I see a lot of suggestions which tell where people are focusing. While we will have differing opinions about what we should be doing, I feel there are a few things that are vital.
Of late, I saw a number of topics tossed out about what Steemit and we, the community, should do. I do not disagree with some of these initiatives in principle yet do have an issue with the timing and focus.
One thing that many people are discussing is marketing. There is a group on here who feels that Steemit should do more marketing. To start, this idea before Hard Fork 20 is way off base since the last thing we need is to have tens of thousands of people driven here only to have to wait a week or two to get approved.
There is a saying in the marketing world:
Great marketing will only speed up the demise of a bad product.
Steemit is not a great product. We need to be honest. The development team had other priorities, ones that I tend to agree with. For the next 7 months, I want them focusing exclusively on HF20, Hivemind, and SMTs. If they pull that off, I will tip my hat to them and we all will rejoice.
I understand we want people on the blockchain. In fact, that is crucial. Here is where value is built. However, just going out and promoting a blockchain is coming to an end. It is a saturated market in terms of the talking points. Sure, few people invested in cryptocurrencies thus far. Nevertheless, I think most who are of the speculator/early adopter mindset from that standpoint are in. The FUD scared a lot of people. We could see another wave of investors when the bull starts running because FOMO will kick in. That said, from a market standpoint, we are in a holding pattern.
Blockchain quickly became an overused term. The next major increase in participation is not going to come from blockchain, but the apps. This is where I think the last thing we want Steemit involved with is marketing. Sure, have them support those who will do the marketing but keep them away from it. Having Steemit as the landing page for this blockchain will impress nobody and that is where they will send the traffic if they handle it.
The world of crypto-economics got a major push the other day. Are any of you familiar with the messenging application called Line? They are in the process of bringing out a token for their platform. From what I could uncover, appears to be a decentralized, open token but I can't be 100% sure. Either way, this will get people familiar with cryptocurrency.
https://www.ccn.com/japanese-social-media-giant-line-launches-cryptocurrency-dpos-blockchain/
This is an application with 200M users.
Here is the next wave. It is not blockchain that needs discussing. At the same time, it is not applications that are not of high priority pushing an inferior product out there. What is going to push the next wave to STEEM is the applications on here that are innovative AND of use to people. That is where our focus needs to be.
I write quite often and threw my hat in the 
My view is I could get 5-10 people to sign up for STEEM today if the verification process was quicker. Fortunately, I only have to wait 25 more days.
How would I do that?
I simply would tell a number of people I know who do a lot of walking about
There is no mention of blockchain, STEEM, or pricing action. That takes people away from the message. Instead, it is providing people with a solution to their existing problem, one they are not aware they have: they are not getting paid to move.
The other topic people are discussing is the price of STEEM. We know there is a major bear roaring which took everything down. I am all for trying to promote this blockchain and would love higher prices, like everyone. That said, doing things that end up as pumps is a mistake. Pricing action is a result (maybe) of the underlying growth. Eventually, people take notice. Again, what is being promoted and when?
Market action is a major casino. It most often reflects very little. STEEM had a great year so far in terms of the progress it made yet the price got hammered. Is that reflective upon anything?
Also, while the price is down, hopefully smaller accounts are taking advantage. People talk about too much SP in few hands; here is an opportunity for ones without a great deal of money to increase their holding a fair bit. My view is that anyone who has under 1K SP should be putting at least $100 (if they can afford it) into STEEM. This will increase those accounts from between 10%-10,000% depending upon how much SP is there. Imagine if 5,000 accounts did this.
Nothing I write is to be taken as financial advice.
Of course, to do that, 5K smaller accounts need to believe in the outlook for STEEM. If one feels is questioning, here is a post by an individual who recently bought 250K worth of STEEM during the recent pullback.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@dhenz/why-i-bought-250k-steem-during-the-dip-and-just-getting-started
I was speaking with someone the other day and I told him something that we should all be mindful of. My view is that he is working on solving a problem that will not be around in 5-10 years. In other words, his efforts are not going to fix something since there are larger mechanisms in play that will solve the problem.
It is the same thing here. A lot of what people complain about will not be a problem when there are 500K or 1M daily active users as opposed to 50K. Pricing action will not be a problem when the FUD finally ends and the casino operators decide to let the bull out. And "selling" the STEEM blockchain will not be an issue when we can talk to others about an app and they can easily onboard then.
Finally, my outlook is simple: STEEM as a token is going to take less importance from a marketing standpoint. It is going to be too hard to earn. Getting back to
This is where I think our attention needs to be. It is how we are going to remove some of the obstacles and mystery that we have right now in this industry.
Again, none of this is financial advice, due you own research.
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