Can Steemit democratize the $65B publishing industry?

[techemist]

This guy's happy for a reason: He profited well from the dematerialization and demonetization of content.

For years I have watched the Print-Media empires crumble, as the digital age disintermediated the gate-keepers and content begin moving ‘into the cloud’.

I believe micro-transactions and smart-contracts, now available thanks to the advent of blockchain technology, can radically transform the current publishing status-quo, in-turn elevating a content platform into something much bigger than even facebook.

Below is a description of how to add a near endless revenue-stream to steemit.com and democratize the redundant publishing/advertising models of today.

First, to quickly cover of some context, I’m using Peter Diamandis’ 6 D’s of Exponentials to better explain what has happened to publishers and their content, as it became digitized.

Digitized:

Anything that becomes digitized, hops onto an exponential growth curve. In publishing, this was the migration of print based content into the cloud.

First content was digitized and publishers did not know what the implications were. Many publishers, like IDG, FairFax, Bloomberg and Rupert’s Kingdom, largely ignored the dawn of the internet as it didn’t seem lilke it was moving fast at the time. ‘Why does the company need a website?’ was a common question among executives. We all know the story.

Disruptive:

When an industry is first digitized, it enters a period of ‘deceptive growth’. Where things look like they are not moving very fast. This is typically because infrastructure is being built and revenue models are evolving alongside changing user behavior.

I recommend watching ‘Middle Men’ (2009), a comedy/drama chronicling Jack Harris, one of the pioneers of internet commerce. This movie portrays well just how much money was at stake and how ‘cowboy’ the landscape was when online credit-cards payments first became a thing. Much like Blockchain today. Credit Cards on the internet, was the disruptive digitization of online commerce and a few entrepreneurial publishers ask themselves if this technology also gives birth to a viable publishing model. A few brave titans of print experimented and it took years for the industry and models to consolidate. A time which felt like not much was happening to the outside observer. Which is why this is referred to as the 'deceptive' stage. Ultimately the concept of online payments was highly disruptive to conventional publishers. All of a sudden there was another choice, another medium to deliver premium content through.

Dematerialize:

In publishing, this is the removal of the physical friction in distribution of content and it’s implications on consumption, reduction in costs etc.

Everything is dematerializing and it created an explosion in consumer choice. This was hugely disruptive in publishing because in a very short period, users had access to a massive ocean of content. A new need was born, search. Google capitalized this extremely well and search became it’s own multi billion dollar service. Value moved from creating content to serving content. This rise of curation, especially custom curation tailored relevant to each individual, is why social media was born and grew so fast. Facebook serves you your localized/preferred network feed.

Demonetize:

Skype decimated long distance call charges. iTunes killed the record store. Craigslist butchered publisher’s classified ads revenue, the last vestige of hope conventional print publishers had.

Content has demonetized in the form of revenue moving from publishers to social media and search platforms. Google, facebook and linkedin users are treated like cattle, effectively selling the eyeballs your content produces to advertisers. Users get nothing and platform operators rein supreme.

Democratization:

This is where marketplaces explode. By 2020 we will have at least 5 Billion internet users.

That's a lot more content published and consumed. A whole lot more advertising & search revenue for Google, FB, Linkedin, etc.

There are 3 key parties involved in the democratization of Publishing:

1. - Advertisers
2. - Platforms
3. - Publishers

Currently, publishers post content on platforms and are struggling to be remunerated. Platforms act as gate-keepers, receive free content from users and sell the audience to the advertisers.

During the democratization stage, ‘laws of network effects’ kick in on a global scale and the collective user base (the publisher), shapes platform design.

The catalyst for the true Democratization of publishing needs to be the platform itself. If a platform and it's community, correctly self-realizes it's fit within a democratized landscape, it can transform from a middle-man to a value-added application. First mover advantage will assist greatly also.

The $65B question.

Migrating a portion of the $65B++ of annual advertising revenue from platforms back into publishers pocket would not be possible without a Blockchain for smart-contracts and micropayments.

But how would it look like? Nobody likes advertising!

Advertisers directly pay users to see an advert.

• Adverts are 'covered-up' until clicked on by a user.
• The brand is stated but not their logo or advert, until a user chooses to view the advert.
• Platform acts as catalyst, not gatekeeper, to send $ from advertisers to users.

