STEEM 2020; What I am going to do!

This post is my entry to the competition offered by @pennsif here.

Perhaps I was a little early as I only wrote something about SMT’s in my very recent post and only noticed this competition as it had been stuck in front of my nose due to @pennsif mentioning it in the Discord ‘Brits’ channel.

STEEM is as low in value as I have ever seen the token. When people say it is going to the moon I have to scoff a little.

Not that I don't believe in its potential value; I do. I wouldn't have bought enough to become an Orca otherwise.

For things to happen, we need change. Some of these are out of my control.

I can't change the default user interface. The SteemPeak one is decent but the main entry point of Steemit is fucking awful, to put it bluntly.

...'SteemPeak (above), Steemit (below).., which do you prefer?'...

I still use Steemit at work as Steempeak is too garish and the images are too large. I can't have the bosses seeing what I'm doing.

So SMT's are almost upon us, but we still have little insight as to what we are going to be presented with. Clones of Steemit are not going to cut the mustard. It's plain ugly, and the search facilities are laughable.

Can we learn a little from the Facebook Communities? I touched on this in the post mentioned above. Even with a niche hobby such as Urbex, I can see these many groups contain thousands of members.

So why don't they cross-post that content…, (and some of it is damn good) on to the STEEM blockchain?

Let’s look at the problems. They need an account to post content. Accounts are not free unless you wait. Accounts ARE free on Facebook and instant. This has been an ever on-going issue. The wait time.

We have very large accounts and services that can create instant accounts using their RC credits and claimed accounts.

They are still charging for the privilege. I feel this is the largest problem for mass on-boarding.

…**’people will NOT pay for something when they can get the same perceived thing for free elsewhere’*…

I can give out FREE accounts. I have almost 400 claimed. I collect them for no other reason than to use my RC’s. Maybe someday I can give them out. It costs me time, and time is NOT free. I guess that’s why there’s a charge?

Image by @katharsisdrill

Over the last year, I have tried to on-board a few people. Only @goblinknackers has stuck it out. He's bought over 30,000 STEEM in a short period of time. When he posts he doesn't get much feedback.

I have told him to be patient, and I know he will but that 30,000 STEEM does not buy followers. There simply is not the audience for his content..., yet and he struggles to gain traction

He’s an active futures trader and works his scalping skills in with good effect. His last post didn’t get much in the way of comments, though it did gain him a @curie.

Photograph by @mender1

I dropped a small hint to a photographer friend this morning. He makes good use of Adobe Lightroom to create stunning images. He is semi-professional and has his own website to show off his work.

He could have posted that on the STEEM blockchain, and used the #creativecoin and #photo tags to gain multiple tokens.

…**’have you ever tried explaining all this stuff to a non-steemian? The looks you get back are nothing short of incredulous!’*…

@mender1 is one of my Urbex buddies. I created the account for him and could well hand over the keys. The account was created so I could reference him by a STEEM name and not a real one.

What are ‘keys’ he will say?

‘It’s all really complicated’… he will say.

‘can I not just have one password and set it to #password# so I won’t forget it?’

This is what we have to deal with when we tell people about the STEEM blockchain.

You can dangle the carrot of, ‘you can make money’, but we all know that it's almost lies.

The money angle is not going to cut it when STEEM is 14c per token.

So what can do to entice people to post?

Right now, very little. We are still waiting for SMT’s and something wondrous. Is it going to be truly wondrous?

But getting back to the photographer friend, his retort to my suggestion was a ‘thumb up'. Does that mean, yeah OK, or yeah, but I can't be arsed with all the complexity?

He knows I post here but could he do the same? I will mention Partiko next time I see him and casually describe the #photo tribe.

‘You know people post single images and get tokens, you could do the same’

...**'the PhotoSteem tribe, a place where your can earn PHOTO tokens for... yes, your photos!'*...

Tokens to him are about as useful as stickers from a Weetabix box! I know the next question is, ‘what can I do with these tokens?’

If I manage to overcome this problem, I then need to explain to him that when posting on Partiko mobile, you need to use these tags to get your content seen on these other tribes.

‘Tribes? Are we heading to the Amazon for our photographs??’

OK so there's a learning curve, but we need to get to a stage where the learning curve is a simple one and not one requiring a degree in blockchain science.

...**'PHOTO tokens are a marketable commodity. You can trade them for STEEM which in turn can be turned into Sterling. It's just kind of long winded'*...

Can SMT’s do something to bridge that gap? Can @mender1 post directly using a #photos website using an SMT named ‘#photos?

Will there be separate mobile dApps or one dApp for all? Mobility is essential, though I prefer using a desktop app personally.

…**’until there is a great reason to move from Facebook and its communities, the users are going to stay put’*…

So how can I persuade @mender1 to shift his content from general Facebook to the #photos tribe? Well I have told him about this post, that the focus of it is on him and he does seem interested. Do we have a bite?

In 2020, it may well be easier to on-board if new easier methods are available, but I’m not in a position to code something to make that so. I can only highlight what is needed to do it.

If we can get more users and the interface is simpler to use, word will spread. From what I can gather Steemit has got a terrible reputation outside itself. This needs to change and HF21 is helping.

The perception of ‘since HF21 people get fewer rewards'

Not everyone will agree with me, but as a @curie curator, I struggle to find content worthy of submitting for a vote.

In the case of @mender1 and his photography, @curie would not come into this but there is a serious lack of quality ‘long content’ on the block-chain.

…**'I'm not going to divulge how to get the attention of @curie but 150 words and 2 images are not going to work, is that clear enough?'*…

I can tell you those good authors are getting more rewards. If you do not then try harder and re-read the above-quoted sentence.

I can tell you something else. We curators are ’dying’ to put forward your work for curation. We get something out of it as well you see.

Don’t make it too hard work for us by writing a load of crap complete with stolen images and text full of spelling mistakes will you now?

On a more serious note, I am more than willing to mentor smaller accounts on how to get noticed by the curation groups… but don’t do it for the money or you will be sorely disappointed.

....**'Facebook, the giver of nothing... that's a guarantee!'*...

This is a message that needs to get outside the blockchain. Yes, you can get something other than the fresh air rewards you get on Facebook but don’t expect it to be substantial.

However, I can guarantee it will ‘WILL BE MORE THAN FACEBOOK' gives you.

Another thing I would love to happen in 2020 could possibly be done with the help of @blocktrades.

…**’create a portal to enable the direct buying of STEEM with fiat currencies’*…

Maybe things would need to be done in the background, such as the transferring of USD to LTC and then to STEEM, but surely this can be achieved, not one way but both ways?

Integration to bank accounts would be a necessity if an intermediary cannot be used. Can you imagine what a direct route could do for STEEM?

I will say no more on this matter and will be talking to Mr. Blocktrades if he is in Bangkok in the next 2 weeks.

...**'another @mender1 photograph also on Facebook. This is the kind of quality stuff we could do with on PhotoSteem'*...

Likewise, I will be forwarding this article to @mender1, asking him to ignore the technical bumf that we all take for granted but looking for an answer from him.

…**’if I told you there was a place you could post that photograph (just like you did on Facebook) along with a little explanation of where is it and you could gain some tokens that have a small monetary value, what would it take for you to post it there instead?’*…

I think it's up to non-STEEM people to decide just what would it take to do this, and not for us blinkered horses?

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