For once, I got to talking about Blockchain technology with a client and some of the potential it has for their industry - manufacturing and of course, supply chain management. This client is more than tech savvy and even has some crypto holdings because you know - just in case.
The only conclusion is that it is going to be a huge industry and as he predicts and I fully agree, there is going to be a massive skills gap to begin with where there will be so few people with the technical pedigree to fill the many voids. When I say technical, I believe that this will go beyond technological competencies and enter into the mindset and social knowledge of the industries. What is going to be interesting is unlike when the internet started and every man and his dog claimed to be an expert, the Blockchains hold the evidence of actual interaction.
Will your Steem account become your industry specific resume?
With the DLive news teaming up with this PewdiePie guy, the conversation has brought up the term influencer more than once and he for whatever reason is regarded as a social influencer but I wonder, is it actually him? what I mean is that he has a team of people surrounding him these days and without the early support of YouTube itself, he would have been unlikely to have got traction so, who really holds the key to influence - is it the contributor or the supporters of the contributor?
Both, but the question becomes somewhat of a chicken or the egg scenario as the contributor needs to be able to garner support of people who have the capabilities to offer support in return. It is a social arrangement and if the contributor doesn't have the social skills from the beginning or can't develop them quickly enough, they are unlikely to get the support of the stake behind them, the stake for PewdiePie was early Youtube algorithms and direct support. Remember that of the algorithms can be used to shadowban, they can be used to elevate.
What is going to be interesting in the next installment of the continuing Blockchain revolution is going to be the role of influencer, because there will be the social face and the behind the scenes maker of giants. When I think of influencers on Steem I extend past the content delivered and into the support granted that has enabled a user such as myself to go from zero stake to significant stake through the delivery of my content.
Of course, their support hasn't just been through votes, my knowledge of Steem and various crypto points has come through many, many, many conversations that never made it onto the Blockchain. I have powered up into Steem and bought into Steem more because of conversations off chain than on. I owe many people a drink and in ten years from now, I might owe some people a new car.
These people are influencers, not just of opinion but of behavior and action and just like YouTube, they are getting something out of the relationship too. These people have not just influenced and helped me, they have influenced and helped everyone else that I have transmitted information to across time also. I wonder how much distributed Steem Power could be attributed to the likes of 
A few people owe Asher a drink as well and if you missed his post the other day on engagement and delegation, it is worth a read. 
People forget that this is not only a distributed network on governance, social influence is also distributed across the ecosystem in various forms, whether it be the words of a post, the development of understanding or the stake added to the final payout - interactions become points of influence that can change behavior. some might change it for the better and some for the worse, but I do think that overall, we are moving toward improvement.
As I see the future on Steem, influencers are going to be empowered by staked backers and that stake is going to go up in value because of the front facing influencer in what is a symbiotic relationship. The difference between what happens on YouTube is negligible except - anyone can be an influencer and the value is distributed to all participants rather than funneled to a central authority. It has never been a secret on Steem that your stake is your voice but, indirect stake empowers voices too. what this means is that my voice has been raised because of a social agreement between staked users that came through my content and interaction on the Blockchain itself. No deal has ever been made on or off-chain.
This is the thing with influence in the world, it is all a social agreement based on the transactions of communication between parties. Some people are better at this than others, some people present themselves superbly, are socially gifted, intelligent, knowledgeable, skilled or any number of other largely learnable traits and therefore hold influence, whether they like it or not. Those who are unable to get support because they do not possess the qualities that get support, can't influence the system unless they are able to build stake in some way and be able to support the voice of someone they choose - someone that has influenced them into offering that stake as support.
The other day after Asher posted the one I linked above, I had a quick look over some of the accounts I have delegated to and supported over the last two years to see what effect it has had. While I am not a data diver like Ash, I predict that I have likely at least equaled the amount of stake that I myself own as several of those accounts have posted, engaged, commented, bought and powered up fair chunks of Steem and, there is overlap with
While this might not seem like a large amount for some whales, across 20 or 30 accounts, it is massive and they in turn are often the kinds of people who are supporting others too. What is my distributed Stake holding? Definitely not near
While the steem eco-system has its problems, to say it isn't working just isn't correct because it is working when people are engaging well, commenting well and of course - powering up and supporting others too. There are many people adding value to the Steem ecosystem now and with the low prices, there are even more accounts developing that understand the importance of social distribution and influence. However, this will never meaneveryone gets supported and this is especially true for those who are unable to find ways to get their voice heard.
Yes, this is a POS system but for those without stake, it is a POSA platform too.
Proof of Social Ability.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]