Some considerations on the Users (Publishers/Readers):

• There would need to be a user-based, site-wide, Kill-Switch. If users really don't want to see adverts, press a button and they don't get served/participate.
• I use an example of $0.01 in these mock adverts but considering this mechanic allows greatly boosts user engagement (ie advertisers are pretty much guaranteed those ads are seen by humans), highly targeted adverts would yeild well.

Some considerations on the Advertisers:

• The user interface to book a campaign, would need to be as simple as using google, facebook or linkedin.
• Google in particular has done a great job of leveling the playing field for advertisers, in the sense that no-matter who you are, the corner store down the road, a media agency or a large corporate, everybody books through the same portal and has the same options and pricing.
• Highly attractive new medium with never before seen engagement mechanics.
• Advertisers will not spend money if forced to hold Steem or some other native token. Steem is only purchased when their campaign is running, automatically, per advert served. That is the platform's main function.

Some considerations on the The Platform:

• If steemit.com did this it would need to invest in some basic infrastructure, to service users on one side and advertisers on the other. This requires a transparent, and thoughtful, yet simple solution design.
• Outside of the obvious addition of advertising space, the platform would need build a proper ad-serve module to make booking and monitoring performance of campaigns as easy as Google makes it.
• A secure payment channel, offering loading of balances by CryptoCurrency, Bank-Wire & Credit Card, would also be essential for bigger clients.
  
  Here is a basic outline of the mechanics:

1. Advertisers use ad-module to deposit funds. Ad-module acts similar to reddit or google where it's largely self-service. Stripe or BrainTree for fiat and shapeshift for Cryptocurrencies.
2. Once there is a Fiat or Bitcoin balance they can start booking their module. Selecting tags, audiences, geographies and uploading advertising materials.
3. Once the campaign is running, the platform auto buys Steem from the open market to auto-pay users for viewing content. Advertisers will not accept buying any Cryptocurrency upfront so this needs to be done on a per-serve basis. Advertiser account balances and campaign stats need to be displayed in USD or other familiar currencies.
4. Steemit users choose what adverts to click on and are immediately reward. Not based on click-through (which could be an additional reward).
5. Steemit platform would need to run several scripts to avoid over-saturation of any one advertiser and abuse from bots.
6. .... a new unicorn is born.

This would give steemit.com a badly needed external revenue stream, which in my opinion, is the missing piece. There's $65B up for grabs and I can guarantee you, now that the technology is available, if Steemit doesn't drive this democratization, somebody else will.

I estimate it would cost about 50k, on the cheap side, to build a simple proof-of-concept.

The publishing world has taken 20 years to go from digitization to now democratization and it's effects will be awesome and global.

I've fired this past the Steemit founders of course and am now reaching out to the users on Steemit for their comments.

So, what do you think Steemit?

Disclaimer: These opinions are my own and do not represent the opinion of any of my companies.

Comments

[steemdrive]

This will solve a few of the current problems, we have users from all over the globe signing up, only to find their posts receive $0.00. Not everyone is able to be a writer, a leader or socialite and build a network of supporters.

By introducing advertising and e-commerce, we can tap into alternate skill sets and empower more users to participate in areas they are better suited for, even if just receiving and consuming advertising content.

There will also be further benefits for the stability of the Steem Dollar peg through increased demand.

The idea of a user-selectable kill-switch as mentioned in your post is also paramount for user experience flexibility. Some purists may not want advertising at all and will thus have the option to interact with the vanilla Steemit GUI.

Great work on an excellent piece. Thought leadership is what is required as a catalyst for world change!

[stellabelle]

vanilla steemit! great.

[meteor78]

👍agree

[bhavnapatel68]

I like this process and well it took us a long way to come to the digital world and it is growing rapid it is faster than the speed of population growth in Asian countries. We like this words GROWTH...PROFIT...$$$...

[cryptosolitaire]

I think the use of an advertising free switch, could be a premium level that is charged for like a mobile app to get a version without advertising.

[dharmakirti]

wouldnt it be great if steemit had a built in currency exchange so we can change our steem for bitcoins or XRP

[techemist]

Thanks!

Vanilla Steem - that's interesting!

[dollarvigilante]

Great article, following!

