Hey guys! I would like to dedicate my first post here on Steemit to discuss the impact Steemit's success will have on the social web currently dominated by the likes of Facebook, Youtube, Reddit, Medium, etc.. Below are my thoughts and I'd love to hear yours in the comment below. Don't forget to upvote so that we can reap the rewards together!
My thoughts on Steemit
Steemit is exciting to us because it's the first user-friendly blockchain app and cryptocurrency that is genuinely useful for the average internet user and content creators. If you're already a Steemit user, you've experienced the ease of using the platform even if you didn't understand the currency component of it at first. Steemit's rise in popularity will surely be a catalyst for the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies. For the purpose of this discussion though, I think that it is more important to note the shift that will take place in our understanding of how value is created on the internet and how it ought to be rewarded. The revolutionary aspect of Steemit is that the energy we (the users) spend by voting (curating), commenting (contributing to the discussion), publishing (content creation) are rewarded with real money because we are creating value on the network. This shift will set the stage for disrupting the social media landscape where users have largely not been rewarded.
Will the social media giants of today have the foresight as well as the capability to pivot? What could these services look like in the future? I'll share my thoughts on some popular apps many of us use today.
Reddit (http://reddit.com)
I'm confident that one of the first thoughts to cross some of your minds since using Steemit was, "Reddit is fucked." I can see Steemit taking over Reddit's place on the web very easily if Reddit choses to not change. Reddit is hugely disadvantaged because they don't have an incentivized reward model like Steemit and the censorship issue remains a concern. If Reddit were to adapt to a new system, it would probably look similar to Steemit so time is of the essence for their survival and I think that they will surely make a move. I'll also make a quick mention here that blogging platforms such as Blogger, Tumblr, Medium are on the same ship. Only time will tell whether they decide to adapt or not.
Facebook (http://facebook.com)
Could this be the beginning of the end for Facebook? I immediately thought that Facebook would be the least likely to pay their users for content creation and curation because they are a huge profit-driven corporation. As a publicly traded company, a change to their business model resulting in less profit would most likely be resisted. However, Facebook has been innovative in their evolution and many key components to make a shift are in place if they wanted. 1. They have their own advertisement system. 2. Facebook Instant Articles encourages publishers to publish their unique content behind the closed wall of Facebook's network. 3. They have a blogging platform, video uploading, and a live streaming feature. 4. A content curation algorithm. 5. They even have a feature which allows you to send and receive money. I personally don't see Facebook rewarding users but that's just my guess. Let's not forget that as the most highest valued social network on this planet, a lot's at stake for Facebook. They have smart people working there and have the technological and financial capacity to go in any direction they desire. It'll be interesting to see what they do.
Regardless of what Facebook decides to do, there are now opportunities for new apps like Akasha (http://akasha.world/) which is a decentralized and censorship-free social network being developed on the Ethereum blockchain. However, the reason people don't ditch Facebook is because everybody is already on it and the platform works well. Content in their feed keeps most users entertained. A platform that would disrupt Facebook would need a very attractive value proposition. Advantages like censorship free and privacy unfortunately will not be enough for mainstream adoption. However, the monetary incentives like Steemit's would most definitely make the mainstream go wild. Everyone likes having more money after all.
One last thought on this. An area where Steemit competes with Facebook even now is in the news and content curation component of their system. If Steemit proves to be as good or better than Facebook at curating content and a social network on the Steem platform can work in parallel with Steemit's content, I think that has the potential to become a "killer app".
Yelp (http://yelp.com)
In my view, the issues which plague Yelp are censorship, unverified reviews, cost for businesses, and the lack of incentive to write helpful reviews. Imagine a competitor to yelp that incentivizes writing verifiable and helpful reviews and is censorship free. Users can sign up by verifying a cell phone number in order to prevent spam then using a QR code or a hash code attached to a transaction, the user can post a review regarding the transaction. Well written reviews are rewarded with the platform's cryptocurrency. If successful, this would be a win for deserving businesses and a huge win all around for consumers. Yelp's current market cap is $2.24 Billion, so somebody please take a crack at it. It won't save the world, but there's something nice about creating a virtuous circle in communities by holding businesses and consumers more accountable.
Youtube (http://youtube.com)
Youtube currently has a monetization model for their popular creators and not for anyone else. Utilizing the frictionless nature of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts, Youtube could easily open up monetization to the newbie content creators as well as curators who are good at finding great content before everybody else. I often hear that it's becoming harder and harder to make it on Youtube because the established youtubers have gained so much power so allowing the small players to monetize early on would help them continue their channel and create higher quality content.
Quora (https://www.quora.com)
Quora is the world's largest social network based on users writing questions and answers. Most of the popular answers determined by upvotes are unique and very high quality. It's a really cool app because there is so much value being created on the network. You can use your knowledge, expertise, and life experience to help others and ask others for help when you need it. With their popularity and the number of great content creators on their platform, they stand to gain a lot by making a pivot to reward users who ask good questions and write good answers. They are privately owned and haven't monetized so I personally would be excited to see this happen. If not Quora, I hope a Q&A platform will be created on the Steem platform someday. Pretty please? 
Instagram (http://instagram.com)
Imagine... a world where boys and girls all over the world no longer worry about earning a living because they can just upload their selfies all day long in exchange for crypto currency. I sincerely hope that shit doesn't make it's way to Steemit. Just wanted to throw that one in there as a joke (kind of)! :D
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This post turned out to be much longer than I expected but I hope it was still entertaining. I think that many of us in the crypto community as well as content creators have been anticipating an app like Steemit. It's finally here and things can only get better in the long run. In the meantime, let's enjoy the ride and keep on Steeming!
Thanks for reading and once again, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment below. Do you agree or disagree with the points I've made? And don't forget to upvote! :)