I wrote this post to put up on sites off the Steem blockchain like Medium. I did provide a link to it in my recent post with my thoughts on the Steem blockchain. Some people have asked me to post it here as they don't like not having access to a night mode on Medium. I find that rather interesting as I generally curse sites with dark themes because they bother my eyes while those who prefer the night mode find the light themes bother their eyes.
Back in March 2016, the Steem blockchain came into existence. Ned Scott and Dan Larimer formed Steemit Inc., to develop this blockchain. In July 2016 they released a front end for the blockchain called Steemit.com. It was released as the first social media platform built on a blockchain.
The more accurate description would have been blogging platform. The only social part of it was the discussions taking place in the comments. Content creators received votes on their content from other stakeholders. The more stake the voter had, the higher reward the content creator received. Content creators split their rewards with ‘curators’, the people who read and upvote the content. To date, almost $60million (US) has been rewarded to Steem users.
The Ugly Front Door
If you had visited Steemit.com back in July 2016 and then visited it now, you would think not much had changed. The site looks a lot like it did then. What you’d not know unless you explored further is that Steemit.com is the ugly front door to a rapidly expanding and growing ecosystem.
The STEEM blockchain is faster and more robust than those powering Ethereum and Bitcoin. It’s able to handle over 1million transactions per day while the other two are closer to 500,000 transactions daily. This capacity allows the STEEM blockchain to handle social applications at scale. There are currently over 300 Steem-based apps.
Exploring The Ecosystem
There are other frontends currently available like Steempeak and Busy. Mobile access through apps like Partiko and eSteem. More frontends are in various stages of development like Steeve which uses AI to suggest posts for users to explore or Wordrow which is going to bring curated Fiction to the forefront and a publishing house called Steemhouse Publishing.
D’Apps access the Steem blockchain to empower users to continue to earn STEEM or SBD (Steem Backed Dollars) and build their accounts. It’s difficult to keep up to the various options available to members.
Even Off-Blockchain Sites Can Benefit
Some D’Apps allow non-blockchain sites to feed back to the blockchain like Steempress, a Wordpress plugin which will cross-post a blog post on a person’s self-hosted Wordpress site to their Steem account. Comments made on the post, appear on both the blog and Steem. There are also Wordpress plugins which allow Steem to be a payment option. Share2Steem allows members to post to sites like Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch or Medium and share those posts to Steem where they will earn rewards.
Games on the Blockchain
Games are being developed on the blockchain. One of the most popular at the moment is Steem Monsters. You can buy virtual cards and engage in battles in the game. Other games are in development.
D’App Development in Early Days
Many of the D’apps lack the versatility and audience that their off blockchain counterparts have but it’s early days. For those fed up with YouTube, there is DTube where an active community of vloggers upload videos and receive rewards. For live streaming, there is Vimm.tv which allows you to stream but doesn’t record the feed.
Earning While Moving
Want to earn some Steem for being active? There is an app for that. It’s called Actifit. You choose the activity and then post your activity report directly from the app to the blockchain. The developers have linked it up with Fitbit on the Android version but are still working on the IOS version.
Open Source Developers
Open source developers will find a community through Utopian where they can work on their projects and find other creators needed to advance their work.
Vibrant Communities
Many come for the rewards and end up staying for the community. At this point, many of those communities haven’t formed on the blockchain, they are formed through the chat site Discord. Originally built for gamers, Discord has become the home for Steemians who come together to network and work to build community on the blockchain.
From several of those discords, a network of live voice shows has developed. Some are just held within the discord, some are streamed live and then uploaded to DTube or YouTube. The topics are varied, almost all of them serve to support and promote the content which is created on the platform.
There is A Learning Curve
It’s not an easy platform to find your way around. Not everyone stays. There are efforts by members of the platform to connect with promising newcomers and give them a guiding hand. One of those projects is called the Welcome Wagon. It invites in new Steemians, mentors them intensively for a week and then provides ongoing support and community while encouraging the members to spread their wings into other communities.
Different Than Other Social Media
Generally, those who stay until they get their feet under them are committed to staying. As they start to see the depth of what is happening, they get curious about what more is to come. They also notice that while there are some dark areas of the platform, for the most part, the interaction on the Steem platform is far more respectful than found on other social media.
Fewer nasty trolls get to create havoc. While posts and comments can be upvoted to earn rewards, they can be downvoted and lose rewards. The community will often come together to remove any gains a troll tries to get. In a sense, it pays to be kind on Steem.
