It is no big revelation that Steem requires consumers in order for the platform to have a chance of success as it is an attention economy, just like the rest of the internet. What is a major selling point of Steem that even though a user can consume the content for free anywhere, it is pretty unique that a user can earn while consuming but of course, this requires an investment into Steem Power in some way while earning through content requires content production of some kind.
This ability to earn on the investment throws a lot of unexpected complication into the mix as it opens up a whole new game that consumers aren't accustomed to but in time could become a massive attractor. Who doesn't want to get paid for consuming what they are going to consume anyway? But, it is the complication of it all that is the major issue here and something that needs to be looked into as it is a hurdle for most users accustomed to straight consumption with the only return available being the value of what was consumed; which is amazingly low on a lot of content people eat.
On Steem, this concept of being paid to view and vote on content is even more incredible if you consider that the 'pay' is coming out of the pool, which is essentially thin air, something from nothing. At some point however, Steem has to attach to real world activities and businesses and, it has to be compelling enough that investors are willing to back it and, users are willing to use it to satisfy the needs of their attention.
This return on 'time on site' variable is not only attractive to the users though, it is also very attractive to the advertisers as if a userbase is incentivized to be here more, advertisers have more of a captured audience to target, there is a lot of data flowing through the system which being on the Steem blockchain, is highly accessible and freely available. Once the network grows large enough, the information that can be extracted is highly valuable but, doesn't really need to be sold.
Data monetization is a core business of centralized platforms, but the blockchains have it available for free, it just needs to be scraped. This is a business opportunity for the data divers and presenters that comes at no cost to them except the development of their skills and ability to present the information in a suitable manner for their audience, which can be leveraged as they do now through 
The consumer audience here is a vital piece of the ecosystem and one that we tend to not focus on heavily enough as for the most part, there is the concept of paying for the content and return on investment. The new RC model however allow for that consumer class to come in with no upfront costs and start consuming and it is at this point Steem has to truly prove itself as a content provider of value because the consumers have no earning potential to start with as Resource Credits have no drawing power on the pool.
Content and its ability to attract and retain consumers is going to be vital as it will be they who will end up being the draw card for investors and even though they might not be adding voting value, they will be adding social proof value as they become the crowd that indicate which attractions are worth backing. Advertisers are going to want to be in their eyes and staked users are going to want to support those who bring in and retain a consumer base.
This will of course be made simpler to differentiate in many ways as SMTs and communities enter the market place waters to create content niches that attract a more specialized consumer, making tailoring easier. The type of content will also attract vested interest too as some content will attract much larger investors than other forms. A community doesn't have to be enormous to hold high value if the niche it resides in attracts investors willing to pay for it.
What will aid the consumer class drive will be the simplification of user interface and experience which could be approached in some potentially unique ways. For example, what if instead of a user just voting with an SMT and worrying about curation, the platform had a token tap for usage too that could utilize various Oracles to reduce gaming potential and reward consumers additional tokens for their consumption that would appear in their wallets directly from the platform itself.
Under the right set of rules and incentives, the platform is able to offer a much wider distribution of tokens and in time help consumers become value distributors too. For example, a dApp with a delegation could use part of that power to reward consumers of the products, not just contributors and through the rule set imposed, be able to limit abuse effectively. In this way, consumers don't have to think too much about earning potential but will still be able to earn something until they decide they are comfortable and willing to actually invest themselves to learn more and potentially buy-in also.
RCs are a try-before-you-buy possibility for users and then it is up to us as a community to keep those who try here and since they aren't necessarily coming in with the incentive to earn directly, it will be the content and relationships that do the work. For most people, if something seems to complicated to use, they will avoid using it altogether as the perceived learning curve is to high to overcome. What the future SMTs, interfaces, dApps, games and services have to be able to offer is as smooth and pain-free process as possible where usage is intuitive and life simple.
The benefit of having decentralized communities is that while users need not ever know or understand the history of Steem, it is likely that the developers will know it and have networks deep enough to be able to share information and possibility across the infrastructure levels to find new ways to improve and serve their user base. This means that platforms can combine development forces without the users needing to be affected by the process until it is implemented, if they choose not to be.
There are so many options and possibilities on Steem that the risk is to try and include them all as features but, from a consumer perspective what is likely the best path for mainstreaming is a reduction of choices that are layered and open up when a user takes enough interest. This could be something like the availability of the slider on Steem that used to only be available at 500 SP but, through various interfaces can be used with 3 SP or not allowing account delegation until a certain holdings. Simplifying the startup lowers barriers to entry and if done well, can massively increase user experience for not only new accounts, but all users.
I am hoping that in time, developers will scrap what has been done here so far from a design and user approach perspective and reimagine what this place could be with consumers, investors and contributors all in mind in the design.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
Posted with Steempress
