A quick update to the list of blockchain-based social media websites that are similar in idea to steemit.com, both ones that have launched already and ones that are work in progress and should be launching soon. The concept of crypto currencies and social media can be a great combination if you manage to connect them well enough together in a blockchain. The potential is there and that is why so many people are trying to exploit it, but that does not guarantee success or being able to attract users that have already found their place on steemit.com for example...
Paymeabit.com is a simple type of social media where users post various types of content and instead of getting Likes from other members like in Facebook they get tips. The tips are in bits or a small fraction of Bitcoin, so authors producing good quality content get paid for it in Bitcoin in the end. The interface is very simple and clean, probably with the intention to be smartphone friendly, but it may be considered way too sterile at the moment lacking basic functionality for users to easily discover content.
Paymeabit is being developed by new Italian startup and there are apparently a lot of users from Italy posting in Italian, though English language content is also available as well as probably other languages. The service has been launched recently and although it is operational it is still in Beta and not that much content is available so far, but the good thing is that you can register and try it out if you are interested in checking it out.
Reveal.me has a bit different concept from traditional Facebook-style social media as it requires you to use your smartphone to access it (currently only iOS is supported with Android app coming soon). Reveal is being described as the "Ask Me Anything" social network where you can meet new people by asking and answering questions, so it is like Q&A type of platform with a social media element and crypto token rewards to encourage users to interact. Since you can use it only through a smartphone the service naturally encourages its users to publish more photo and video content and not to write long text posts.
Reveal has been available for quite some time, but the fact that you need to use iOS-based device to access it (at least for the moment) with no other options pretty much leaves a lot of people unable to even give it a try and as a result is did not manage to get way too popular and or well known among users, though things may start changing when they also release an app for Android devices. The service relies on its own crypto token called Reveal Coin (RVL) currency as a means of rewarding the users for participating, however that coin is not been traded on any of the major crypto exchanges out there and that could be another problem for user adoption.
Akasha.world is an upcoming social media platform that is going to be powered by Ethereum (ETH) and interestingly enough Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum's creator, is an Advisor to the project. Akasha should be a blockchain-based social media platform like many others where good content contributed from users will be rewarded with Ethereum (ETH) thus encouraging users to be an active part of the community.
The AKASHA social media platform is expected to be available later this year. The alpha version is supposed to be gradually released for Linux, MacOS, and Windows on the Ethereum testnet over the course of Q2/Q3 2016. The beta version that should go live on the Ethereum main network is expected to be launched around Q3/Q4 2016. If you are interested you can subscribe on a mail list to be notified when the service is available and get an early access to the Alpha release.
Ethereal.cloud is another Ethereum-based social media network that was supposed to be launched already, however at this point not much is yet know about the project. It kind of appeared out of nowhere and suddenly there was some talk about it, but the authors apparently want to keep details in secrecy until they launch. The countdown on the project's website is now down to zero, so they failed to launch at the promised time citing some last minute issues they have experienced. Unfortunately there are no details on when they will manage to launch the service, so we'll have to wait and see what comes out and if it will be very different or similar to steemit.com. What we know for sure however is that it is another project that will operate on Ethereum (ETH).
Yours.network is yet another project that has been getting some attention lately and while it certainly does look interesting, there is still not much information about it is available for the moment. The system is apparently going to be using Bitcoin micropayments to reward authors and curators on the network and will most likely be something very similar in design and idea to steemit, but we'll have to wait and see when it actually launches something. If you are interested you can subscribe on a mail list to be notified when the service is available and get an early access to the Alpha release.
There could be other similar blockchain or crypto-powered social media websites out there that are not yet included in the list, so if something is missing feel free to add it in the comments below...