Yes, I know, I know - not a day goes by that I'm not babbling on about the Steem blockchain in some shape, manner, or form. In fact, for anyone that follows me on social media (mostly looking at you, Twitter), you're probably tired of seeing that name in your feed. I've even written a blog post or two over the past couple of years, but after some recent (and wicked exciting) developments, I thought it was time to babble about it again - this time, specifically why my WordPress.com blogging friends should give the SteemPress plugin a try.
To do that, I'm going to use Facebook as an example, after being a bit inspired listening to Steemit's Managing Director Eli Powell (aka @elipowell) talk about the platform during the Steem Fest live stream, and what she and Andrew Levine (aka @andrarchy (Head of Steemit Communications) had to say about the future of the blockchain.
On most social media, your content is not under your control
So, some months ago, a dear friend of mine, who also happened to own a large Facebook page and related community, was removed from FB essentially without warning. When she started her page back in 2012, someone reported one of her initial posts that shared someone's artwork (with proper attrition, but apparently that wasn't good enough) for violating copyright. When her page, with close to 740,000 likes at the time, was suddenly removed from FB, that reported post from 2012 was cited as the reason why. She tried to appeal the decision, but was given no recourse. Seven years of work, gone in the blink of an eye (or should I say, click of a button).
Shortly afterwards, her personal FB profile, her other FB pages, the personal FB profile of the co-admin of her page, and his other FB pages were all completely gone. Like, I tried searching for some older posts in our FB community (which was thankfully spared the wrath of TPTB) and even my posts that shared their posts had been erased. If either of them had decided to delete their FB accounts themselves (which, needless to say, they didn't) they could not have done a more thorough job of erasing their Facebook existence completely.
Oh, and yes - the main page in question was related to witchcraft, and it happened around the same time as a suspected second wave of Facebook deleting alternative health pages
What does that have to do with blogging?
That incident really got me thinking about all the time and effort I've put into my FB pages and communities, my Instagram posts, my Twitter feed, and the realization that it could all disappear so fast and without warning brought me up short. Then it occurred to me that even here, on my WordPress blog, if something should happen to my webhost's server, everything here could be gone instantaneously as well.
All except for everything I've cross-posted to the Steem blockchain via the Steem Press plugin, because the blockchain is forever. For me, that's one of the biggest reasons to give the SteemPress plugin (and technically Steem itself) a go!
I don't get all this "blockchain" stuff!
Another bit from the SteemFest video that struck a chord with me was when Tim Fesenko, Steem's Senior Product Engineer (aka @roadscape) said that, "People don't need to understand how an automatic transmission works to drive a car. If it gets you from Point A to Point B, you don't ask any questions. Our vehicle has a solid engine, Communities as a steering wheel, and a navigation system to get people where they want to go."
So why should WordPress.com users give the SteemPress plugin a try?
Yeah, I suppose I should finally get around to the point, right? 😂
Back in September, I shared some wicked awesome news from a post by @steempress called, Steempress website, referral system, settings page and guest account claims, including this...
Since the beginning, one of our goals has been to onboard many of the WordPress blogs and websites out there, which currently makes up 30% of the internet. To achieve this, it has been vital to not only provide a unique and compelling product, but also an onboarding process that is easy and effortless for the new users and their audiences, while also efficient and scalable for us. Next for growth to truly take off, is ensuring that more active users create a network effect that brings in more users at an exponential rate.
Accomplishing this has perhaps been the biggest challenges for all Steem apps. It is therefore what we have spent most of the last year trying to solve. We now finally believe that we have come up with our own workable solutions, and perhaps more importantly, brought them together as a complete product and growth strategy that makes sense both technically, financially and in terms of user experience.
...and this...
Anyone who makes a referral through our signup page will earn 10% of future rewards and payments done by the new user they refer. This means that with our current 15% benefactor rewards, a referred account will instead have 1.5% set to their referrer and 13.5% to SteemPress. Furthermore, once the upcoming subscription-based pro versions of SteemPress are launched, the referrers will also earn a passive 10% on their subscription fees.
We hope that this will excite people to go and search for bloggers or influencers who might want to start a blog and ask them directly if they have heard about Steem and if they would consider using SteemPress.
So what does that mean exactly?
Essentially, SteemPress is offering free Steem accounts to people who sign up through their referral program. If you click the banner below (the same one that appears in my footer)...
... it will bring you to a page that looks like this...
Fill out the information, and a real human being (not a bot) will check it out. Once it's been determined that you are actually a blogger and not a bot, your account will be approved. Then you can install the Steem Press plugin on your WordPress.com blog (as far as I know, the free WP.org blogs don't allow for the plugins, but I could be wrong), add your information, and when you hit "Publish" on a post, it will automatically show up on the blockchain too!
I also like how Steem Press breaks it down at the bottom of their main page -
Oh, and if you'd like to hear from one of the developers himself, here's a brief interview from September 2019 between @andrarchy and Fredrik Aarrestad (aka @fredrikaa) chatting about Steem Press which Fredrik co-founded with Martin Lees (aka @howo).
Can I have a TL;DR summary of why I should give the SteemPress plugin a shot, please and thank you?
Well of course, since you asked so nicely... 😊
Posting your blog content on Steem as well as WordPress makes sense because...
- Ownership of your content - if WP crashed or you deleted your hosting, your info disappears. Not so with the blockchain
- Censorship resistant - you are the only one who can change or delete your content
- Engagement - there are tons of wicked cool people in the Steem community who enjoy chatting with each other
- Earn crypto - your posts earn Steem which can then either power up your Steem account, or (eventually...lol) power up your bank account.
