After being on steemit for about a month I have came up with some things I like and dislike about it so far...and suggestions to make the site better.
I would like to hear from other fellow Steemit members with some pros/cons and suggestions.
However only being in the beta stage some of these things may naturally work themselves out.
PROS
The community:So far the community is really awesome and people are respectful to each other
The MONEY $$$ who doesn't like money and especially getting paid for surfing the web. This also is a factor IMO of taming the trolls
The quality of the posts! Man some of y'all put some amazing effort and insight in your posts. I can honestly say they are entertaining and very informative
Site is easy to navigate
A wide array of posts and interesting topics
CONS
Lack of user interaction in the comments area. I wish more discussions were made in the comment sections of some of these posts. It seems like the comment activity is only high for people who already had a large following in other social media sites . There are long posts people make with only a few comments in them.
The MONEY! Yes I listed this as a pro but it is also a con of mine because I feel with some posts, people are not being their authentic selves and post things that they think will get them money. Also I believe this is a huge factor as to why people don't comment much because they believe the best way to get paid on here is to make posts.
Post visibility: People who are new to steem I know have to work their way up the ranks but when you have new members join who have once again came from other social media sites with a good base of followers can get their posts trending upwards even if the quality of their post isn't that great. But since they are known on social media people will upvote and comment on the popular people's stuff the most and as a result these posts are the ones that are trending or hot. I mean some of these people can post a picture of a bare wall and make 1k off the post. I know I am not the only person who notices the same handful of users that are on the tending or hot category daily. It can become a liability on this site's success if more social media celebs join, because it will end up alienating a majority of the users on here making Steemit a monopoly for the elite users on here.
Now some improvements or features I would think would make the experience even better on Steemit is have have a category call "Places" or something like that.
Now my idea of Places would be a subsection of steem that has:
- Public/Private chat rooms - I realize there is a chat on Steemit but it looks like it's on another application outside of steem. And maybe it is just me but with the current setup I rarely go on chat cause it's a minor inconvenience. Yes I'm lazy I know I know. Though Having it linked right within steem when you are logged in will make it easier for people to use the feature. This will allow people on here to get to know each other on a deeper level and can provide the path for people to become friends and can help make the comment sections more active for posts, as well as gaining more followers who you know a bit better. Maybe even keep the original chat but have it on the side where you can have the option to turn it on and constantly chat with others in the community
2 . Private feature where you can add family and friends and post random things similar to FB. This is where you can post more private things about life or content that is not necessarily considered a blog post. Where people can just interact similar to Facebook . A picture of your kid might be cute to you and people you personally know but a lot of people don't really care that much about a baby photo 9 out of 10 times and it can hurt your reputation if it doesn't get any upvotes or comments posting as a blog post.
- A n advice box - Not similar to chat but more so where people can quickly post an idea or thought limited to a specific amount of characters. With an upvote and downvote feature that can people can get insight on whether they should blog about that topic on Steemit. I mean we can post whatever we like but this would be helpful for things we may be on the fence about posting because we wouldn't know or have the confidence that it would be worth the time. This would also improve the content of the posts.
I think if these options were added on here then twitter and fb would really be in trouble since people will end up being more active on Steemit since it would be a one stop shop.
And in regards to making money on them would be optional as in if the users in those sub sections of Steemit would have the option to donate or not
I love your ideas. My hope for Steemit is that becomes a viable alternative to the current trending social media platforms. A one-stop shop is ideal in my eyes. Thank you for your insight.