Right now, I am hearing different voices spreading different opinions about the future of cryptocurrencies in general. Some think crypto is now doomed to a slow and painful death, it is last year’s craze etc. Others believe that it is due another boom and perhaps correctly point out that in the case of Bitcoin in particular; the overall picture when considering growth over the history of the currency since its creation is a very positive one, the crashes in 2018 merely represent a blip in the big scheme of things. Those bandwagon jumpers who went in at $20k probably won’t agree with such a viewpoint and I’m of the viewpoint that although crypto represents the future, it may not be what will be described as the relatively outdated of yesteryear that take centre stage. New cryptocurrencies will come and go; we still do not have the one that will be the crypto to rule them all.
However, when talking about STEEM or Steemit; there is much more than the cryptocurrency itself to consider and that is one reason why I feel far more positive about this particular blockchain than most others. In fact, in recent times I have felt more compelled to start writing more on Steemit again after a long absence, thanks to a few different factors that I shall list below.
1.) The crypto crash removed some of the bandwagon jumpers.
Sure, much of the conversation that takes place on Steemit is understandably dominated by crypto, but for many users, that can be a total bore. People still talk a lot about crypto but the crash acted like a filter of sorts, only those that truly believe in the concept will persist; the good-time friends of sorts will have given up completely. People appear to still have faith in the future of crypto, but the disappearance of those that thought it was a ‘get rich quick’ scheme that actually works is a great thing; such people were a total bore at times.
2.) Reduced plagiarism.
It still happens, I’m sure. However, it is not quite as commonplace as it used to be, even if there is a lot of room for improvement. I have ranted about the prevalant of users that mainly hail from third world nations that will copy articles from Western mainstream media sources or attempt to reproduce in absolutely terrible English, rather than investigating themselves and producing unique and different content that would actually add value to the platform.
The changes in terms and conditions on Steemit, is what I suspect drove such users away from the platform. It remains to be seen if there is anything such as a ‘copyright strike’ on this platform. Maybe they’re just leaving because crypto doesn’t pay what it used to. Right now, I’m lacking access to user statistics, but is this a case of quality now being prioritised over quantity? If this is the case, I welcome it.
3. Platform and community diversification.
Last year, I had trouble uploading mixes on DTube and sadly felt that frankly, if such a platform cannot be equally as reliable as the mainstream alternatives, no amount of honourable intentions will persuade the vast majority of users to switch away from the likes of YouTube, SoundCloud etc.
In fact, as I write this, I have just came across this article which suggests that I’m not the only one who has doubts. Apparently, he has doubts specifically about the D-Tube community. I’d say that there’s good and bad communities along with plenty of unnecessary drama within the wider Steem community, yet his views are quite interesting: https://busy.org/@kenanqhd/wszxcqvq - Despite this, I must admit, DTube is loading a hell of a lot faster than when I previously used it; perhaps things have improved an awful lot in recent times.
However, we can also now see other uses for the Steem blockchain appearing. D-Sound is something that I will test out soon once I have completed my move to a new apartment. This option has the added appeal of not being blocked in China and possibly being easier to use than some of the other options such as Mixcloud or Pyro Music. It remains to be seen if this is one that I can fully get behind, but I expect good things.
DMania also serves a purpose on Steem, by shifting the meme based, single image posts to one side. It may not offer the deep and stimulating reads that you may usually want to find, but it is proof that the Steemit can be a very multi-functional one that could cater to a wide variety of users.
Busy.org is my favourite of the STEEM based services; I prefer it to the official Steemit website and the Esteem app; thanks to its speed, additional features and reliability. It is great to see that some skilled users are working to add value to the platform by creating additional services despite the fact that there is relatively little to gain for them commercially.
Concluding remarks
Some may believe that the golden days have passed, but it must not be forgotten that the Steemit concept is a great one that could long continue to exist even if the future outlook for crypto isn’t entirely positive. Nowadays, I often tend to avoid seeing Steemit from entirely crypto point of view. The blogging services offer a better community than anything on Tumblr, less censorship than Facebook, removes the costs and hassle of hosting a standalone Wordpress based blog. Therefore, I will still have fun writing on here; especially about those subjects that are too spicy for the relatively mainstream outlets that I now also write for. Steem can become something that is truly great, but it is up to us to create the great content that adds that value for mainstream users.