A month ago, I made a post about if Facebook could ever pull off paying people to post and I briefly mentioned how Facebook is quick and consistent in implementing other people's ideas such as live streaming and stories because they're constantly acquiring other companies.
After looking back at it, Steemit is growing quite significantly and Facebook will have no choice but to respond soon so I thought of realistic ways Facebook will respond to Steemit and whether it would be effective or not.
They'll Create Their Own Cryptocurrency
This seems to be the obvious possibility, however there are a few implications towards this implementation. Creating their own cryptocurrency could be a conflict of interest as they have partnered with quite a few banks such as Bank of America and it's known that banks are against decentralization/cryptocurrencies. Just as I'm writing this, Bank of America warns against optimism over bitcoin.
For Facebook to take this approach they would most likely make their coin centralized like ripple. Even if they make their own cryptocurrency, the question is how will they use it. Facebook's system is heavily established and has many other systems built on top of it so for a way to earn by getting likes/shares seems unlikely plus the amount of people actively on the network makes it even more difficult.
Therefore, I could see Facebook putting a donate/tip button on posts and having their digital coin or fiat as a payment option.
Adopt Another Cryptocurrency
Facebook have approved cryptocurrency tipping apps in the past but they faced limitations such as having to be part of a group.
Facebook could also adopt a popular coin like Litecoin/Ethereum or a social tipping coin like Reddcoin. If they are to implement the ultimate donate/tip button, payment methods from PayPal to Bitcoin would exist. This doesn't compete with Steemit's earning per upvote system but it does bring cryptocurrencies into the mix and allows for future possibilities with virtual currencies on the site.
Do Nothing
Facebook have over 1.94 billion monthly active users compared to Steemit with around 200K monthly active users. This does make Facebook the elephant in the room and it's quite interesting as people thought we're in the mass adoption period of Steemit. In fact, cryptocurrencies are nowhere near mass adoption.
In addition, there are a few reasons why people won't join Steemit and will stay on other social networks like Facebook. Most of our friends and family are on Facebook which can force someone to not branch off. Also many people are bombarded with MLMs in today's world so the thought that someone can earn money by people upvoting their posts can seem to good to be true. Fear of rejection does come into play as people have the thought of people not upvoting their posts/not making any money.
Let me know how you think Facebook will respond to the rise of Steemit!
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