Steem is a social network on the blockchain rewards over publication. The number of users is growing rapidly, and the impression that it is able to undermine all the foundations of social media.
Just to clarify: the blockchain Steem, STEEM cryptocurrency and the social network Steemit are two different things.
For the first time about the creation of the Steem and its network Protocol was declared on 24 March 2016 in the message published on bitcointalk.org. Within a few days after the launch of the platform community bitcointalk.org. had the opportunity to test its source code. This was followed by a restart of the platform, after which started mining cryptocurrencies STEEM. According to information from the website of the project, more than two dozen members joined the process of mining new virtual currency within a few hours after the start of the run.
Since more than 80% of the available amount of cryptocurrency is produced Steemit Inc in the first week, at the moment, only less than 20% currency STEEM remains liquid. Use the complex mechanism of transfer of rights to mining. On average a new block is generated every 2 seconds. After creating each of the 21-th block is the rotation 21 of the active miner. 19 out of 21 of the miners with the highest rating are selected from among the users from around the world by a vote of the holders of the amount of cryptocoins STEEM. One miner of the remaining two is selected by the mechanism, proof-of-work, and the remaining space is used by all the other miners network in the mode split time.
In may 2016 was launched with beta version steemit.com and currently, the project moves to the final two stages, namely the launch steemit.com later this month, and a public launch of the platform in July, which will be accompanied by active promotion of services platform, bonuses for registering and launching the referral program. In addition, on 4 July 2016, about 5 million units of cryptocurrency STEEM will be distributed among the authors of the best content on steemit.com.
Old and new power
Steem is an abbreviation of the word "esteem" means "to commend" or "to honor". In the 14-16 centuries, this word meant "value". The word steem is also a homophone of another English word – steam (energy, steam) is often associated with power. It seems that the cryptocurrency is difficult to think of a name better than that which would be associated with value and power.
The idea Steem, in fact, consists of combining blockchain technology and social media concept. The use of the blockchain allows for microtransactions within the system steemit.com taking the form of a vote or any remuneration. Thus steemit.com focuses primarily on: 1) quality of content (platform motivates the user to upload something worthy of attention to get more votes or get more rewards), 2) the system of supervision (do the voting get rewarded for what you contribute to maintaining a high level published on the website of the content), and 3) building community.
In this sense, the concept of Steem can be a long-awaited alternative to such platforms as Facebook, which are increasingly criticized for "business archetype, which relies on activity as the basis of profits" — definition, owned by David Hesmondhalgh.
In 2010 Hesmondhalgh noted the following:
"Digitalisation has led to a proliferation of new forms of Amateur and semi-professional production. Such phenomena as Wikipedia and open source software are undoubtedly great examples of cultural activity that attempt to develop, building on the fun and benefits of cooperation and not on competition. Undoubtedly, the cultural industry in the digital age, like many other industries, is increasingly seeking to rely on the participation of users.
He refers to two key characteristics of such leaders in the world of Web 2.0 like Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia, which in 2008 investigated Nicole Cohen, namely: content created by the users themselves (that is, the transformation of the user/consumer products); and focus on building a network of contacts, the connectivity and direct interaction of users with each other.
Cohen also draws attention (especially in relation to Facebook) to track user activity, which, in her opinion, plays a key role in this "new" electronic capitalism.
In the same vein, the famous theorist of peer-to-peer interaction Michael Bowens talked about Facebook and bitcoin in 2013 when he expressed his opinion about the four possible scenarios of the development of the sharing economy.
In his closing speech at the festival OuiShare Bowens said that although the onset of peer-to-peer future is inevitable, it can be built four different ways. He referred to Facebook as an example, the centralized control of peer-to-peer system, focused on profit, whereas bitcoin is, in his opinion, is an example of distributed capitalism – that is, the distributed control of the dynamics of peer-to-peer processes all with the same goal of profit.
"I'm a fan of bitcoin" — admitted Bowens "because it is the first globally scalable digital and sovereign in the social sense, post-Westphalian currency", as well as an example of how "the first time we, as humanity, were able to prove that they are able to create an all-embracing currency outside the market and outside the state. Bowens, however, mentioned the "oligarchy", which, in his opinion, contributes to the design of the system of bitcoins, and have made such a conclusion: "Thank you bitcoin for it, because now we can create something that will be even better."
If we use the concept of Bouenza and try to understand where it is Steem, at first it may seem that this platform is an example of a decentralized peer-to-peer system focused on profit, by analogy with bitcoin. However, the key question here is who will get that profit. In the case of Steem, the answer is not so simple to benefit should the community Steem and in this sense, the goal of the platform is the return of "power" users-content creators. But at the same time, as soon as it comes in cryptocurrency STEEM, it appears that the profit to all who in any way is connected with it, such as miners. As indicated in the white paper Steem, the most important architectural principle of the platform is that "any person who contributes to the project should receive proportional ownership rights, the payment or promissory note from the company. The second principle is that all forms of capital are of equal value. The third principle is that the community produces products that can benefit its members.
Schimenti, the fry and the whale
In a sense, if we remove from the platform architecture of the blockchain and cryptocurrency, Steem will be quite similar to an online community and a company open collaborative production hitRECord, the founder and head of which is Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
A significant difference between platforms steemit.com and hitRECord is the recent emphasis on collaboration. Since Steem is the community itself and its construction, each steminar is still a producer of its own content, whose quality is progressively validated by the community. If you re-use the terminology Hesmondhalgh, Steem at the same time is characterized by both cooperation and competition (unlike Wikipedia, for example). Users steemit.com essentially, are divided into two groups — the "whales" and "fry" – that is, major and minor stakeholders, which differ by how many votes they have and therefore what role they play in determining the popularity of your published posts and reward them. The vote on the platform steemit.com (where possible as a vote "for" raising post to the list or vote for, a step-down level of the post) until now has been one of the most tricky aspects of internal life of the platform. Perhaps that is why users started to experiment with different scenarios, with analysis and above, aimed at generating greater profits from its publications.
What is certain, however, is the fact that the platform Steem became a sensation in just two months after emergence, and therefore the question of how someone like her philosophy or not is not so important. More important to understand it and the success it has reached today.