1. Publish content for web2 audiences. Content that gives a reason to engage. Content that has an audience.

In light of some of the more recent discussion, I think it's worth weighing in here.

I absolutely agree that if Steem wants to be a successful platform, it needs more content consumers. Absolutely, no question, without hesitation.

But why don't we have content consumers?

Because there is no content they want to consume. There is no way for them to find that content. There is no way for them to manage the experience with that content.

That content tends to be meaningless. And, this is where I start to sound a little critical – because this is exactly the kind of thing that pretends to be content but is really just advertising advertising itself. It is, though a gentler form, the same old SEO scam as has been running since the web was new. It's the same attempt to sell motivation by screaming "BIG MONEY, BIG PRIZES!"

And that's just not true. Maximally so at the moment, given the state of STEEM in general.

The problem on the Steem blockchain is not that we don't have enough tutorials, how-to's, and guides. The problem is that there are better places to write those things, better places known for those things, and better places to look for those things, and nothing about any of the interfaces to the Steem blockchain are going to change anytime soon to those problems. The biggest promise that we have is the new Communities architecture, and all of the discussion around those has been about how they integrate with SMTs, how you can invest STEEM into them, how they will pay out – and not a single damn thing about what they do for users, how they will feel for users, what they will achieve for users, or word one about content.

That's where we are.

If we want to bring content consumers to Steem, what we need is real content. We need things that are not tutorials, how-to's, or guides. We need content which people want to see and engage with. We need content which covers a lot more ground in a lot more interests than just the cryptocommodity fad of the week, or "I got rich on the Steem blockchain and you can too," or "how to write a better clickbait article"…

You get the idea.

If we really want more users on the platform then we need to stop sounding like the worst kind of MLM pitches in the world and start doing what the underlying engine is supposed to do – be a social media network. Facilitate social engagement. Help people find things they want and which gratify them.

Everything else is absolutely moot.

You did have one excellent point buried In here:

If you want people to engage with your content, embed a question. Create a thing that were requires reply from the reader. Open the channel to something that your reader cares about and give them the opportunity to tell you about it. Engagement does lead to more committed audiences and a more committed audience wants more engagement in the future. That is absolutely true and it has always been true, thankfully.

If we want the Steem blockchain to be a useful, important part of people's lives where they go for content – we have to stop thinking about it, pitching it, pretending that it is all about the cryptocommodity. If it really is all about STEEM, if everything is just advertising for collecting tokens, if content is secondary to passion – then we're done. There is no value to be had here. There will be no community of readers. There will be no community of creators. There can be none.

That's not what people want. We can judge what people want by what they do – and they work very hard at getting away from content like that.

I've said elsewhere that the value of the STEEM token is, abstractly, an assessment by the audience of the cumulative value of content posted to the Steem blockchain in the last week. It represents the value that people find in engaging with that content. And perhaps the shoddy, sad state of the value of the Steem blockchain and the STEEM token are a perfect representation of one another. STEEM is down because the value of content is down, nearly worthless. Obsessed with pimping itself out and not with providing gratification and value to readers.

You get what you reward.

It's a pity that the Steem architecture doesn't care anything about content older than a week. There is significant value locked into the guts of the blockchain which can never be rewarded, which would represent value that could drive up the relative value of the token. But a long time ago, the designers decided to screw the long tail, content that takes up space in the blockchain is an important, even if it's good. All those blocks have to be maintained but none of them can be rewarded.

You get what you reward. But you carry everything that you've made.

If we want more content consumers what we really need are more content creators with a greater diversity of styles and content foci and reasons to be here which aren't "imagine that it's for making money." That just leads to everything, everywhere, being advertising.