Please don't take me wrong, I love Steemit very much, but there are certain things that I don't like that much (yet). First of all, I'm very new to Steemit and that is also the perspective that I'm looking from. Also, I have to admit that I'm not a social media guy at all. I found Steemit a little more that one month ago and I have joined Facebook only yesterday for business purposes.
User Experience, especially for new users
I had a lot of opportunities lately to read and comment on different posts about the advantages of Steemit over Facebook: how rigid and restrictive Facebook is, but how Steemit on the other hand cares for its community etc. And I will admit that I agree with all these arguments. Steemit is designed with totally different philosophy and psychology in mind.
However, in my opinion there is one thing that Steemit is just lagging behind Facebook, and in a great measure! And that is the user experience, especially for the new users. On Facebook, the new users immediatelly know how to use the platform, how to set the profile picture, how to add the cover photo, add friends, join groups and the list goes on...
On Steemit, it is not that simple or straight forward, actually you have to ask around or make a search to find the relevant info, how to make these customizations. I have experienced all of these struggles myself and also when helping my wife.
Keeping track of valuable posts or followers
Again, I find it very hard to keep a track of valuable posts that I want to keep for later or for my "archive". For a few posts that I find very informative and useful I decided to resteem them. That way I can look in my "blog" category under the "User Profile" and find this info. But what will happen after one month, three months? Will I return to my "Blog" list and search from the beginning. Hmmm, I don't think this will be very practical.
And, how can I keep a track of the posts of my favorite Steemians? It would be so nice if there would be some sort of a favorite bar or something where I can just click on a thumbnail of other "favorite" Steemians and I can immediatelly read their posts. Currently, with the "Feed" feature I just miss so many great posts :(
Who actually read the posts of the "plankton"?
Gaining some traction on Steemit is a pain also. You have to spend hours and hours commenting others' posts and hope for their upvote to gain some reputation. Blog posts in the beginning are more or less valuless even if the content is super great. And what happens with this great content after some weeks or months? They more or less go to "void", "null", "nil", if I use programming terms.
Is there a way to make the posts more equaly valuable? How can the minnows or the plankton feel happier in the vast Steemit ocean? Yes, I know, there must be some filtering system applied to separate the good from bad, the wheat from weeds, but still...
Conclusion
As much as I like Steemit and will keep promoting it and try my best to do something good for others, my gut feeling tells me that there are still needed many fundamental changes to make the Steemit a home for many more to come.
So, will masses of Facebook users begin flocking to Steemit? I don't think so, because they have a "much" better user experience and the fact is that outward appereance matters so much to most people. I believe that people outside AND inside Steemit deserves a better user experience. When this happens, the growth will be unstoppable!
I would be very pleased to hear your opinion on this matter,
Ned