Five Things That Separate Steemit From Other Social Media Sites

Over the past month, I've spent quite a bit of time combing every hard-to-reach corner of this blockchain. While some things need fixing and fine-tuning, several things make Steemit different from any other social media site on the internet, which brings me to today’s topic: five things that separate Steemit from other social media sites.

Now, this conversation cannot start without first talking about the communities on Steemit.

1 – Steemit’s Communities versus other sites Groups, Timelines, and Hangouts

The communities on Steemit are based on the philosophy of helping users achieve their goals. While some groups are more helpful than others, overall, the community feel almost mimics a family atmosphere where users are looking to further connect, grow, and, in many circumstances, learn from each other on a professional level.

On other social media sites, engagement is driven by ads, sales, algorithms, and people in their day-to-day fashion shows always looking for attention. It’s shallow and, in most cases, lame. The only long-term advantage these sites have over Steemit community-wise is the fact that users can likely find more family members on standard social media before Steemit, which speaks more to the need for users to pass the word to their friends and family.

2 – A Reward System that helps you grow financially vs. Facebook Professional & Other Like Programs

The reward system on Steemit is lightyears ahead of the pay per content creation tools Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram offer. From experience, I’d say the overall unique feel of getting rewarded for posting here trumps pretty much everything for me beyond maybe YouTube, which obviously is a whole other ballgame. I wish DTube was easier to access (they make it so you have to jump through some odd hopes to get access) or that there were more DApps on the chain, but I believe those will come as the need increases in due time.

I’m the worst person in the world to talk to about sites like Instagram because, outside of models, I don’t see the need for that site from the non-shallow section of the world’s population. Of course, I’m in the minority group on this one. Other sites are gauged toward getting you to drive millions of hits for them just to earn something worth talking about. I’ll give solid examples of this in the future from my Facebook Business account (a solid idea for another post).

3 – Contests That Spark Creativity and Offer Real Rewards

Contests that fuel growth and the @Steemitblog creating different ways to keep engagement flowing through events like ‘engagement challenge season’ and the curation project that they are clearly committed to; make it easier for users to keep coming back to post daily. When I first joined, I had no clue what was going on, and I’m still learning as I go, but it’s plain to see the differences. I’ve participated, won, and given away things via social media, but none of that was quite like Steemit, where your accomplishments are directly rewarded in a way that makes sure each creator knows their value or at least encourages them in a positive way.

4 – Learn While you Engage, Or Grow the Way you Want

While experiences may vary from one person to the next, being around other users who may be smarter in other areas of life but willing to teach is something mainstream social media cannot compete with. For example, Facebook is filled with memes that may keep you entertained, but let’s be honest; they do more to make you forget about learning than they teach. There is no comparison.

Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy certain aspects of other social media sites these days. Facebook is good for me to connect with co-workers and old friends/family, Twitter/X is where I go for sports information, and YouTube fills most other needs. I’d like to see some aspects of those sites intertwined with Steemit’s more serious nature. I’d also like to see more topics here, but I see a shift in that as of late! So, I’m hopeful!

5- Steemits Ability to Challenge/Teach you to Grow vs Other Sites' Ability to Dim/Teach you To Consume

While not perfect, the Steemit blockchain's ability to push engagement into a situation where users must use their brains in order to grow/earn in the direction they want stands alone in terms of online presence that drives interaction in terms of wits. No other site does what this one does. That doesn’t mean some don’t go against the grain on the chain, but they don’t receive support in the process either.

In comparison, most social media sites actually lower your desire to learn and act as nonsensical escapes from reality. This is clearly not the direction Steemit wants to take.

The combination of challenging users while also rewarding them for what they put into it makes this site stand alone in a sea of social media. I’m convinced that the current direction of the blockchain will lead to bigger and better things. Some may not realize it, but this site is training a new set of aspiring journalists, who, once they understand the process fully, will have all the necessary tools they need to write about all types of different things within their communities and have it make a difference monetarily.