RE: Some Possibly Sacrilegious Thoughts About "Investors" and Steemit
I don't think Steem has many investors; they are mostly speculators, but then again, they have bought or buy Steem too.
The best way of making the speculators happy is probably simply this: a higher Steem price.
The best way of attaining a high Steem price is getting the currency accepted as a payment method or at least used and mentioned on one of the larger existing retail or content sites, outside of the Steem blockchain application landscape dome, instead of trying to replicate said sites, compete with them, and getting no traction whatsoever.
A better user experience would be welcome; it may even attract more users and make existing users happier, but I am unconvinced that alone will take the Steem price to great heights as long as the economic model used is what it is and all development and marketing is focused inwards instead of outwards.
You bring up several good points here @ocrdu:
It all has to work together; "synergy."
I have long been pitching the idea of the importance of a Steem-based Economy as part of what we do here. The underlying structure is actually near-perfect for it.
Develop (first) an "internal marketplace" based on Steem... a cross between eBay, craigslist and a freelancing site. Make it so we can all trade 'real goods and services" with each other, using the "local" currency.
That would address the trickiness of what "small accounts" can do with their 20 Steem... because getting it from "here" to their bank accounts via an exchange and going to BTC to fiat is an exercise in futility and fees. Plus, it keeps the money INSIDE the system.
Once THAT thrives and works, Steem suddenly has "differentiation," which is massively important to setting itself aside (and being attractive to REAL investors) in this ocean of mostly shitcoins. And once people see "an alt. economy" working here... "outsiders" might want to join it! How about THAT?
And I see that as the point where your suggestion of Steem as part of external retail/market sites comes into play.
"Yeah, those people on Steemit are rolling in their local currency, we want to be PART of that" now comes into play.
Now, because the Steem token has a somewhat finite supply (even with "inflation") price appreciation suddenly comes into play. The ONLY way the Steem economy can become a "muli-billion dollar marketplace" is for the price of the token to go up, up, UP.
Of course, now we get back to that being a "longer term play."
It would take probably 18 months to two years to establish a serious internal economy, and then another 2-3 years to hone the external attractiveness. So now we're right back to looking at our original "issue," namely that we're looking at a 4-5 year INVESTMENT horizon in an environment where everyone if getting their shorts in a knot over next week's pizza money...
It would require a long-term vision, yes; I don't think that is in the cards, though.
That is one of the reasons I would prefer to see the marketing of Steem-as-a-currency for external parties happen at the same time, or even before, focussing on the application landscape and making an internal market for buying stuff which is unlikely to detract people away from the established players anyway. I think.
I don't think we have five years either; the first cryptocurrencies to get a real foothold in the world outside their respective bubbles/domes will win. Getting anywhere will require both push and pull marketing, not just working on expanding what we have for whom we have and then hoping for interest from outside. I think 8-).
But I'm afraid it's all moot (in the USA sense of the word) anyway.