesson from Steemit is that once you understand just how valuable your voice is, you'll never again be satisfied to just 'give' it away so others can benefit instead of you.
After a year of using your voice, you may never want to go back to traditional social networks again.
Lesson learned.
Great insight. I just started about 2 months ago. The community feedback via the comments on my blogs are great. Lots of topics of interest and comfort that your browsing habits are not tracked!!
Upvoted...sorry only few cents as I am a newbie - but hey it's the thought that counts :-)
Hey don't worry about how much your upvote gives -- I appreciate the vote of any person who enjoys the work, regardless of that!
It's awesome to hear that after just two months the community is giving you valuable feedback :) Thank you very much for your comment
That's truly inspiring! I've just started and I believe I'm just scratching the surface. There is a ton of information and sometimes I feel overwhelmed and I'm still not 100% sure I understand all the concepts and what Steemit has to offer. But I know one thing for sure: that I'm going to dedicate time to contribute to this platform with high quality content!
That's great to hear!
Don't worry if you don't understand all the concepts 100% (yet). By the time you need to, you will have naturally discussed everything about the platform with everyone else on the platform.
I'd recommend steemit.chat to make sure you're able to ask questions when you have them!
Very Interesting read, it takes some time to understand how this place works.
I get to practice my English, refound my love for poker trough the Steem poker league (spl) and have gotten the best rookie advice here on daytrading.
And I just signed up 2 months ago!
I think the rocket is almost ready for liftoff!
Steem on!
It definitely takes time to understand how this place works, but I'd argue that it doesn't take much longer than learning to use any other social network. Best part about Steemit is that as long as you understand the password situation (it's real), you can log on and learn the rest over time and with others.
I get a lot of daily use out of Steemit, and it's only going to get better
I wish I'd know about the site a year ago, when I first heard I was getting so impatient with the week or so I waited until my account was verified. It is insane the amount of advertising money all the other social media networks are making out of their users. This really hit home for me:
I've always wanted to get into blogging or vlogging but I was worried that I had nothing interesting to say. There's something less threatening about this site being in a social media type format and I'm really looking forward to starting writing my own posts.
It's never too late to start, like he said. I promise you, there's always something interesting worth saying. While you might not hit that nugget that makes you a thousand dollars in one post, building relationships here is a guaranteed way to generate interest and build your following. Plus, with all the community projects here, you're bound to come across people with similar interests who are some awesome people to boot.
You're right of course! I promised myself I would spend a couple of weeks just reading the post of others to find my way first, there is a lot of spam on here and I want to contribute something worthwhile, but I will be diving in soon. Thanks for the advice!
Thanks for your comment, and for reading and sharing. Let yourself explore the things that interest you and you'll find your way in no time. It's very odd how it just sort of naturally happens over time :)
These are all lessons I learned myself. If you'd told me in August 2016 that I'd be writing short fiction consistently with only a minor focus on anarchism and political theory, I would have laughed. Now? I'm with the finest group of fiction folks I've ever known.
Keep up the excellent work, man. It's been a pleasure riding this train with you, and I'm staying on till the end of the line (if there even is one!).
It's been great being on the Steemit train with you too, brotha! I'm really looking forward to your law school series, I'm curious to see how you're gonna approach all that on Steemit :)
This is really nice. Steemit as i see it will change the way many people in this world look at things in a few years to come. I am a newbie here and this is my first month. I have learnt a lot about cryptocurrencies and done a little investing in some all thanks to this platform and the knowledge shared by its members. Even if it takes an hour a day, i will come ,read and share my view on an issue here and gradually as i learn more, i will grow . Do the same if you are new here and you will be happy you did in a few years to come.
Exactly! Real life can be super busy, but little by little is how they build skyscrapers and cities ;)
Steemit still has to prove itself if it wants to compete with the likes of Facebook and Twitter. Unless we can get people to share stuff organically rather than just purely motivated by financial gains, Steemit will eventually stop growing and acquire users. However, I remain hopeful about the development of Steemit.
What do you guys think?
Hi @dali.soh I understand the sentiment of your comment, but I respectfully disagree.
Maybe that has been your experience, and it's certainly true that there are those on here who are only motivated by monetary gain... but I think that's too simple to say.
