Should we be worried about ONO as a competitor to Steemit?
A new social network will be launching in ...4, 3, 2, 1 days
There are already a number of networks out there, but none of them has ever made me think they might be a serious competitor to Steemit.
This one is different, though, and for the first time I believe this could be really serious.
It's not just that this one is BIG, and the founders really know what they are doing. They have built successful projects and platforms before and onboarded millions of members to it.
But there's another, more important reason:
It's great timing (for them)
What I notice when I look at existing social networks
- People want their data to be secure and private [ --> that's not Facebook ]
- People want to connect, have fun, share valuable content and have equal opportunities & a fair reward system for all [ --> that's not Steemit ]
What worries me:
Many of my favorite people here on Steemit post less and less.
- Are they discouraged because they don't see the progress they were hoping for on the platform?
- Are they tired of watching ego battles between community members or even the higher ups?
- Are they not seeing enough rewards for their hard work?
I don't know.
What I know for sure:
People will go where they feel best.
Every decision we make in life is based on how we think it will make us feel.
If they don't feel good on Steemit, in the Steemit community, and about the Steemit concept or progress - they will leave as soon as something comes along that promises them what they are missing. That's just human nature. (Whether that new platform will deliver on that promise is of course another question.)
I also know that if people have put a lot of effort in building the community here, but were constantly let down (or even attacked), they will put even more effort in building a new community somewhere else. And if they have been truly pissed off here, multiply the energy they'll put into that by 100.
How are they going to do that? By inspiring all their Steemit friends to follow them. One by one...
What I'm looking for in a social network
A community function. The chance to run private or public groups.
I mean, I love being here, and I love connecting with everyone, and of course I love earning rewards with my posts. But what I was really hoping for, was to move my Facebook community to Steemit one day.
That doesn't seem to be happening any time soon, though. Maybe it's not highest priority for the Steemit developers, maybe it's something really complicated to build - who knows.
The truth is, the moment there's a platform that offers me a true alternative to Facebook communities, I will go there. My community members are asking for it - they want to leave Facebook - and I want to deliver that to them.
I am in service of my community members. Without them I wouldn't have a community.
I wish Steemit would think like that, too...
I would love to know different opinions
Why should I not worry about ONO?
Is there anything about Steemit that I'm not aware of, that could give me confidence in continuing my efforts here?
(There might be a lot - I'm not here every day and I tend to ignore all the negative comments and "flagging wars". That's the reason I missed a lot and it came as quite a shock to me just how many valued community members with thousands of followers have become increasingly unhappy on Steemit in the recent past.)
Competition is always driving innovation. :) Bring it on, ONO.
Yes. Maybe the competition can push the progress in Steemit forward. Something the community hasn't been able to do so far.
Why can't you just be content with the new-ish minty green logo and the continually delayed promises of a mobile wallet, SMTs & communities... Seriously, you're such an ingrate!
LOL
XD I learned a new word and it's not even noon yet!!
Haha
No need to worry, healthy competition is always good... Steemit is a developed platform which handles highest number of blockchain transactions ....The technology behind Steemit has been demonstrated sustaining over 1,000 transactions per second on a distributed test network and can easily scale to 10,000 or more.... And as far as user activity is concerned, we just need a little pump in the Steem prices, active users will increase by many folds....
If other blockchains dwarfed the Steem blockchain in transactions, what would remain for Steemit then (following your theory)? Isn't social media more than that? What about Steem's original vision of 'value creation'? Is that not an option anymore?
To content creators value is not purely defined by price and monetary outcome. It's also not simply about being seen or heard (buying votes doesn't satisfy us). It's about sharing a common vision with others, interact, mutually support, inspire - it's about exchanging human values.
Bots can't do that for us :-)
Transfered to a real life scenario it's as if you said:
Where's the real benefit?
I think the issue is more of an emotional nature, rather than technical. If people don't feel heard or respected, if they don't align with the values (anymore) and if the reward system is not fair, and there's more bots here than actual people - then it doesn't really matter if it's the fastest blockchain, because nobody will be using it... :/
If you look with a broader view buy/sell of votes helping this platform to grow and maintaining a good economic ecosystem... If your voice is not heard, you too can buy votes and make your voice heard. BTW nothing is fair in this world.