[anonymint]

I use an example of $0.01 in these mock adverts but considering this mechanic allows greatly boosts user engagement (ie advertisers are pretty much guaranteed those ads are seen by humans), highly targeted adverts would yeild well.

And be even more so if user accounts are verified to be unique (no Sybil attacks) so each signed viewing would be guaranteed to be a unique human. Currently Steem can't guarantee that, as anyone can sign up multiple accounts.

[nabilov]

Steemit will defeat facebook if it emulates youtube , cheers steemers we are the next publishing empire :)

[hilarski]

We can sure make an impact.

[eric-boucher]

Great posting!!! Thank you, this will be shared! Namaste :)

[fminerten1]

Short answer for your question is no. The reason is simple because Steem power is centralised.

[ukblogger]

I'm sure many debut authors here who have never before in their wildest dreams thought they might earn money from writing would answer in the positive...Steemit has already begun to democraitze the publishing industry!

[fminerten1]

One time payment don't mean anything. That reminds me on one hit wonder bands. After all they didn't get the 'real' money. When all of them find Poloniex SBD will be in danger. Don't get me wrong I'm not against Steemit but for now this is not the solution for the question from the title.

[blakemiles84]

What do you mean 'SBD will be in danger' ?

[fminerten1]

Could be worth a lot less than a US $.

[ukblogger]

The first payment to a debut author surely provides a huge dose of gratification, a small dose of recognition, a medium dose of acknowledgement, and a massive dose of aspiration. Every career starts somewhere. Lets try and think positive.

[hilarski]

This is another reason I think it will succeed. I have had my blog for 4 years and never truly monetized it.

[streetstyle]

@techemist Wow, Just read your article. Excellent post. Just Perfect. I also just posted about Steem Ads. Please check it out and let me know what you think. Maybe there is a point to what I am are saying.
Full $teem Ahead!
@streetstyle

[techemist]

Thank you. Will check out Steem Ads

[streetstyle]

@techemist I am sure you have been busy today. I just wanted to re-iterate what I had posted about STEEM ADS in my blog, but it got largely ignored. I see that there are some who are open to the idea of monetizing advertising for the GOOD of STEEMIT. Another idea that could be implemented could be something like what Brave Browser does; if you turn on ads you get paid, if you turn them off you don't. I can envision a day where STEEMIT has something similar. Today I want to buy pants, turn on the ads, get paid to look at ads, use some of the STEEM earned from those ads to pay for the pants and turn off ads again until the next time. Just FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
Full $teem Ahead
@streetstyle

[raymondspeaks]

I really enjoyed reading this. Quite a forward thinking and suggestive piece. I like the ideas :)

[instructor2121]

Wow! That is some heavy stuff. If what you propose can be done, this will be the making of a mega platform. Possibly the biggest we have ever seen.

With the implementation of ecommerce type marketplaces, steemit could capture outside revenue from the place the ads would be most effective...online shoppers looking to purchase.

[techemist]

Thanks - Yes been thinking about this for 10 years.

OpenBaazar.org would be ideal to integrate after ad-revenue-sharing is functional.

[instructor2121]

10 years? Hold up..is this Satoshi?

[techemist]

Hah. Not quite. Used to run PCworld, CIO magazine and other titles about 10 years back. Got into bitcoin in 2010. Been thinking about democratization of publishing for this long but it was not until bitcoin came about that the technology was possible. Steemit comes along and gives me a glimpse into what a deployment of such a platform might look like.

[anonymint]

I used to advertise in PC magazines 26 years ago, lol.

[instructor2121]

lol..messin with ya man.

Yeah, I sense a lot of thought put into this. Been in the space since 2011, this is definitely something I have put time into studying. Started tying in bitshares, Graphene to steemit, the picture became clearer. This is big.

This is going to get very interesting.

[stellabelle]

I used to be on Medium, running a publication there and there was a lot of talk about how to monetize Medium. It appears that Steemit is the solution. I think your idea will work if it follows this method: have an area clearly marked as "sponsored' and this is where people will curate the best sponsored stories. They will be paid for their curation efforts, so non-writers can make money too. Having the sponsored area in one place will make it so that our main feed will not be clogged up by ads. I would hope that an entirely new sponsored stream, which is voluntarily entered, would spring up, thereby never dirtying up the news and other great topics written by users.