I'm ready to give the SteemPress plugin a try!
Wicked awesomesauce! I know the silly season is upon us, but I'm always available here, or on one of my zillions of social media accounts, to answer any questions or help in any way I can. See you on the Steem Blockchain!
Thanks for stopping by!
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Speaking of witch which...
I have one billion many homes on the interwebz.
Here are a few...
- Smoke Blog ~ Traci York
- Steemit Blog ~ Traci York
- WordPress Blog ~ Traci York
- Facebook ~ Traci Cavanaugh York
- Facebook Page ~ Traci York, Writer
- Instagram ~ traciyork_aka_internetg33k
- Pinterest ~ Traci York, Writer
- Twitter ~ @TraciYorkWriter
- My Weku Blog ~ Traci York
- YouTube ~ InternetGeek
- Ello ~ @traciyork
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://www.traciyork.com/why-wordpress-com-bloggers-should-give-the-steempress-plugin-a-try/
And for the #PoSH (proof of sharing) thingy (click HERE for @acidyo's post) -
Twitter -
Also here's a share on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/p/B5Y4CV6IihT/
Compelling argument about losing content on those legacy sites like fb and twitter. I'd be sick to the stomach if that happened to me where 750k followers would go. I have 13k followers but fb is so limiting it doesn't even show my posts to them so yea, more bloggers should get the steempress plugin.
Great points and post Queen of the Juju!
I do need to get a better steempress footer though for when I post. I don't think I even have a referral code? Where do you get that from?
P.s. Thanks to @fionasfavourites for sharing this one with me
Thanks, Nicky. Yeah, it was an incredibly tough blow, but she's slowly rebuilding while considering her options (Steem being one of them, since I keep bugging her about it...lol).
And sorry for the delayed response, but I see you've got a footer now, and a referral code - I'm guessing @fionasfavourites came to your rescue!
What a fantastic, informative and easy to read post @traciyork. I am going to be "building in" and borrowing some of this for an upcoming post.
Aww, thanks so much @fionasfavourites! I can't wait to see what you come up with too (electricity permitting, of course).
Really great post! Retweeted!
Thank you, @melinda010100! You're wicked awesome, dear lady! 😊
And if I don't talk to you before tomorrow, hope you have a happy Thanksgiving! 🤗
Thanks so much, luv! My family will all be here for the weekend and weather permitting, we will have our Thanksgiving on Saturday. I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving!
Belated thanks in return, dear lady! Playing catch up today... LOL!🤗
I feel like I am always behind and catching up lately! 😉
I don't have a WordPress blog but I fully agree that anybody who does should link it to steem. There is literally no downside to it. You can keep doing exactly what you were doing before but it let's you earn a few cents and get your content in front of thousands of new people instantly. Nicely done.
Thanks, @niallon11 - I appreciate your support (even though I'm a bit delayed in saying so). I'm hoping to see some of my WP blogging friends jumping aboard thanks to the #SteemPress onboarding program. Exciting times on the blockchain!
I don't blog long form anymore as often as I post on social media. I wish tools like Share2Steem were still active.
Want to give SteemPress a try though.
Yeah, it's a wicked bummer about Share2Steem - my eldest had just set up to start using it, since she posts on IG so much. I did hear a rumor months ago that someone was working on recreating it though.
If you do start using SteemPress, and you have a Twitter account, be sure to shout out! I'm trying to tweet out as many of those posts as possible, to help spread the word about Steem. 😊
I also miss Share2Steem....
I retweeted you @traciyork as I can't write a better long form explanation of Steempress!
#PoSH (proof of sharing) thingy (click HERE for @acidyo's post)
And here’s my plug for the #CryptoClassAction where we’re suing Google, Facebook and Twitter for the good of the Cryptocosm. You can read a good explanation here on my blog.
You can join up direct on this form from JPBLiberty.
More details in this post
Much appreciate the RT, @brianoflondon! And I joined your initiative ages ago, but thanks for sharing the info and best of luck with the process!
Hey there Traci, this post - as many of yours - is really informative and I bet many people outside the Steem Blockchain would benefit from reading it.
Recently, we came up with an initiative to try and spread awareness of the Steem Blockchain on Twitter, which is why we kindly invite you to check out this post, we think you might like the idea.
Keep creating amazing content, Steem on!
Wicked coolness, @ocdb! I saw @acidyo's earlier post about the PoSH initiative, but now I'll reference your post as well when I'm spreading the word. And as for the upvote...
Great post Traci. I like in the in-deepness of it all.
Thanks so much, @steemitqa! I appreciate you dropping by! 😊
Awesome post but how do you do all them cool things in your post I would love it if you could show me how you make all that stuff and put it in a steem post. Thanks
Thanks so much, @kanedizzle08! I'm not sure what awesome things you mean, though but if you have specific questions, I'd be happy to point you to the answers. Appreciate the visit, and apologies for the delay in replying - it's been a crazy busy couple of weeks!
Like all your banners and just making your stuff look good? Thanks for the reply
Well written, thanks for explaining the concept.
Thanks so much, @joanstewart and I appreciate your Twitter shares! Hope you're having an amazing weekend!
Have a wonderful weekend Traci, sharing good content is always high on my agenda working manually on each visit.
!giphy hug
giphy is supported by witness untersatz!
Interesting that @giphy picked that one, Joan! 😮 😜
Hope Woody is feeling better today! 🤗
Obviously got the feel for what I would smile about, they are very much like this Traci. Thanks for asking, Woody is doing fine and on the mend.