I signed up for a Steemit in August 2016, a month after its launch. At the time, the term "blockchain" was yet to become the Next Best Thing it's increasingly considered today (compare 2016's top industry news with major developments in 2017 - which is also the year in which it became as weird as it did wonderful).
Since then, in the industry and for me as a blockchain journalist, Steemit has become a go-to reference for decentralised publishing. I've written about it, spoken about it on stage, and witnessed a growing number of friends exchange Facebook ramblings for Steemit posts. However, I didn't become a Steemit blogger; in an exploding industry that leaves its inhabitants very little time to sleep, it was something to report on, not engage with.
It wasn't until a recent sobering censorship experience that it dawned on me how important a platform Steemit is in:
a) Fostering adoption of decentralisation as an industry standard, irrespective of industry (not only are social platforms changing the world, they're shaping industries), and
b) Providing more honest insight into the state and evolution of blockchain and cryptocurrency.
The truth is always more interesting than fiction, and in journalism, what happens behind-the-scenes speak volumes that published articles cannot. Sit back as I relate why decentralised platforms like Steemit play an integral role in journalistic integrity.
In writing an article providing expert commentary on regulations in the blockchain industry - commissioned by a large international publication - the power of decentralisation was brought home. During the editorial process, I was asked to cut certain pieces of commentary that did not "align with the values of the brand".
Instead of compromising on the nature of the article - "commentary", after all - I opted to post (an act of social commentary in and of itself) the piece on the Steemit platform.
The courage in journalism is sticking up for the unpopular, not the popular.
- Geraldo Rivera
Steemit is a pioneering blockchain blogging platform which has not only been fostering early adoption of blockchain since 2016 but embodies the very values blockchain rests upon:
The power (in this case, say) of the many versus the steadily-being-outmoded power of the few.
Decentralisation, at this stage, is often little more than a buzzword, because most of us - in our everyday dealings with the world - are so accustomed to centralised power that the value a technology like blockchain offers is novel but not (necessarily) necessary.
It will take time for the general populace to internalise the (r)evolutionary shift in personal freedom that blockchain - and its eventual offspring - offers. After all, it took only 350 years - circa 1992 - for the Catholic Church to call off naming and shaming of Galileo's support of heliocentrism.
Until then, Steemit will be in the background, building up - well - steam.
Read the article that had the Powers That Be practise great power, but not great responsibility: