Congratulations. You are in on a major secret. Globally, there are few in on it yet everyone on here has the opportunity involved.
Do you understand what is taking place? I mean do you truly know.
Steem is a content management system that creates coins and distributes them based upon upvotes. Essentially, Steem is a blockchain that monetizes content.
The goal of Steem is to tokenize the Internet. How is this possible?
Steem has a monetization system that has evolved over the past 2.5 years. The one thing it lacks is content. On the other hand, the Internet has plenty of content yet no monetization system, short of the advertising model.
In short, it is the ideal marriage.
So why is it such a secret? The answer lies in the fact that most who look at this do no understand what is taking place. Looking at it from the outside, it is easy to miss.
To start, Steemit.com is the landing page for most. This is a site that has not been updated much in the last two years. It is rather static meaning that an update is long overdue. The development team opted to focus upon the blockchain as opposed to maintaining the website. I am okay by this because, in the long run, I feel this will have a larger impact on the ecosystem.
Steemit.com is not pumping STEEM. The same holds true for the development team. They are not actively promoting Steem nor our there making the rounds. Thus, many are left trying to figure things out on their own. The message coming out about Steem is not coordinated and concise.
Communication was lacking for most of the past few years. Of late, it got a bit better yet many who are active on here still have difficulty following what they are doing. In all actuality, it is my experience in crypto that most projects lack quality communication from the development teams. Nevertheless, without the information readily available, it makes it almost impossible for an outsider to figure out.
Another thing that Steemit.com throws out there is the Trending Page. We know this is little more than content placed by bid bots. Certainly it does not put the best foot forward although outsiders might not know what is taking place. That is negated if one does a bit of research and finds the articles about bid bots. Putting one and one together quickly shows the content is paid.
STEEM is not easy to acquire for investors. The exchanges that it is on are minimal. There is no fiat-to-STEEM exchange which means one has to go through another currency. This might not be a problem if there were more than a handful of places to get STEEM.
We also have the SBD problem. Even some people who are here a while do not understand the reason for SBD or what they are for. It is something that is not clear. Outsiders have to be thoroughly confused. Which token represents Steem and why the need for two? Throw in the idea of Steem Power and we get a mass of confusion.
Steem is a specialized blockchain. Ethereum and EOS gets a lot more attention because they are general purpose chains that have the ability to handle wider scopes. They can be the world's computer, Steem will not be.
Finally, the fact that it takes two weeks to get approved means that those with money who sign up to get acquainted with the ecosystem will be turned off.
With a list like this, how can I be optimistic about STEEM?
Quite frankly, I feel STEEM is one of the better opportunities in crypto. As stated, Steem has the ability to monetize content. The Internet, fortunately, has a ton content.
Thus far, Steem lacked the ability to reach out to the masses. However, that is changing with applications such as 
Smart Media Tokens offer something to the Internet that is not available presently. Monetization of content while giving the ability to build one's brand is something novel. Again, Steem is a specialized blockchain. This is what Steem does.
How many billions of websites out there have content? Each one has the ability to create a mini-Steem. All the features of Steem will apply to the individual entities that use the SMT protocol to create coins. This is a very powerful model that Steem is bringing to the Internet.
The Hivemind offers vertical integration of groups into applications. Unlike Facebook, YouTube, and Reddit, Steem is not a siloed system. This will simultaneously give sites joining the ecosystem access a larger group of users while offering their user base more options. Joining the Steem ecosystem means ones username and key works with all applications.
We already have a number of developers who understand this and are creating applications on top of this blockchain. When the SMT protocol is released, the applications on here will have the ability to draw a large number of users. The cross pollination of all we see being developed will stand as a basis for larger groups to join. It is a very simple way for sites to tap into this ecosystem.
Make no mistake, there is a lot of garbage out there. Even Buterin stated that he believes 90% of the coins created using ERC20 will end up bust. It is easy for outsiders to believe STEEM is in that category. However, if they look deeper, they will see there is a lot of activity taking place on this blockchain, development that is moving forward, and a core community that is committing to moving everything forward.
In short, STEEM is a big secret that everyone here can be in on.
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