Storing value of relationships on a blockchain

Through a few comments with @revisesociology last night he mentioned that Steem Inc should really put together a better how to guide about how all of this works. This was because I mentioned that when I originally got the vote slider, I thought it was a UI change and had no idea it was tied to Steem Power. Even after getting it, I didn't know for quite a while.

The reason I didn't know wasn't because of Steem Ins's failure to inform me, it was my own. Like I mentioned in my post today about why I joined Steem, I and my family weren't in very good shape and I came here with a hail Mary attitude, a last throw of the dice in attempt to balance finances. It didn't work out.

I worked, I even engaged with people and commented and, I even got some support along the way but there was one thing I performed very, very poorly at and I am almost ashamed to admit it. I didn't learn. I came in here with an assumption of how this place worked, what the people were like, what I needed to do. I was desperate yes but more sad than that, I was arrogant. Unknowingly ignorant. Rather than walk into a new place and get the lay of the land and run experiments and learn the environment like I would normally do, I took a cursory look and started posting.

For six months.

I have mentioned before that it took me two months to get 100 followers, almost 6 to reach 500 but my content was able to attract decent followers. Where I failed however was the 'Scream into the void' pattern that the internet has created. Although I have used various platforms, I had never before tried to monetize one and what that takes is, building a network.

I was mostly using Facebook and Instagram and the biggest difference between there and here is that the initial network comes already installed, they are called friends and family. Soon after joining Facebook, I had several hundred followers and then Instagram, the same happened as the platforms are obviously linked. This means that learning the other platforms are much easier (they are also much simpler) because if you or someone else has a question you can always, ask a friend.

Here however, it is a ground up build, foundation is needed, feasibility studies of sorts and a great deal of actual socializing. It is the difference between going to a party filled with friends and, turning up to a party where you know no one. If most people who came in to Steem really did their due diligence on what it takes, they might not carry the same entitlement issues for so long before waking up to themselves. If they did the same thing on other platforms and compared the likelihood for success though, they would probably find (on average) that Steem will return something, almost guaranteed.

How much is not guaranteed.

I can't state how important network is to an account that doesn't have stake. Content of course plays a part in attracting and retaining followers but, it is the ability to build a network structure that can be a support and this generally requires being able to offer something back. Of course, this isn't just through votes but very little content is enough by itself if there is nothing else to prop it up against.

This might sound cold to some but it is not, the building of a network is the building of relationships, making friends, offering a hand to some, pulling ones own weight, providing value in various ways, it is a process of give and take. Building a network is the laying of the cabling to support a community as the networks of individuals overlap with other networks of individuals until there are so many relationship points that it becomes like the sinew of a flexing muscle.

To me, this is why as this place grows, there is going to be so much value in it as the networks built within are not only tied to the person but almost hardwired into the development of the technology itself. This makes us much more physically and emotionally part of the system than any other plug-and-populate platform because rather than just being content sources, we are creative forces that affect the platform direction itself in minor and major ways.

If we look at how seriously people actually take this place and how many arguments are over the smallest trivialities, we can see how emotionally invested active users actually are. When people on Facebook complain, they whinge and whine but, they do nothing of substance. There is no person working on an alternative Facebook front end because they don't like the latest UI change, there is no one coding an algorithm to better support content producers because they don't like the way Facebook manages it.

There is no one because, it isn't possible on a centralized platform.

I don't think people have fully grasped the potential of what this means in our future and, how much it is going to support ordinary people in the world, just like us. It won't just be Steem of course, there will be many more iterations but, like I mentioned to someone today. New industries are going to be born, this is school.

I came in blind and although there are many who would rightfully argue that I am still blind, I am nowhere near as ignorant as I once was about many things that I was arrogantly thought I knew something about. Each day through my words, the words of others, the conversations in chats, the shared updates, the perspectives of life I get from the diverse group that make up the community, I am learning. I wish I had started earlier but, I am not planning on slowing down anytime soon.

You might not understand this, you might not agree and, you might be absolutely right. But, you also don't have the experience I have nor been privy to the same informational view as me which means, we are always going to have different perspectives on life as we each have a different window to look in and look out from. The difference between us is what gives our network value and the Steem community, just like blockchains, store masses of value. The Steem blockchain is not tracking transactions, it is tracking the interactions of our relationships to each other.

Both a scary and incredible thought.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]