I had a very strange situation the other night as I was writing my post for the morning. It was the one about @steempress which discussed the two-way integration into Wordpress sites. This is truly a remarkable breakthrough in the evolution of the blockchain and the potential reach.
It was interesting because I went to an old blog that I use to frequent multiple times a day before coming to Steem. While I still pass through there, it is not the same. Essentially, I know too much now to operate in Web 2.0.
I did a bit of checking and found out it was a Wordpress site. Of course, this peaked my interest since I was just writing about @steempress. Since the integration would be easy, I thought it a home run.
In one of the posts, it so happened people were commenting about trolls and what to do about them. Some were proposing having a fee charged, say $10 a month. This would certainly cull the user base and rid the spammers and trolls. While this is one solution, it is not the best.
Seeing this, I had to chime in. I stated the opposite was true. What needs to take place is the authors and those posting comments need to be paid for what they produce. This will cut down on the trolling since people behave differently when money is on the line. It is something that we recognized on here very quickly. Plus, since downvotes have a monetary value, the result is the
disappearance" of the trolls posts.
Source
I further explained how Web 3.0 is coming. Sadly, while a couple were interested, I know it went right over their heads. This is simply the stage we are at. The masses honestly have no idea what this is all about or the fact a completely new paradigm is being erected.
This is why applications like @steempress are so exciting. I saw a video yesterday by someone who pointed out that this will do a lot of marketing for Steem. Anyone who installs the plug-in will be promoting Steem since the comment section will be based upon Steem. Also, when people see the dollar signs next to comments, it will get their attention. It is at that point that people will start to wonder what is taking place.
That is why I shut out people who are continually griping about things that are taking place. People act as if Steem is well known. Hell, few even realize there is a new internet being created let alone one particular blockchain. The one millions accounts, most of which are not here is a drop in the bucket. This one site I was on has over 20K visitors each day. That is roughly 40% of all transacting accounts on Steem. And this is not the biggest of blogs by any stretch of the imagination.
That is the potential that exists out there.
In my experience there is no turning back once fully immersed here. I am sorry but the idea of spending a lot of time commenting and upvoting for free makes no sense to me anymore. I know I can spend my time on Dlike commenting and earn 25 coins per comment. I understand what my upvote is worth and the curation I pull in each day. Would anyone turn in their smartphone for a flip phone of 10 years ago? Well, that is how I feel about returning to the world of Web 2.0.
I doubt I am alone in this.
Over the past year, I tried to convey how big this shift is that we are facing. If you use comparative analysis, you see what I mean. Take electricity as an example. Do you think the people who experienced that were willing to return to gas lanterns and candles? I do not believe too many accountants or bookkeepers preferred to use the columned tablet paper after trying Excel. The same is true for the architects after discovering CAD. Suddenly, hand drawing made no sense.
List the pros and cons of each and it is easy to see which one people will choose.
Steem also provides a couple benefits that is going to separate it from a lot of what is out there.
Cryptocurrency is something people do not understand. Most of the ones they are aware of, BTC and ETH, for the most part, are currency that require buying in. The crypto-crowd is all for this, the average person is not involved at all. It is beyond them.
The Steem blockchain is a little different.
To start, people can join here and earn tokens. They do not need to understand cryptocurrency, per se, other than realizing it is a reward for doing certain activities. While grasping the SMTs that are tied to some of the applications might require some explaining, it still does not change the concept. One gets rewarded for taking certain actions.
The second piece of this, and a enormous evolutionary step, is that we are getting closer to the point where people do not need to change what they are doing AND, most importantly, where they are doing it.
@steempress is a prime example of this. People go to the same URL as they always did. The same people are there, commenting on articles written by the same authors. The difference is the plug-in adds the ability to monetize the site and provide the users with the same.
I wrote last night about @actifit. That development team is working on integration into Fitbit. Here again, we see people do not need to alter anything about what they are doing. They can use the same fitness monitoring devices. The only difference is downloading a different application that pays them.
One final one that I know about is @tokenbb which is being designed now. This is a forum that is also tied to Wordpress sites. Just like @steempress, anyone can plug this into their site and have it monetized. Users, once again, keep going to the same place they did before, no change on that end.
The major difference is that, for two years, we were trying to pull the masses to Steem. Since they have no clue what is taking place, that had minimal results. Now, the approach is shifting. Instead of trying to lure people to Steem, we are taking Steem to where the people are. These three applications are working on putting themselves in front of millions of people who will have an interest in getting paid for what they are already doing.
If you doubt any of this, simply go to the comment section of any of your favorite blogs and start discussing Web 3.0. I am sure you will realize the masses honestly have no clue what is taking place.
And this is why it is so exciting. When they do clue in, all of us are going to be positioned very well.
Hang on, things are starting to get real interesting.
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