"This isn't about content" thought I while navigating Steemit for the first time, after reading the confusing white paper, after discovering dTube and other projects. It was 11PM. I was the last person at the office. I was tired. I was hyper-caffeinated. That thought was the closest thing I had in a while to an aha! moment. So I signed up.
Steemit strongly encourages you to write an "introduceyoursef" post once you sign up. I like the idea but I also don't see why you'd be interested in reading about some eastern european kid interning at a consulting firm. I decided instead to share why I signed up.
Ever heard of the chicken and egg problem? Every network, platform, protocol or community has it in its earliest days.
On network-driven platforms (like Steem) the value of the platform to each individual user is small when a small number of people are signed up. To unlock your full potential you need scale.
So how do you deliver value to your earliest users?
LinkedIn did it by positioning itself as a CV-building tool. Facebook did it by focusing on Harvard. Bitcoin was the best method for settling drug deals before anyone heard about it.
Saying Steem is about content is like saying - in 2010 - that bitcoin was about settling drug deals.
My hunch is that focusing on content creation and curation is Steem's way of solving the chicken and egg problem. But Steem is about a whole lot more.
Steem fundamentally guarantees trust and quality on a network in a decentralized way.
What makes you trust a high-rated seller on Ebay? They have more to lose than to gain from scamming you. They have a reputation to lose. They have skin in the game.
Steem Power is Steem's answer to traditional ratings and KYCs. That's how I think of it anyway and I think it's brilliant. You don't need to prove who you are for me to trust you. You need to prove you're invested in the success of the network; that you have skin in the game.
In a decentralized world Steem is the Ebay, the Uber, the Airbnb and yes, the Medium, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and all content driven models also.
But Steem is not about content. It's about trust.
It's about a whole lot more.
Signing up was a no-brainer.
What's Steem to you?
