I've been wondering about this lately. I mean, I know there are quite a few Steemians that do, but why aren't we all doing it? Just be perfectly clear, I'm not talking about cheerleading for Steem screaming to the moon or anything ridiculous of the sort. I'm talking about cross pollination of content. Sharing links to Steemit Articles, to Dtube videos, etc on other platforms.

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Shilling harms

Hence why the word today has a negative tinge. Most users of the cryptosphere or even those who are just considering it, perceive it to be a common tactic of ponzi schemes, mlms and other dubious business models. Of course, this does not mean that because someone is shilling a particular coin, that coin itself is a scam. However, as they say - "Perception is truth" - So denying the harm outrageous shilling can do to a cryptocurrency is counter productive.

This is and was mainly my issue with the numerous youtube videos calling for Steem to take over bitcoin in five years or even worse, claiming that if you become a steemian you can make 1000X times more than you do on youtube. The common yet ridiculous practice of overpromising and under delivering has done wonders to make sure that people leave disappointed feeling scammed.

Soft Promotion: The Ninja's way

We can and probably promote the usage of the Steem blockchain by demonstrating how it works. If I'm creating content, as I am at the moment, writing articles of note, uploading videos to dtube, etc. I'm simply using the dapps built on Steem as intended. However, the underlying implication of sharing these videos, posts, or what have you, is that more people get to glance at the ecosystem and possibly pose the important question.

What is this whole steem thing about?

Out of those who do, there will be some that will decide to join, give it a try and hopefully our user base can grow organically. Without having to overpromise, shill or anything that destructive to the overall ecosystem. I for one believe that any message that comes even remotely close to the idea of "Come here, get rich" Should be perceived by the community as toxic, but that's my biases speaking.

So here is my proposition

I'm considering starting this with @helpie and maybe I will be the first one to put this foot forward. If you are a twitter user, or a Facebook user, and you are interested in soft promoting Steem. Creating quality content and sharing it to other platforms. You can start using the hashtag #softpromo and add the link to the social media website you've decided to share with. I will try my best to do some hand curation with @helpie.

In order to make this happen, I will probably set the tag on ginabot today, in an attempt to be more efficient. But, in truth, this could benefit all of us, regardless of how much Stake you hold. It's a long term move mind you, but one that most of us are failing to capitalize on and the little buttons are right there.