This post is inspired by other steemit users and recent conversations with them, especially @beanz (great comment on Dan´s latest post about Steem Sports!). Thank you for that!
Please excuse eventual grammatical errors, I am not a native speaker.
Who are you and who would you like to be?
The very first step when creating a new brand is defining its 'personality' by corresponding brand values. An important step is not only defining the already existing values but also the future values (to be developed).
We all do know this question from job interviews: where do you see yourself in 5 years?
The only way to be able to reply to that question is having any idea where you will end up.
Does steemit wanna be a blog based on blockchain or a blockchain based on bloggers?
One thing we need to know is that the desired masses won´t join a platform which they cannot understand. I studied Computer Science in Media but even for me it´s hard to follow the concept sometimes. Furthermore, from my (very subjective) point of view the ones who don´t have any idea from Computer Science are 'treated' accordingly. Newbies sometimes must feel like a small fish in a pool full of sharks. Introduction posts are heavily voted, celebrating a warm welcome but then 'good luck'. One very helpful item easy to implement could be e.g. a FAQ for new users.
Wasn´t this meant to be a CONTENT PLATFORM using blockchain technology where people are rewarded with crypto currency?
Most of the big projects running right now are focussed on curation and vote allocation. But what if there was no quality content where you could allocate these perfectly trailed vote-accumulations? What if user stop producing content because they just don´t know why they should publish it on steemit and not on another platform? Does a new user (without any higher level IT background) even understand how all these complex voting systems work? Who the hell is a bot? According to the questions in the chat a lot of users would be almost happy if they understood how to manually vote on an article (being far away from using bots or any other tools to improve their return).
The 1 million dollar questions is: Who are you, steemit?
Are you an open-minded community celebrating steemfest, being the very first social media network able to do a transfer from virtuality to reality? Are you a bloggers´ paradise where finally all these writing talents get rewarded for their valuable content? Are you a revolutionary anarchistic system trying to be an alternative solution to the already existing financial system? Are you a crypty currency experts island? Who are you, steemit?
It seems like every Steemian has his/her own definition of what steemit is.
In a certain way this is brilliant, because it totally reflects the 'freedom of speech' (opinion) a de-centralized system should have. This is working for the already existing users - these more or less 3,000 active users who are still here.
But when it comes to acquire new users and particularly keep them, you need a face!
There was a nice challenge in the Christmas calendar on the 1st of December (an excellent sweet little project, thanks for that @good-karma): "How would you describe Steem(it) to your friends with just one sentence?"
Most of the answers pointed out the blogging experience, community and reward on content. The social aspects in combination with reward were clearly outstanding. There were only a few comments, so it´s not really representative, but I guess that in a big survey the results would be the same.
Management rule no. 1: all or nothing
Whatever the image of steemit is and in which direction the platform is meant to proceed, it has to be clearly defined. All or nothing!
You cannot be a World champion in tennis and soccer at the same time.
You cannot care about your weaknesses when you wanna be strong. You cannot be a mass medium and a blockchain experts forum at the same time.
I would be happy to get your comments on that.
Cheers,
Marly -
Picture source Sherlock: http://ci.memecdn.com
Picture source quote: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com
Picture source Wanted: https://i2.wp.com/oakdome.com/
