Open letter to Steem stakeholders: What adds value to Steem?
Cryptocurrency markets are largely driven by speculation. Speculators typically buy tokens with the hope/expectation that someone will buy them later at a higher price.
Steem offers something that many blockchains don't however, which is the opportunity to become a stakeholder. Stakeholders have the ability to take an active role in the project, and by doing so, potentially make the value of their tokens go up.
There are several ways that Steem stakeholders can take an active role in the project:
- Voting on the witnesses that they feel are doing the best job.
- Voting on the contributions from the community, to reward whatever activities they feel are adding the most value.
- Make contributions of their own.
- Downvoting contributions that are being excessively rewarded.
- Delegate Steem Power to projects that they feel are adding value.
We are on-boarding thousands of new users every week, and with the projected launch of Communities and SMTs (hopefully later this year) those numbers have the potential to explode exponentially.
With little-to-no guidance from stakeholders though, these new members essentially resort to throwing stuff at the wall, and seeing what sticks. This results in a very high amount of SPAM, and a low amount of quality contributions that are actually adding value to the community.
There is a really important question that I think we have a responsibility to define for these new users: What can users do to add value?
By helping to define this, we can encourage more of what we want, and hopefully get less of what we don't want.
CALL TO ACTION FOR STAKEHOLDERS
I encourage all stakeholders (large and small) to create a post within the next month answering the question: What adds value to Steem?
I will leave it fairly open-ended, because I want to hear from you, but a few suggestions of things to include are:
- What types of contributions do you consider adding value?
- What types of things will you upvote/reward?
- What types of things will you downvote?
- What types of projects will you consider delegating SP to?
Please use the tag #steemvalue in the post.
[Edit] Leaving a reply in the comments here is an option too.
At the end of the month, I will collect all of the data from the #steemvalue posts (and the comments below) to created an aggregated report.
I think that stake holders who code and make applications and software on mobile devices should start working towards implementing steem as a payment option in applications and games. This would promote the community in more ways than we can imagine. Since steem is a cryptocurrency, payments would be way easier and faster to make. It would also be the first crypto that allows this and would pave way into a brighter future for this crypto. I would love if you would take this into consideration and I would also love to help in implementing this.
This id a great suggestion as a focus moving forwards. @steemmonsters may be an interesting test case for this.
The thought of 'in app purchases' with steem.... huge growth potential indeed!
I totally agree, steemmonsters will be the most suitable front to launch this idea. And when the game begins to trend, more people will get involved in the steem blockchain and a rise in value and popularity is inevitable. I'm glad you like it.
Here's mine.. The Steem Power Ambulance is en route.. (SPAMBULANCE, for short). :)
Having just carefully read the blue paper (and invested another grand - link) I finally 'get' the argument by steeminc that the future of steem lies in the applications which will be built on the blockchain, but possibly hosted 'off blockchain' - things like @steemonsters and the hunt (future SMT hopeful) initiative for example.
So the key thing I think which is going to add value is all of those people beavering away innovating new projects which will integrate with steem.
IF the success of these future applications depends on steemit being a reliable and credible source of information, and if mass adoption of said applications depends on people joining steemit and investing in steem, then we should all be doing our bit to make sure that the best content is rewarded... all of what you say above! And that the worst kind of self-promoters and extractors are being policed.
Because as it stands at the moment - it's a very unappealing place for newcomers to be!
Having said that, I guess it's possible that we don't even need steemit to be successful for future apps to be successful... I mean in 10 years time I could just collect my rewards via steemhunt, play steemmonsters and basically ignore everything going on on 'steemit', so maybe we just don't need to worry about the fact that so many people on here do nothing to contribute besides whoring out their SP to anyone with an ego big enough to buy votes.
Anyway, this is an interesting question, I might bash out a post on it myself, but that'd take about a month to write if I were to do a half decent job of it.
I came back and am here now exclusively for Splinterlands (SteemMonsters) and with them incorporating TRX into their marketplace, since I was already a TRON user, I have no reason to use Steemit at all or even STEEM, but I try anyways just as another source to help fund my card collection.
from what I understand from @ned, it's not the applications alone but also the community aspect around it.
Oh yes I know, but their actions suggest they're building a platform to support a 'society of individuals' so to speak rather than an actual 'society'.
Possibly it l's never going to be any other way with 'social' media.
I may write a post on this at some point, but for now I’ll just give my initial thoughts here.