If an author is a great and consistent content creator, who am I to care what motivates them? I mean, I care because I'm a curious human but as long as they're genuinely creating content and value, then good for them for the monetary gains they make.
Steemit doesn't have to prove anything to anyone except for the users on the platform. We don't play the facebook twitter games here, we value and reward our community members in all the ways they participate.
And I don't know what you're reading, but my feed is chock full of organically shared, original and valuable content.
I like that you're thinking about this though :) A lot of people seem to expect Steemit (or any new platform, tech, etc) to instantly match the entrenched institutional networks, but it won't go down that way.
Steemit won't fight to rip facebook users away from the teat of their fave echo chamber, it'll just be here waiting and welcoming all the refugees from the old digital neo-feudal system.
Steemit is thug like that.
Well, perhaps. I would consider myself as a pretty new user and it's less than a month since I first started using Steemit. The range of users on Steemit is huge and I'm definitely a poor judge on the posts that actually create real value. I've been following people based on my own interests and I would say that many are just financially motivated. People may perceive value however they want. I'm just looking for alternate opinions on the future development of Steemit.
I definitely appreciate your perspective, Steemit is very different today than it was one year ago... I think it's gonna be very different one year from now too, so I'm always curious about the future development of the platform as well :)
Nice positive read. Steemit will evolve to be an awesome platform in time
Thanks for spending time here to read this.
Will? ;) Steemit is already an awesome platform but I think what you meant is that it will be even more awesome with more time under the belt. Or maybe you meant something else entirely and that's just how I feel haha
Very good points - its good to be onboard Steemit.
I am interested to see where this platform is in 5 years time - the current growth is impressive!
With any luck, we'll be ranked within the 1,000 on Alexa and growing like a weed. :D
I've found that my voice has changed since joining here. I was probably going to grow and change in those ways anyway, but Steemit provides a nice backdrop to be more aware of that change taking place.
We'd definitely have grown or changed in some ways, but I know for me that without Steemit I would not have so quickly learned about crypto to the point where I could confidently trade based on my own research (learned by interacting with the gurus on Steemit)
Thanks for your comment, I'm happy that you find your voice has changed too, this is really a strange and cool platform
I learned similar lessons from my first year and of course meet some stonking people like your good self!! Congratulations on your year and heres to many more!!!
The only thing that tops the lessons I've learned are the people I've met like you and the Steem pack - @opheliafu @michele.gent ;)
I can't wait to celebrate 5 years friendship with the ever proper if ever waxy Meesterboom
Hehe, that will be something worth celebrating!!
Thanks for the information about: steemit.chat!
What are your thoughts as Steemit as a gift economy? One that rewards good behavior as a gift and not as a reward? People gift content, others gift votes and attention.
Have you seen evidence for or against that idea in your time here?
I really like what you said is how this site makes you want to learn more. Ovee the past week or so that is defintely been apllicable to me as well. Came here to make money, but cant stop wanting to learn more and share my knowledge with others.
It's kind of mind numbing at first, the amount of available information and the friendly communities ready to discuss anything. It's a pretty awesome place to hang :)
Thanks for your comment, and for sticking around the platform to participate
I found Steemit a year after you, but I'm glad I found it so soon! Imagine what this platform could be in 5 years? I think some upgrades to the user interface to make it a little more user friendly would really help launch this platform into the mainstream
"There's a voice inside of you, and it is invaluable"
So true - I have many of these same thoughts and feelings you've posted here. And, I'm thrilled being able to collaborate with creative people like my friend @prufarchy all over the world. Onward and Upward !
It is so beautiful to come across someone so passionate and well spoken. You really seem to have a knack for verbalizing and advocating the value that organizations like Steemit can create-- which is an invaluable resource right now as there's a growing need for this to support our industry right now. I have tried to explain what the last four months of my life have been like (since I took the plunge into the blockchain industry) to my friends and family.I have to agree with what you said about not being who or what you think you are, becoming involved in this market has really catalyzed a journey of self actualization. People don't always stop to appreciate or even recognize these sort of transformational personal shifts that redefine who we are and our reality as a collective. I think it's so important that people like you, who are able to see the bigger picture and are open to sharing your awareness with others create so much value not just in our industry but in our society as well. Appreciate your post, thank you for sharing your experience!