The numbers don't lie. What we are seeing in the consistently decreasing value of Steem is exactly what one would expect from an interesting idea with no long-term efficacy.
And don't get me wrong, it is an interesting idea. A great idea, even. Combining the best parts of Tumblr and Reddit to create a kind of "YouTube for bloggers," where people actually get paid for posting interesting content is an excellent idea.
In fact, it fills a solid gap in the blogosphere, and social media as a whole: there is no central hub for written content. We have Reddit for links, Pinterest for photos, YouTube for videos, but nothing for bloggers. Tumblr, maybe. But Tumblr does not have the two biggest aspects that have made YouTube so popular. Namely, there's no way to spontaneously discover new content, and it's not paid.
With YouTube, anybody can make an account and get views immediately just by showing up in recommended or in search results. If their content is good, they get paid. And when creators are paid, they are able to put out better content, and do so more often, which brings in more viewers, and more money. Everybody wins.
So where did Steemit go wrong?
Steemit has a front page where anyone can spontaneously discover new content, and it pays its creators. But it won't be able to keep doing so for long, if the price of Steem continues to drop and people continue to leave as a result.
I want to see this platform succeed, but the cryptocurrency has to go.
A social network is nothing if it does not appeal to the average person. Steemit is complicated. Far too complicated for the average person to comprehend without special effort - effort that the average person is not willing to give. In the end, it comes down to marketing. Right now, Steemit is being marketed as a cryptocurrency social media platform. It needs to be marketed as a "YouTube for bloggers," or something of the like.
It needs to use the currency that the average person uses. It needs to incorporate advertising to serve as the profit engine. And it needs to ditch the "whale" system, which goes against the very nature of voter-based social networks and is more of a barrier to new users than anything else.
By all means, keep the current system in place if possible. Maybe things will change for the better. But at the very least, there must be a contingency plan, so that when the price of Steem inevitably crashes, this great idea can be converted into a sustainable platform for creators and viewers alike.
Kairos