I’m ShadowsPub on the Steem platform. I joined in August 2016 and have watched it grow from the Steemit frontend to the ecosystem it has become. I’ve created a discord community called the Steemit Ramble from which several shows are broadcast each week. You’re welcome to come visit and make yourself known.
Originally published on my Medium account.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://idesofmay.com/2018/12/08/steem-so-much-more-than-steemit/
Until Next Time — Just Steem on
If you like this, please follow me and upvote the post.
I can also be found on Medium; Trybe; Weku
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Really well-done @shadowspub!
We should hang this on our ugly front door! :) Love it.
thanks @whatsup ... it just seemed rather an apt visual. It has been the front door to the point many think of it as the blockchain.
Earlier this week I started writing an article to use on other sites to promote the Steem blockchain naming all the benefits, but staying away from the monetary aspect where I could.
The idea behind it was to encourage other users to do the same and to be able to provide them with tips and tools they could use to set up their own onboarding campaign.
However, I got stuck. Because I didn't know how to invite people to join, as in: where to send them to create an account without having to wait for a week or two, because 'it's worth the wait'.
All instant access options cost money. Any advice on which one to use?
@anomadsoul and some others have created a new program called @steemonboarding, you can read about it here. They are working on making it multilingual and some other groups are partnering with it. I would suggest taking a good look at the project and sending them there.
Great idea on the onboarding campaign. The more people see the word Steem, the more curious they will become.
Hi @simplymike
that's a very wise path. The problem we're facing is that Steemit has been promoted heavily by people like Joeparys or Jerrybanfield and both of them are focusing on monetary aspects.
They lure people to come here promising great profits. Selling false dreams. Showing how much did they earned. Not even mentioning that they are paying for upvoting bots which really means that their real profit is close to zero.
So called "power-users" brought wrong sort of crowd. Crowd that is focusing only on creating content and hoping to make quick $$$. Crowd that doesnt understand that Steemit is where communities are buing build. Crowd that doenst want to be part of any communities.
If you would ever publish your post then please let me know. Send me memo or drop a message on telegra/discord (username: crypto.piotr). Or perhaps you can get in touch with me via email: [email protected]
I would LOVE to be able to keep in touch with you via DM and email is the best way to do it (since we're most likely living in different time zones).
That's indeed a real problem. It not only cost money but it cost STEEM. Which means that all new users must be aware of crypto and blockchain. There is no way we could have good bloggers/curators who do not know how to buy BTC in the first place.
Yours
Piotr
Remember the campaign we did to get listed on Netcoins? They announced an app the other day where you can sign up online to purchase coins with fiat. I've not completed their signup process to determine that Steem is indeed part of the app. It should be, which means people will finally have a way in directly.
Nice to learn a couple of things here. Will be referring some of my friends to the Welcome Wagon to ease them into steemit.
I’m seeing more and more people mention medium, They’re not steembacked are they?
Medium is not Steem backed ... it is a fiat site. It's been around for quite a while using a different monetization approach. About a year or so ago it went to a paid membership format. You can join the partner program without buying a membership. Like any other site, takes time to get established. I tend to use content on multiple sites.
Has been a while. Good to see you.
The communities and lack of, for now at least, the amount of hate and vitriol that exists on the other mainstream platforms are certainly the best parts of this place.
there are several strong communities over on Discord. I know a lot of folks hate that they need to leave the blockchain to join a community but I find the payoff is a platform which is built to encourage community with text and voice chat which can be used at the same time. Myself and others would likely not be able to do the voice shows we do either.
@shadowspub
The current Rambling Radio Schedule can be found here
It's All About Community!
Thanks, I just recently started to use Discord to connect with some of the communities from here. I find it to be helpful but it's difficult to split my time between this and there so for now at least I try to focus the majority of my time on here. It would be nice to have a dApp for something similar to Discord but I am guessing it can be difficult due to transaction times and the like.
Thanks so much for sharing this! I have posted it in our Facebook page and hope someone takes the bait!
Ren
thank you @xcountytravelers... interesting times ahead .
I am very excited to be part of the Steem community. There is so much interesting happening that I am unsure how we could ever think about leaving. I just don't get it.
Ren
Informative stuff
Posted using Partiko Android
A wonderful media release! Kudos!
thank you @novacadian
Hi, @shadowspub!
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Congratulations! This post has been chosen as one of the daily Whistle Stops for The STEEM Engine!
You can see your post's place along the track here: The Daily Whistle Stops, Issue 335 (12/09/18)