Advance learning of what Smart Media Tokens are, and how / why they are being added is very important.
As per the recent steemitblog article here ...
...now any experienced steemian knows, sometimes the comments can be just as important as the blog post itself.
STUDY THE COMMENTS BY 
on this blog post:
https://steemit.com/ned/@steemitblog/ned-scott-and-theoretical-of-steemit-explore-oracles-on-steem
andarchy answers quite few comments and concerns by people who have things to say about Smart Media Tokens (SMT). You will find that SMT's aren't a perfect solution to everything, but they are a good start to advancing things to the next level.
The biggest concern is "oracles" and "whitelist" in order to earn tokens. Right away it makes you feel that it is going to contribute to tribalism and segregation of communities.
In some ways, that will occur. Apparently by design. As your thoughts start to come to your mind, take the time to read the comments on that blog post. I found by reading the entire comment thread, many of my initial concerns were answered by that discussion.
Moreover, the STEEM token is completely separate from SMT's and will remain that way. Naturally you can exchange STEEM for a Smart Media Token and vice-versa through the internal markets when they go live.. But the basic principles of STEEM and SBD will continue to operate as they do now.
I as relieved to discover that... :)
However, the oracles, and whitelists are still a concern until we see how they are implemented and what type of initial growing pains we'll uncover with them.
At the very minimum it means steemit is changing, and hopefully for the better. ....and I feel pretty good so far about this SMT introduction. We'll have to wait and see.
Some may say, we can't get much worse than we are now. Which is a little cynical.
I, instead, look at this as the glass is half-full... and we're just topping it up a bit more. :)
On another note:
If you haven't voted before, you have 30 votes for witnesses, which are free to use..
Read this post below to find out how to vote for intelliwitness -- you do not need to be a huge steem power holder. Even little votes help a lot.
You will need access to your ACTIVE KEY to actually vote though, so have that ready.
Thanks to everyone who has already voted for 
Currently we're effectively at #100 spot. Still need your help to get intelliwitness to top 50 position. :)
Just like some other witnesses, extra funding will help me pay it forward by using some of those funds to help Steem and the community.