Well steemit works because it solves a very big problem in social networks. Actually several problems.
- Distribution of money that flows through the system.
- Incentive to make and distribute quality content.
- Avoiding opportunism.
- The democratic problem.
Everyone dreams making money with as little understanding of the process as possible. We are efficient creatures, we want to make content and post it, the rest we actually don't care. We don't want to make another account and put commercials, with intrusive content over our own. We just want it to be done automatically. I post, I get payed.
Now the process is easy, but soon after you post you realize something. You are not as good as you thought initially. Making hundreds of Steem dollars per post is not easy, you have to create something valuable for others. A humbling procedure, very useful in your day to day life, a kind of reality check. Am I as good as I think? And here the incentive comes in, if you post things you like but nobody cares about, like hmmm Facebook, you get nothing. Not a problem, you can still post it, it's a free world. But,but! you can choose to abandon your self-serving ways and actually think about other people and not only about you. It's not me, me, me. I think steemit will encourage the development of empathy, by incentivising it. This will remove all the content that has no value and increase the creation of ever higher quality, original content.
By introducing Steem Power, the creators solved another problem. Pump and dump. By not being able to sell SP right away (2 years min), you can now make an investment into the platform. This is interesting in more ways. You will get more value if you sit on this SP, and you will have more impact in the network, your vote count more, proportional to your SP. This will make you choose after 2 years, do I want wealth or power! Hmmm, interesting.
The democratic problem is the power of one vote being equal among all entities. Similar with how the vote works in stat voting, where one vote from a drunk is equal with one vote of an entrepreneur. By introducing voting power, you make the whole system better. The people that have more invested in the system will be more careful on what they vote for, than newcomers. They will be more respected in the community for their contribution and ability to promote new talent. This makes the system a lot more on the meritocratic side. And the best thing is that they can lose this power, it is not eternal, they don't control the system, they are part of it and obey its rules. Let's not forget about the incentive to try and become the so called whale.
Well these are the 4 problems I believe are solved in Steemit, and that's why I joined it. This is only the beginning, a lot more can be done and I think people are already working on it, let's make a dent in Facebook, Twitter and other systems from the old internet. Out with the old, in with the new!
PS: This has importance in political voting systems, it can be proof of concept for radical change in how country are run, aka Direct democracy for now, anarchy in the future. The work we do now here is priceless. Let's make this work!