View the original post on Musing.io
Steemit Inc created Steemit, the first website that allowed you to publish on the Steem blockchain and earn Steem rewards. They also developed the underlying Steem blockchain.
However it is not necessary to use Steemit to access the Steem blockchain. Anyone with sufficient technological know-how can publish directly to the Steem blockchain or set up a website or application to allow people to publish to the blockchain. There are now many applications (busy, musing, partiko, dtube etc) that perform this function.
Why does the Steemit team promote and support "rival" platforms to Steemit.com such as dtube or steemhunt?
I assume it is simply because they want their project Steem to be a success and additional platforms and development increases the utility of the Steem blockchain.
Steemit Inc still hold a large percentage of the Steem currency so making Steem a success could be financially beneficial to Steemit Inc. They could gain if the price of Steem increases. However I think that there was also an original agreement that the Steemit Inc stake would be released over time and used to promote the Steem blockchain development.
The alternative platforms often get support by delegation which allows them to attract more users and gain earnings through beneficiary shares or curation.
So it can be seen to be mutually beneficial for Steemit Inc to support other platforms, if the additional development increases the price of Steem and the success of the blockchain.