This week’s WAN Show (Weekly Analysis and News) over at Linus Tech Tips was hosted by Luke and James. One segment of the show was about the recent events regarding Facebook. At some point, James began describing his idea of a blockchain based social media platform and at some point they mentioned Steemit. Here is the transcript of that segment.
Luke - Someone said it’s called Steemit; wow I don’t like that platform but is that how that actually works? I know that platform is blockchain based but is it like what you ‘re describing? I don’t think so.
James - I have no idea but what I have heard is that all the current social, like blockchain based social media are junk.
Luke - yeah
James - I heard it on a podcast, I don’t actually know. I haven’t tried it myself.
On the video above I skip to the part where James begins talking about his idea.
Obviously not the most flattering words but I think that the problem is the way Steemit is presented to the outside world. Steemit is not a social media platform in the same way Facebook is. Followers are not friends or connections and you can’t interact with them on a personal level with messages or posts targeted to a specific portion of your audience. Yes, there are memos but this is not a messaging interface. Steemit is more of a blogging platform where users interact with one another based on the subject and the contents of a post rather than on a free discussion.
For that reason I don’t feel that Steemit is threatened by other blockchain based social media platforms. I would never present a photo with all the accompanying text on Facebook but I would do it on my Photoblog. Similarly, I would never share something personal on my blog but I would do it on Facebook (not Facebook per se but a similar platform). Different tools have different uses and all of them can work in conjunction to one another.