RE: Turning Rage Into The Soothing STEEM Now Blowing Out My BUTT as I Mince My Words for You, The Reader of This
Pondering what to say to this @nonameslefttouse, other than I "get" the undertone of exasperation here.
In some sense, I can understand both sides of the argument, but there are no winners... only the potential that we all lose.
I don't really care about SMTs, bots, the marketing of apps and all the other good stuff people believe will send Steem to the moon.
Steemit is like our "store front" on the world, and if we accept a system and dynamic in which "whatever crap will do" lives front and center, it doesn't matter (in the long run) how brilliant the concept and back end is. It's a bit like hiring a chef with 4 Michelin stars and putting him in a dirty dive with rats and roaches scurrying around... it doesn't matter how brilliant he may be, people will look at that storefront and go "GROSS! I'm not going in there."
What I see around here is a lot of short-sightedness. Ned, STINC and a bunch of developers all excited about their toys while paying ZERO attention to creating a thriving image for the greater public... which is the lifeblood that will drive all those exciting new technologies.
I know, I know... "We need investors, we need INVESTORS!" the clarion call goes out.
Investors in what? Does anyone even understand the psychology of investing? What it means? With the exception of a handful of real-estate investments, you don't invest for current income (bots, for example) you invest for capital gain over time. People don't buy MicroSnot stock for the dividends, they buy it in the hopes the stock doubles or triples in value.
Trying to stay on task just a little bit the entire notion of bots on Steem/Steemit as an "investment" is a misnomer, at best. The notion of draining the liquid capital out of a system in the guise of "investing" is actually (most of the time) a one-way ticket to driving the investment into the ground. Why? Because it does nothing to build value and everything to remove value.
Sadly, few will red this. Even fewer will care. But hey, appreciate the post!
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It's not easy sitting here with a vision when I know most will look the other way. I could write an entire novel of rambling thoughts explaining what can be invested in, how it can be invested in, why they would invest in it.
When I first started here I noticed a few books being published. One chapter at a time, some were more popular than others, which is normal. So one was consistently on the trending page. I thought, "That's smart, this place could give the entire book publishing industry a run for it's money. That guy there is raking in the dough and he hasn't even sold a copy yet. He could probably use that money and publish that book now and pay for some nice slots in retail. This is genius."
Then I saw a youtube video later of a young lady singing a song. Sure, the youtube video had ten views, but she was trending with a nice chunk of money any busker in a subway can't even dream of. That's genius. Digital busking. There's probably millions upon millions of these videos on Youtube with no views and those folks didn't earn a dime.
When I started I saw the line "get paid to write". I had no idea there was any kind of art scene here at all. I got lucky there because two years prior I got back into digital art after giving up because there wasn't a demand for it. You'd see those free wallpaper type sites on the internet but did anyone ever care about the artist? You might see a website with a short bio about the artist but no interaction. So I started treating this little place like my own virtual art gallery. People walk in, I'm almost always there to greet them. I show off the art, do some writing, we can hang out, instead of offering them a coffee I can pass them a little vote. I also saw the other artists doing well. I got noticed more and more, sat in the top 5 most rewarded artists for awhile. There are millions of people like me who could benefit from this business model. I want to sell prints of these works too and I've found a global market, in no time.
Okay so keep this short, everything here has the potential to entertain. It doesn't have to be art. Life writers fill a gap, so on and so forth. This is like a massive magazine.
Books, music, art, newspaper/magazines; everything was here. Altogether this entertainment industry generates billions upon billions of views and dollars each year. All of those other companies have investors in this world.
So it became strange to me when I'd see witnesses saying the blockchain STEEM comes first, it needs investors, Steemit is nothing blah blah blah, just a forum. They had no idea of the true potential of this place and shifted their focus on only the crypto crowd, which is tiny compared to the entertainment industry. So here we are. Seemingly wasted potential until more can share the vision someone like me has. I can't be alone when I see potential. If I am, I don't know.
So now maybe because people don't realize the potential of embracing the entertainment industry, the don't see exactly how much ad revenue the entertainment industry can generate on top of the billions I mentioned previously.
This post did get some views though. I know it for a fact. A lot of people sneak in and read my stuff. Look how I get the place talking. In your typical internet blog type world, they say they get 1 comment per 200 page views. Here we have more engagement than anywhere else.
It would become too much of a dissertation if I had to actually address everything you point out here, and I basically agree.
I'll hit a couple of high points, though. Steemit is remarkably parallel to the early days of the web. The "nerds" who invented the web had SUCH a hard time thinking and visualizing beyond gaming forums, hacking, nerdy flaming... and "it would be SO cool that all the colleges and universities will get involved, and all this education will be free to the world!" (the "idealist" angle) and that was about the extent of it.
Along comes a pretty smart guy named Steve Case and applies something called usability to the web interface so suddenly some housewife from Kansas can put recipes online. AOL with "the pretty pictures" utterly dominates the "numbers, dots and dashes" of CompuServe and ProdigyInternet. Badda-bing, badda-boom. But many of the little nerds are very upset and saying "Gross! My MOM is online!" because now they are no longer "exclusive and special;" even while they are living on the couch in mom's basement.
Fast forward 20 years and we have Steemit (and clones) built by a group of blockchainiacs and developers who really don't know their way around mainstream marketing and psychology. The mistake they are making right now, is staying inside their comfort zones. Which is very very small... the crypto crowd; people who invest in really esoteric assets; app developers... in short, a target market of approximately 0.2% of the population. IF that.
As you well know, there's a HUGE consumer base for entertainment, art, music, poetry, blogs, online books and so on. And yet they don't seem to give a flying flip about promoting this venue as a *media publishing platform," which strikes me as incredibly myopic.
So no, you're not alone.
Right now, I see only two semi-promising initiatives here: "Ulogs," which is all about "The Internet of PEOPLE," but sadly thin on support other than creator @surpassinggoogle. And SteemMonsters which managed to run a successful KickStarter that was almost 175% funded in a venue that had nothing to do with Steemit, and has the potential to onboard huge numbers of people who don't know a blockchain from a hole in the ground, IF the concept takes off. MTG has millions of active players, and SM is the digital age model for that. Really crossing figures for that one.
My attraction here was to see this as a more viable version of Patreon, in that the "pavement-pounding" could be lighter, and people would be more likely to share their ching because upvotes don't actually cost out-of-pocket dineros.
Meanwhile... I guess I will continue to dispense cat photos and occasional philosophical musings.
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Nailed it. 100% agree. And not to disrespect those experiencing their comfort zone either. We've all been there at some point. There's also this: The entire thing is still a work in progress. Running out of patience is the easy way out. Can't have all those things if everyone stops looking forward. Taking on the status quo is a necessary step in development as well. As much as some of these words might sting for some; they have to be here.