Eight things that Steem can do and others can't

Here are eight things that can be done on the Steem blockchain, but probably not on traditional blogging and social media platforms like Medium, Reddit, Facebook, or Twitter:

1. Direct rewards to content creators and influencers based on votes, without a need for tips, paywalls, advertising or subscriptions



The Steem blockchain pays out rewards when a post is seven days old. The amount of rewards is based on the number of votes and the size of the voters' stake. No paywalls, no advertising, no tips, and no subscriptions. The rewards just arrive in the author's wallet, ready to be claimed.

2. Pay rewards as a finder's fee to people who discover and vote for the most valuable blockchain content.



After seven days, in addition to rewarding authors, the blockchain also rewards the voters. In order to reward discovery of attention-getting content, the highest rewards go to the earliest voters and the voters with the highest stake in the blockchain.

3. Let blogging teams use beneficiary settings for automated reward-sharing



The blockhain lets authors apply a beneficiary setting to every post. This can be used in all sorts of creative ways. One possible use of the beneficiary setting is to let blogging teams implement automatic rewards-sharing programs so they could collaborate on content creation and each team-member could be rewarded in proportion to the contribution.

4. Let anyone host their own customized front-end view of the social media database



The blockchain is public and accessible through a public API. There is open source code available for anyone to launch and customize their own website and wallet to interact with the blockchain.

5. Let web front-ends use beneficiary settings to get revenue without a need for tips, advertising, or subscriptions



And now we're back to beneficiary settings. A web site owner hosting a front-end that's connected to the Steem blockchain can apply a beneficiary setting to content that is created through their site and receive rewards without needing to set up advertising, paywalls, subscriptions, or tipping.

6. Use blockchain rewards and beneficiary settings to automatically fund charitable initiatives



Another use for beneficiary settings is that an author can automatically direct rewards to a charitable cause of the author's choosing. All a charity would need is an account on the blockchain, and they could immediately start receiving funding from social media activity.

7. Establish a Social Media Endowment



It would be possible to create an endowment account where the principal of the endowment is locked up forever, but can still be used to generate ongoing rewards for the holder of the endowment. Such an endowment could be highly resistant to embezzlement.

8. Without advertising, tips, or subscriptions, enable influencers to direct rewards to their audience for engagement on their posts



Social media influencers often like to do things to thank their fans. What better way is there to say "thanks" that than by voting on the fan's comments in order to distribute blockchain rewards?