Meanwhile, Whaleshares got a Facelift!

Yeah, I admit it, I am "one of those people" who keeps their ear to the ground on many places, and my fingers in many pies.

Mostly just for the purpose of staying informed. My ability to actively pursue everything I am interested in is pretty much zero. Just too much stuff out there...

Purple heather in our neighborhood park

Can Your Really MAKE Anything With a Copy?

I know more than a few of you who follow my scribbles are also on Whaleshares.

Like most "Social Blockchain" venues, Whaleshares pretty much looked like a slightly modified clone of Steemit. Change a few names here, change a font there, omit a couple of features, add a couple of different ones... and bingo!, you have yourself a new site.

If you happen to be one of the founders of Whaleshares, I'm sure you're probably offended by now. Sorry about that!

Anyway, I got to thinking about what you can hope to do with a copy of something? And then.., just how much you have to change from the original to make a serious go of it?

It is rarely enough to create something that's basically the same, only different. What's the incentive for anyone to be excited about that?

Bougainvilleas near my parents' house

The Good News

The good news is that the new Whaleshares 2.0 has completely changed the user interface to where the site no longer looks like "just-another-copy-of-Steemit-with-a-few-things-changed."

Although it remains a pretty small community, simply that change is a significant step towards a marketing and identity essential generally known as "differentiation."

In order for something to succeed on its own, it needs to have a materially different appearance and feel from whatever it was derived from. And — in that sense — the developers at Whaleshares have done a good job.

I hasten to add, here, that this post isn't really intended as a promotional plug for Whaleshares... rather, it's a brief exploration into the best possible approach to taking an idea and truly making it your own.

Spring flowers

SUCCESSFUL "Copying" is NOT "The Easy Way Out!"

A lot of people operate under the mistaken assumption that you can take a great business idea, do something similar... and people will automatically flock to your door purely because you claim I'm doing this, only BETTER!

Not true. Unless you like to get an ugly wake-up call when you discover you are failing, all over the place!

Often, taking a great idea and tweaking it to make it better, and make it your own is a lot of work, because you have to constantly prove to those who are interested that you are genuinely different and better than the original. Plus... the "original" always has that thing known as the "First Mover Advantage."

Returning to Whaleshares for a moment, I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of users over there are a subset of Steemit users. I doubt there are very many users for whom Whaleshares is their first and only Social Blockchain experience.

Most Whaleshares users were essentially "recruited" from Steemit... not from "external" sources.

And so it will tend to be with almost anything we choose to do that is substantially based on something that was already started by someone else.

Meanwhile, if you're part of Whaleshares — particularly in a half-hearted and unenthusiastic way — DO check out the new "look" over there!

Thanks for reading!

What about YOU? Do you have accounts on some of the other "Social Blockchain" content sites that have sprung up over the past year? Do they feel like they have "unique" identities, or are they more like "Steemit clones?" What has your experiences — if any — been with Steemit "lookalikes?" Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

(As always, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 190221 16:46 PST
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