The contributions to STEEM that I consider adding the most value tend to be ones to Steemit, simply because it’s the platform I use. Among those posts, I think the most value comes from treating this more like Medium and less like FB/Instagram. Meaning I think long form content and the more meaningful/meaty conversations that can ensue from them offer a special place within social media. I’ve seen other platforms like Minds that go more toward the shallow chit-chat end of things, and while that’s fine, I don’t think that’s the direction I’d like to see Steemit go. I think there’s already more than enough opportunity for that level of interaction out there in social media.
I tend to therefore upvote either longer pieces or short ones that make an important point clearly and concisely. I have people on auto-upvote where I see that they routinely produce only such content, so I don’t want to miss rewarding them even when I can’t be online (given how much I’m in location transition these days).
If you had asked the downvoting question a week ago, I’d have no answer because I’d never down voted anyone, but now I can say that I’ll give a temporary downvote if I think someone is a troll. The negative environment trolls foster can destroy a discussion community, so I take that very seriously. (I say temporary because if they edit their comment to make it meaningful to the conversation, whether agreeing or disagreeing but reflecting having actually read the post, then I’d remove the downvote.) I don’t downvote because I think someone is earning too much, though I understand why some do.
Lastly, the projects I have delegated SP to are curation projects that find content that pretty much meets the standards I listed in #1. Basically I want more serious writers and serious conversations taking place on Steemit and for the growing reputation of the platform for that to attract more and more writers of substance. Many such people will have the money to buy STEEM to increase their effect on the platform and enough enthusiasm for the unique potential of the space to be willing to make that investment.
I think there is a slight barrier that hasn’t been discussed, however. That’s that many of these people don’t already invest in crypto. I think one thing that would really help STEEM would be a way to get STEEM with USD. More education on how to succeed on Steemit is also important. I actually have a $25 course on it that some folks have used toward that end, but there is still a big barrier to them actually buying STEEM because of the complexity of buying altcoins.
One additional point: I think the #1 thing that would help STEEM in terms of the flagship Steemit project doing so, would be for them to get Communities launched. I think it is actually more important than even SMTs, because you don’t want to lose first mover’s advantage when it comes to paid social media platforms, and other platforms having groups already is huge. I don’t think the company quite understands just how important gathering in groups is to people socially. Or how much easier it is to get started with something if you can just join groups right on the platform, not some side platform like Discord. I started on Minds just recently and while there is much I dislike about actual content on that platform, I can’t deny that I knew the ins and out within a few hours simply because I could participate in newbie groups and learn very, very quickly. I could also quickly join groups on topics I care about so find many new followers and posters on exactly those topics. Not pitching Minds, since as I said, overall I don’t really like it, but the group aspect makes it far more attractive to most people due to ease of use trumping all else. Just a thought as to where I think development focus should be to really help STEEM grow in adoption.
I focus a lot of time and attention on this question. I consider it part of my mission here, to #growSteemit.
What does it mean to #growSteemit?
To make every effort to use your skills and interests to add value to the Steemit platform, by either creating original quality content, sharing great content of others (while crediting the original source), inviting new content creators to Steemit, and engaging in sincere conversation with people who clearly put effort into their contributions.
In short: we should aim to contribute quality posts & comments. And in my view "Quality content" is defined as "intentional, effortful, beautiful, sincere & original thoughts or creations".
In broad terms, we add value by offering and engaging in sincere, meaningful dialogue, sharing perspective and discussing others shared perspective.
#Steemvalue #growSteemit
Hi @timcliff ! Here is a post I made 9 days ago with activities that anyone can do to add value to the blockchain!
https://steemit.com/promo-steem/@gold84/recap-of-the-most-important-things-i-believe-i-have-done-here-on-the-steem-blockchain
Regards, @gold84
Although related, it is kind of off topic for this post. If you are wanting to participate, please write a post that directly responds to the call to action in this post.
Good posts and comments
Good posts and comments and sometimes I will help out supporters even if their posts aren't as great. lol
Nothing
I probably won't delegate but I like voting.
Hi @timcliff,
I know this has now "expired" but you said within 30 days, so I wrote a post in response to yours. You can find it here:
https://steemit.com/steemvalue/@denmarkguy/what-adds-value-to-steem-a-response-to-timcliff-s-open-letter-to-stakeholders
Thanks for opening up this discussion!