[michaellamden68]

Agreed, there is nothing more disheartening that attempting to post and not receiving any form of accolades or encouragement. I have read many posts that haven't achieved anything, then somebody sticks a black & white photo of a "turd" and gets mega "dollar"!!

[vric88]

You are funny and deserve my vote!

[monopoly-man]

@techemist. While I appreciate the thoughtful and well-written article, your argument hinges on the assumption that advertisers will NOT want to hold steem/Steem Power. I believe that is true for smaller advertisers. But what about major advertisers? If I am a major advertiser, why would I pay per advert when I can buy up a large percentage of the platform in Steem Power and upvote any advertisement of mine?

You make an excellent observation that advertisers are the end game as well. I agree. However, what will happen to liquidity? If major advertisers buy up much of the steem/SteemPower, they are not going to let it go. Without liquidity, where is the benefit to new curators/creators?

It's possible that the best content creators who might be dolphins or whales now, could turn into minnows when they cash out to advertisers.... Then, how will these new minnow content creators make money if the advertisers are only upvoting their own posts?

The shift to advertising whales could be a huge negative X factor.

Looking forward to your thoughts.
P.S Still bullish

[techemist]

Thank you for your thoughts.
Advertising today is all about gaining maximum efficiency for ad spend. ie down to the cost-per-view/click. Buying half the platforms steempower could be a strategic move but very difficult to put exact value on and hence why most professional or major advertisers would prefer to buy eyeballs through mechanics they can measure.
Also - think about it. Advertisers with massive steempower upvoting themselves is would result in thousands of posts where most of them are ranking high for a while before downvoted. This would look like advertorials and the masses are starting to resent adverts, masked as content (ie advertorials).

Advertisers upvoting themselves (via massive investment) is only going to work for a small time until the masses mass downvote their articles. Adverts cannot be downvoted, only ignored, which under my proposed mechanics doesn't cost the advertiser.

[monopoly-man]

Thank you for your response.
You are absolutely correct, and I agree, that advertisers currently prefer buying eyeballs through metrics. However, steemit could turn that model on it's head because now not only does buying SP give a ROI through advertising, but also gives ROI as a share in the overall revenue of the platform. Admittedly, I would be speculating on how advertisers may value that.
Also - You make a great point about the downvoting that I didn't initially consider. However, correct me if I'm wrong but.... a minnow's downvote does not have a large impact on a whale's post, right? But, I can see how the masses could make a bigger impact.

Hopefully, the masses come into the platform before an Advertiser scoops up larges amount of SPs and makes massive changes to the platform.

[mranderson]

I avoid all forms of advertising because the methods used by the industry. I got rid of my cable 7-8 years ago, TV 6 months ago, run adblockers, and immediatly close an app with an ad.

What you have described above is a system i could be okay with. It appears to take away yhe need for marketers to employ their horrific methods and it gives the target market a choice to participate. Very well done, thank you for your post.

[techemist]

I think the general public is more likely to accept advertising in the future if they can control it. We now live in a service society and everything is gamified or comes with incentive.

[hilarski]

This is exactly what I am hoping for with the Steemit community. We have now hit a growth phase that will bring many influencers on board. I hope to see this community 500K strong in the next 3 months and I promise to do my part.

[survivalist.com]

Well Done! Being a publisher in the print magazine world, and one of the early adopters of digital publishing delivery/monetization... the author's statements are "spot on". I LOVE the model expressed here. Currently we are in process of removing our printed editions of my main magazine titles from the newsstands. The difficulty comes in honoring print subscriptions to consumers. Many companies have gone out of business because they could not afford to pay the consumers back, so they'd rather go bankrupt and run off with their money. This is not an option in the "honorable brand" economy. Looking forward to the next 5 years and the disruptions that Steem can cause! Great article!

[techemist]

You have been around for years! Thanks for stopping by.
Subscriptions to physical print these days are like a ball and chain for publishers I agree.
I suppose for survivalist.com it's all about digital downloads these days?
Keep up the good work (and it really is quality - way to corner a niche! Well done).

~ F

[bigedude]

A couple of things.

