About a week ago, wrote a fantastic blog about blogging - Meta. There was of course a lot more in it than that and he added a passage about tipping content producers and I thought I would add a few of my own thoughts to it a bit, without knowing if I am adding anything at all.
He mentioned a one penny vote, so lets go with that and for that, we need 600 Steem, which is around about 180 dollars worth at current prices. With all things remaining equal, that means that 600 Steem can deliver 10 cents a day in votes using the 10x100% rule. Not much is it?
Well, that is 36.50 a year. Still not much is it? But that is 36.5% generated from the initial investment and would have a payoff return 180/36.5 in 4.93 years - lets call it 5 years. wow! That is a long time!!!
But, this is forever. That first 180 dollars invested will be as good at drawing out of the Steem pool now as it will be then and in 10 years from now. But, once this idea actually catches on, the demand grows because, why the hell would someone be tipping money when they can tip with something that doesn't disappear?
Do you know how many people can hold 600 Steem simultaneously?
533,333
There is about 320 Million Steem currently available all up, that means that if distributed equally - 533,333 accounts can have 600 Steem each - but:
There are 198,000,000 already powered up, my 50,000-odd included and - you can't have mine.
That means there is actually only about 120,000,000 Steem currently up for grabs which means, only 200,000 accounts could buy 600 Steem each today. That really isn't many and while some people think that why would you do that for 36.50 (all things remaining equal) today, people have that 180 dollars in a bank earning less interest than the inflation rate - it costs to have savings... interesting in itself.
But again, that is all things remaining equal and if 200,000 accounts did buy the Steem on the markets, the price would absolutely skyrocket as demand, scarcity and FOMO get to work. That means that the 1 penny vote moves with the price too.
1 penny of SP value at 30 cents, means 10 cents at $3.00.
This now means that instead of 10 cents a day, it is 1 dollar a day or, 365 dollars generated a year. If price suddenly went to that, the payback period would be shortened from 5 years to 6 months. But remember that 50/50 curation thingy, That means that just by tipping authors, the complete payback is 1 year, plus 130 dollars has been generated for authors.
At 3 dollars, 1000 voting accounts would generate a dollar a day or 365,000 dollars in value a year. With 50/50 curation, 130,000 would go to creators, 130,000 back to curators. Not bad if those 1000 accounts happened to buy 180 dollars worth of Steem today. 180,000 would generate 365,000 a year worth. Every year, all things remaining equal at 3 dollars.
An author posting 5xweek and getting 1 vote from those 1000 accounts would make, 250x100= 12,500 a year and, those accounts could do that for 14 accounts of creators and take the same amount back themselves. But, if there were those 200,000 accounts with 600 Steem power - that would be 200x14=2800 accounts getting supported and earning the equivalent of 50 dollars a day.
But of course, 600 Steem is not enough to make a difference...
Oh - you might have figured something out at this point. This is on the 120 million liquid Steem that is currently out there which means, this would be essentially tripled if all 320 million were voting similarly at 3 dollar Steem, meaning about 8000 accounts earning 50 dollars a day - 400,000 dollars a day- plus the voters taking 400,000 dollars a day also.
But of course, they aren't going to earn like that.
There will be some accounts that post and get 10 cents, some get 1000 dollars and some that get zero - but with higher priced steem, the value earned will be significantly more and can support much more widely and deeply. This is highly attractive for good content creators and, it is highly attractive for consumers as they are able to buy and still earn and not have to keep buying over and over to keep tipping their favorites.
But, Steem is getting both popular and scarce when price goes up, pushing price up further. This means that at 6 dollars, all of this doubles again, and doubles again at 12. This doesn't necessarily mean that an author will go from earning 12,500 a year from 1000 accounts to earning 50, as consumers will start to spread their votes differently too and of course, will see that some deserve more support than others.
And remember, this is just on Steem. Start to factor in the other token pools out there and author earnings as well as various consumer earnings go up also, to create a very complex but robust economy of creators of all kinds coupled with consumers of all kinds doing deals directly with each other in the marketplace through content and voting. I find it incredible that so many people are selling at these prices, I find it incredible that so many sell at all when later, they will not only be able to have curation revenue streams, they will be able to reward the content they like and keep it coming.
Owning Steem is a lifelong subscription. It is tiring hearing people complain about their post earnings when they also don't have the will to power up and reward other creators.
"You have to pay me for what I create, even though I don't give enough of a damn about what you create to pay you."
When you go into a restaurant, you expect to pay for what you eat. When you go into a shop, you expect to pay for what you take out of it.
Oh, you are one of those who does a runner and shoplifts?
On Steem, you don't have to even buy the value needed, you can earn it and right now is a good time to earn - it is always a good time to earn. However, in order to earn you have to be able to attract those who already have Steem and, that means delivering what the consumer wants.
If you own a store that stocks products that no one wants to buy - you are likely not going to last long. However, if living in a city full of stores that provide all kinds of things to a large community with a large range of preferences and the means and will to spend because they have an endless subscription to do so, all kinds of niches can be supported.
I can guarantee that the local McDonald's restaurant makes more money selling crap than the most expensive restaurant in the city but, they can both coexist and, they can both thrive. Do you tip at McDonald's if they give you good service - and they normally do because it is corporate policy? Those kids don't deserve it while they earn minimum wage?
Tipping culture is a funny business in the world but online and especially on Steem, it could be an absolute goldmine for creator, consumer and investor once people realize that rather than having all the middlemen to process and extract, we can build an economy of direct sales and not have to continually finance it by using more money - No more demand for centralized currencies.
As I have said before about Steem as a subscription model, Steem Power is yours, it is access to all parts of the community and it is also the way you as a user can add value to the other users you enjoy. It doesn't matter if Steem is 1 cent or 100 dollars, when someone provides value to you whether through the content they produce or the vote they place - it is something special - be grateful for it.
If you like the feel of the tip,
why not go a little deeper so others can feel it too?
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]