The idea is to have a better promotion system.
But also, two beneficial side effects could be -
- Reduce the need for vote buying.
- Somewhat increase Steem's value.
People want to promote their posts, but currently there's no direct solution to this other than powering up Steem (very expensive). Instead, vote buying and SP delegation services have taken hold. Those services are nothing but hacks and Band-Aids, with many pitfalls, but they have clearly signalled the demand for a better promotion system.
So, I here are two old ideas, it's time for a reminder -
ONE) The promotion value boosts posts up the Trending pages. Currently, the promoted posts are stuck in the 'promoted', an isolated section few visit. Most people spend their time in their preferred tags (and in future, Communities), where the default sort order is Trending sitewide. The promotion value should have the same effect as vote buying - i.e. boost the post up the trending pages. Authors will not actually earn any more, but they'll get the exposure they want.
Note that this would be a frontend feature, just like the current Promoted and the upcoming Hivemind. The algorithm for how the promotion amounts affects its spot on Trending will need to be determined, to balance between promotion and stakeholders' voting.
TWO) Promote with Steem. Pretty simple, option to burn Steem in addition to SBD. The promotion feature was first developed when Steem network had a critical amount of SBD debt. It was seen as a solution to remove some of that crippling debt burden by burning SBDs - in return for promotion. So, this system would offer an option for promoting with Steem. When SBD is under $1, authors will be incentivised to promote with SBD. When SBD is over $1, people will promote with Steem. Any Steem or SBD burned reduces supply and increases price.
The Steem network assumes 1 SBD = 1 USD, so it would be greatly beneficial to promote with Steem at a time when SBD is over the moon. E.g. a $10 promotion will cost SBD 10 ($100 today), while the same $10 promotion would cost only 5.7 Steem (worth $10 today).
The major drawback for a more effective promotion system previously were fears that it'd reduce demand for Steem Power. Well, with vote buying and SP delegations, that discussion is no longer relevant. Burning Steem is the next best option currently. Who knows, this can start a bidding war where tons of Steem is burned!