I have no issue with people buying and selling votes, actually. We live in a free world and people are free to spot market niches and create services that others might value. Good for them!
And the people who do not value those services don't need to buy them. Just like in real life. Live and let live.
UPDATE
I just realized I totally contradicted myself, LOL, I have edited my answer above. I don't know why I mentioned the vote selling in my original answer.
It happens... never take anything too seriously...
Active users can't increase in many folds because of the big delay in registration. A lot of folks loose interest by the time there account is registered.
And I read the comments that it's not a problem because users who can't be patient and loose interest won't be real steemians are wrong because maybe if even 1/1000 of the users who don't wait out the account creation are excellent content creators, then steem misses out on the chance to grow big and be taken seriously.
Thanks for sharing this post! But for me no matter what happened i will never leave steemit!😊 im loyal to steemit! Even some of my post have been never acknowledge but i keep on steeming and persistent!
We're at the beginning at the crypto era.
ONO will be a sound project, and exactly for that reason could be a revulsive slap for the STEEM ecosystem.
I prefer to see it as a 'coworking-competitive opportunity' given the fact that ONO will be running on EOS (built by Larimer).
I mean, what do you would prefer? Be the top#1 in a isolated market (as we are already) ? Or to be a gear (with ONO) in the social network revolution? If STEEM gets competition that means that we're focusing a potential profitable market.
Let's don't forget that STEEM is just 2 years old... Facebook needed 4 years to explode (reaching 100M users). Not enough with that... STEEM is a cryptocurrency. A very 'weird' one btw.
EDIT: we don't need to reach the userbase of facebook to be a sound success. With SMT I see STEEM as a 'entrepreneur-friendly' platform. More or less like twitter.
How much is worth Twitter? 22Billion. We're at 0,6 Billion. That's a x36,6 increase. I'm sorry, but taking in consideration 'what we are'. in the crypto market... we're not that far.
Relax and let's enjoy what will be coming, if we have to move, we'll adapt.
Best wishes.
True. And if those good things take too much time, then maybe some serious competition can be really helpful in accelerating things and revisiting vision and mission and USP's.
Imagine yourself as a (blockchain entrepreneur) developer in 2015-2016.
''Let's built a censorship-resistant social media platform powered with a cryptocurrency (like Bitcoin) to reward good content and to provide access (or at least get closer to) to the financial world (usually described as 'bank the unbanked').''
Now code this.
@dan and @ned are genious. And they should collaborate rather than argue (I don't know their personal reasons, btw, so talking from the ignorance here).
Have a nice day @connecteconomy :)
Agree! :)
What an extraordinary article, Anja!
You perfectly described the situation most of the creators, curators and community builders on steemit are dealing with - as well as the possible consequences.
Where's the spirit gone?
YES. They will always go there where they're able to connect, to interact, to inspire, to be inspired and - to make a difference. They will also go there where they're able to exchange human values.
We don't want to be part of bot farms and groups of money-driven egocentrics. We want to be part of something much greater than that.
Again thanks for the read. Once more you inspired me to write an article connected with yours :-)
Big hug, Marly -
Resteemed
PS: Great teaser, had a good laugh starting to read - haha!
Can't wait to read it!
And yes, I had that meme in my head ever since I heard of ONO and realized what it could mean for Steemit... ;)
My today's lunch break will be dedicated to community building, inspired by your article :-)
That reminds me... food!!
Ha, we shouldn't underestimate it ever! :-)
Glory to ONO. Bring it out from unseen realm
Competition is always good and like you say, people will go where they feel the best.
I have noticed a negativity this last couple of weeks on steemit, that I haven't seen before.
(in my long 7 month career)
I'll be checking it out, for sure...
interesting, lets see what happens, hard work and quality appreciated in all platforms ,i think no need to worry
So true! ONO has so much potential 💯♥. I have a post about ono as well! I can't wait to see what the future holds ✨