1. Where did the deceptive part go?
2. I like the idea of the Steemit for Click advertising - that would be cool. Also, I think the ability to opt out would be essential also - YES!
3. I like Unicorn births!! Heheh (That's how you know I read it all)

Thanks for the awesome article!! YEAH BUDDAYYY!
-bigedude

[techemist]

Thanks for reading:

1. Deceptive part is part of Distruption Stage. I chose not to add it as it's own point.
2. I proposed a site-wide, master-kill-switch on a user level so people can essentially opt out.
3. What's the name for 10B + ? Decacorn I think (Watch Silicon Valley tv show- it's hilarious)>

[margot]

I must say very interesting, encouraging critical thinking as well as putting different light on steemit. Congratulation, as very comprehensive post :)

[gekko]

nice debate @techemist i'll read all the comments below

[robok]

[redstone]

Majority of the online publishing industry is running on advertiser's money and online advertisers are actually getting interested into Steem. You may like read details here - Demand for Steem is increasing among Online Advertisers.

[techemist]

Thank you - very useful.

[instructor2121]

Throw in big data analytics, ad placement intelligence- and bingo! External revenue is flowing.

Would like to see a post summarizing ecommerce marketplace scenario.

[techemist]

Agreed, there's plenty technologies that are very friendly with this including AI, ChatBots, Big Data Anlytics, Identity Management, etc Just need rails for externally aware revenue flow and everything else will follow.

[instructor2121]

I'm with you on all the above. You need to do more of these.

[techemist]

Will look to write a bit more if there's enough interest.

[steemuwe]

The interest is definitely there. I read your first post as well with very great interest.
I am very glad about the forward thinking you stimulate within the community.
Steemit has the potential to enable the people to take their internet back which they have essentially created with their content.
As in so many other areas - we only have a distribution problem - not a resource problem.

[instructor2121]

You will probably have a few hundred upvotes, so the interest is there.

[capitalism]

That's a really mindblowing article. With this kind of ads Steemit would get a huge share in the ad industry and there would be a good usage field for Steem. Because advertisers has to buy steem to pay the users, the price of steem would be rising or would at least be stable. Good work. Can't wait to klick on such a banner, that pays me for watching.

[cryptobarry]

'Instead of Building Walls We Can Help Build Bridges'

Proceeds to build six foot wall around mansion and has over 15 security guards.

[sukijee]

Exactly what I was thinking Barry here's a bridge right here connecting with someone I will probbaly never meet and appreciating what they have written

[sukijee]

Forget the money the power of this is amazing with Social platforms being the voice of evil and badness we now have a platform no matter how long it lasts to make a lasting change in the world so lets start today connect and enjoy

[cryptosolitaire]

If they just took steem and maybe BTC it would firce advertisers to buy thise currencies.
If the platform is bug enough, advertisers would pay in those currencies if they have to and if they are easy to purchase.

[blakemiles84]

If a business wants to be involved with the Steem ecosystem, they need to create an account, do an introduction, and start creating/curating.

Otherwise, they simply won't be trusted.

But imagine a well-funded corporate account that wants to advertise through creative content?

That's a unicorn factory, imo.

Great write-up. I think you're on the right path, without question.

[techemist]

I don's see CocaCola or Adidas doing an intro. Introduce yourself right now is very personal. The mechanics I described do not require advertisers to make content. They can if they want but ideally as an advertiser I would like to fund my balance, book a campaign and get analytics back.
Adding what the industry terms 'Native Content' to the campaign is just another marketing opportunity but the platform should not force advertisers to make content, just like it shouldn't force users to see/click adverts.

Thanks for stopping by.

[g-dubs]

Great post! From an investor perspective do you want to be in Steem or SD?

[hilarski]

I am in Steem Power

[techemist]

Personally, equity in the platform.

[kurtbeil]

very interesting!

[thebluepanda]

I don't know if you have heard but Viglink, Skimlink and Rewardstyle are already doing something like that. Instead of users, the advertisement campaign is paying the bloggers who promote their products and they receive payment ONLY when the user buys the promoted product. What is the gain of the advertiser if a Steem user click on the ad only to get the $0,01? Companies want to increase sales, not simply "lose" money paying users per click.
Facebook already provides a lot of information to marketers or third party companies. Is Steem going to provide our personal information to marketers?
Snapchat was already a unicorn before they started to put advertisements in the app. Unicorns have their value based on how markets and marketers see them. Simply said, if Steem increases its subscribers' numbers (and that is still not enough, high engagement is valued too)
Do not misunderstand me, I would love to see Steem become the biggest unicorn ever.

