The Whale And The Minnow Are Equally Important To The Ocean
I think that the opportunity to earn is the main differentiator of this platform right now. Personally, the transparency and permanency of the Steem Blockchain is something that is more useful from a technological perspective to me, but I think that I'd be right in saying that the overwhelming majority of people joined this platform because of the ability to earn for your contribution to social media. Now, although that happens to a degree, due to the HIGHLY subjective nature of valuing someone's contribution to the system and the fact that it is your wealthy peers who decide who is part of the 'high earnings club', or even who will get a vote at all on their posts (some stingy whales out there, it seems, although I can't be the one to decide alone if that is good or bad - it takes a community), a lot of people don't get much. Now some is better than none of course, but you're not going to be able to sell them on joining this if they are getting so little for joining in the conversation.
Facebook has a lot of horrible things wrong with it, including the fact that you don't get paid for your contributions. That said, they are SOOOOO much better technically as a product; they run smoother, they have more features, etc. They are a more attractive user interface. Those building on this community with products like DLive, DTube, etc. are hugely helpful because they are bringing us more features and more reason for people to stay OUTSIDE of the potential to earn wealth. In order for Steemit to truly compete as a platform, it needs to be feature-rich and it needs to attract those users who couldn't care less about whether or not Facebook is using their data, they couldn't care less about censorship, etc. Steemit needs to attract the average person if it ever is to become the number one social media platform in the world. I think that it can DEFINITELY be the World's NUMBER ONE Social Media Platform, but we have a lot of road to walk to get there and we need to attract more and more users. Features, Decentralized Apps built atop the Steem Blockchain, SMTs and the repercussions associated, communities, etc. are all amazing for getting us to where we need to be. But, we also need to spread the wealth to a degree!
This is one of the most powerful mechanisms to spread wealth and happiness to the world that I have seen in an extremely long time and I cherish the fact that I'm part of it. Having the modest amount of Steem Power that I have makes me feel a sense of responsibility, since I know that that wealth gets spread at my discretion. I want to attract people to the platform. I want people to know that their engagement (true, meaningful engagement) is worth something. They enrich my posts with their interactions; they add to the value of my content by being part of the conversation. My vote means something and my say means something on this platform. It means something very real and I think that the people who join me in my experience on here deserve recognition! If that can be some provided wealth that is generated through the value of the entire system, then I love providing it!
It isn't like it isn't scalable. The only variable thing with scaling is that the more comments I get on a post, the smaller my upvotes will be worth, because I will work to choose a consistent percentage upvote to use on people so that I can keep the distribution generally even (with a small bonus for those who arrive first, as they are showing they are big fans of my work! I also may upvote those whose engagement is above and beyond and really brings some meaningful value to the discussion). Upvoting those who engage in discussion with you will transform this platform and will lead us to a future where Steemit IS the number one Social Media platform in the world. The more we truly integrate PEOPLE into the Steem Economy, the more strength that economy has. Think about the future every time you make a decision on what to upvote. Will your upvote create a chain reaction that will lead more and more to this platform and make Steem hit the mainstream? If so, it makes sense to do it, because it will make you more money in the long run as the Steem Economy Booms. Spend $5 in money created by the system today for your money to be worth 20X (or 50X) what it currently is worth one day. Bring people to Steemit. Enrich the community. Upvote meaningful contribution. :)
AS ALWAYS, WISHES OF WEALTH AND HEALTH FOR ALL! :)