Steemit has been experiencing a radical change in the rewards structure and undoubtedly the top earners are feeling it more than us minnows, but maybe that's the idea. As a new user I was poking around and came across the steemitblog's post about the 2017 growth plan related to the development of a mobile app (I already use 
I wouldn't say the company isn't benevolently altruistic. I really don't know that much about the history of Steem and Steemit and all they have done for so many people. I DO know that the majority of the community of self-censoring whale chasers that comprise Steemit today isn't the target audience Steemit has set it's sights on. They need the poor people. I am poor. I fit that description. However, I'm a poor American! Corporate Steemit wants the Western users to resoundingly know...
(but no one's listening)
From the 2017 Growth Plan
Non-West countries are optimal for growth
- The West, especially the USA, is the most competitive attention economy on the planet.
- Most of the world's attention economy is far less competitive, meaning they have more time and attention to spare to try new apps.
- The less wealthy you are, the greater the relative reward and significance of a Steem reward.
- Many nations with under-tapped attention economies have so much less wealth that even small Steem rewards will have a dramatic impact on their lives.
- Steemians who are significantly impacted by these rewards are far more likely to spread Steemit via word of mouth, which is the ideal referral process.
- Therefore Steemians in poorer countries derive more value, refer more users, and are likely to contribute to the network for less costs than those who are from comparatively wealthier countries.
(Emphasis added)
Somehow, nobody could look at the other side of the "we just want to empower these most desperate people" coin that looks something like "you want too much for your efforts, let's focus on the 3rd world impoverished communities". I am not bashing the sentiment of helping ease the economic disparity worldwide (like I said, I'm poor, dude...), I'm really against the fact that this verbiage wouldn't have been tolerated in another context because it's fairly plain in stating that the need is to lower labor costs. We are the laborers of the Steemit economy, yet all of the jobs will be outsourced to those communities where expectations are effectively nil.
So, where will it lead? To enact the borderless globally viable economic model that Steemit wishes to create means that we will all have to hope for WAAAAAY less success than those early adopters who seemingly have made quite a hefty sum for their forward thinking. Seems like we're late to the Steemit goldrush, but don't worry... I think there's room on the plantation if you don't have anywhere to go.