[manipulable]

I'm not sure advertising is going to be a useful or dominant revenue stream on Steem considering how much of the content will be on mobile and the limited space available. Plus platforms should be taking revenue from the steem activity, not introducing distracting content. I don't think anyone will click on the ads or have this feature activated.

[frederik]

Keep up the great job. I just posted my 2nd, about Steemit big bucks and making new friends & business, bucks/business goes hand in hand right?
https://steemit.com/steemit/@frederik/wow-steemit-really-makes-you-big-bucks-going-viral-can-you-make-new-friends-and-business-too

[evanmichalebeck]

Finally a way to combine social media and a blockchain platform...and diss Facebook at the same time. This is all very exciting to watch!

[dule2311]

Great post!!!!

[not-the-bomb]

Nice ideas. I like the depiction how the various online companies totally changed their different respective industries. I wonder steemit is going to develop in the coming months.

[acassity]

Great information I think Steemit is a game changer for social media I think it could be worth a lot more then $65 Billion right now Facebook is valued at over $300 Billion on the stock market! Great article!

[sharonekelly]

I think if it is done well, Steemit may have a huge impact in this advertising industry... wait and see!!!... steemit or facebook??? May the public make a right choice though.

[jonno-katz]

It would be great o have control over how much advertising you want on your Steemit experience. Perhaps it's a payoff. Like if you choose no advertising then your blogs and posts can't attract as much money. And if you don't mind lots of advertising then you can earn more.

[techemist]

There is so much that can be done.

I imagine with sufficient funding, there would be plenty of A/B testing on a variety of intricacies/mechanics. This would be a wet dream for Union Square Ventures or Sequoia Capital to model out.

[harrylite]

What a powerful diagnosis of the publishing industry status quo and a peep into its future prosperity. A careful fine-tuning of this proposal will definitely give birth to a healthy and wealthy community of publishers

[victaurus]

Saludos desde Venezuela, espero ganar mucho dinero con esto.

[somethingsea]

I just got here and I'm trying my legs out.
I read the article title but not the article.
I'm impressed with the deep layering I see of replies.

The issue to me is the same one I've seen at minds.com: the focus on Democracy. Now, I get that Zucker has made a Sucker of us, but that's not because he isn't democratic. He's ENTIRELY democratic. That's the issue!

Democracy is what enables corporatism.
Democracy is PEOPLE RULING PEOPLE.
Things will NOT be fair, inherently!

Anyway. I'm going to see how this goes, because this format is wigging me out a bit, but I'm also impressed by the layers of responses that I see.

[techemist]

"I read the title but not the article"

• um... try reading before commenting?
  But yes, democracy in it's form today is nothing more than the illusion of people voting on the greater good.
  Democratiation, is a very specific term I used in the context of Exponential Technology and is not to be confused with other definitions. Read the article before commenting.

[kylemccartney]

I honestly believe that Steemit can democratize publishing. They're the one.

What you've stated is 100% doable, Steemit just has to act on it, quickly. So much potential with this platform. I've been loving it and have been on it multiple times daily since I joined a few days ago. That won't stop either. A unicorn can certainly be born!

[johnnyyash]

The original point of social media was to connect people who couldn't connect before. A few people were able to become rich off of it. Let's break down what they did. They created a product that everyone could use for free to connect people around the world to share information. Steem allows those people to make money off of it. The question remains will content remain genuine or just for the money?

[techemist]

Content will remain a popularity contest. Quality posts will continue to be remunerated and theoretically, adding in revenue that is shared across users means a wider distribution of Steempower so more people with more SP to vote with.

[kdugar]

Great post and amazing thinking ! Followed you..keep the great content coming

[hoopatang]

As long as it's got the kill-switch for people who don't want to see the offers, it seems worth trying. We'll probably need quite a few more users first, though.

[steemitboard]

Congratulations @techemist! You received a personal award!

Happy Birthday! - You are on the Steem blockchain for 3 years!

_{You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking}

Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!

[cryptoboom]

lol