I was on a social media hiatus for a few months. I deleted my Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snap-chat... all that business.
Why?
I became annoyed by the amount of stupidity that is constantly shoved in my face through those sights. If you do something dumb, you get attention, you get followers. Ladeefrickenda… A lot of the information being shared is useless and/or makes you feel devolved for indulging in (not all of it, obviously, but a lot of it) A lot of the posts are just rants about how much something sucks (kind of like what I'm doing right now. Oops!). Plus, the corporations behind these social media platforms are raking in HUGE amounts of cash, while us (the content creators) are sitting on the sidelines… getting ads shoved in our face. Pretty shitty gig, all things considered.
Then, I heard about Steemit.
I was skeptical at first. “You can’t make money through social media, are you kidding me?”. I was still curious however, so I watched some videos and read some articles (Thanks @andrarchy). It all started to make sense… Why shouldn’t we receive compensation for producing quality content? I became more interested and decided to give it a shot. I’ve never really “blogged” before this, but since there was a monetary incentive hanging over my head, a flow of creativity burst from my fingertips. It’s strange... I’ve dug so deep, searching for the things that I think are important to share (Something that I never would have done on "traditional" social media sites. "what's the point, everybody would rather look at a picture of Kim Kardashian's ass"). I’ve learned that I actually have important things to share. I’ve learned that I thoroughly enjoy writing!
Anyways, my first few posts did pretty well. I made some money… which was my original intent, but I learned something more valuable. Sharing valuable knowledge is what social media should be about. Steemit is a breathe of fresh air for me. Ideas are shared on a deeper level because people have an incentive to not be a prick (let’s face it, the internet, as we know it, has its fair share of pricks). This cultivates critical thought and meaningful conversation that I have never seen on more "traditional" social media sites.
People share knowledge and explain things to each other. We all helped a homeless man get on his feet (Thanks @brookdemar), we are crowdfunding meaningful projects, people are sharing beautiful stories. There seems to be big names moving into this platform every day. It truly is a thriving online community.
I don’t want to work in the service industry for the rest of my life. I want to share knowledge, learn, and help the world progress in a meaningful direction. I see this platform as a stepping stone towards that goal. I’m grateful for that. Through the implementation of blockchain technologies we can create a world where the word “work” is redefined. Instead of annoying, meaningless, physical labor. We can “work” by curating knowledge and sharing ideas to create improvements in different sectors of life. I think in the coming years the concept of “work” will drastically change. We will begin to shift towards cultivating the power and creativity that is within us all. This cultivation and application could very well be the future of work!
This is all very exciting and I am glad to be a part of it!
Cheers!