Over the last week I have had the privilege of spending time talking with a lot of different people who are able to influence the Steem ecosystem in various ways. Some of them are application owners and developers, some content creators an many community engagers. All of them hold the belief that it is the community that holds value here even though they might go about it in different ways.
One of the current problems on Steem is that in order to earn without stake, one has to post which means those who run communities have to manage all of the background work, plus find time to post something. This isn't easy and for those who do spend a lot of time in communities would realize how much effort it takes.
There are of course community functionalities coming that will help with the organizational aspects of managing them but in the early phases at least, this doesn't close the gaps in value for leaders. As I see that communities will be one of the driving forces of Steem's success, in time we have to find ways to have pro or at least, semi-pro organizers. Whilst a challenge under current infrastructure, the introduction of SMT's and Oracles could potentially change the way communities are operated.
Applications are the future of Steem but their success depends on leveraging the community to garner support. They need content to fill their sites and of course, eyes to consume the content. This will increasingly come at a cost, even if their model is compelling and the earning potential good for users as having supporting communities will mean a much higher level of engagement at a lower cost to the application.
Using an SMT, an application could distribute tokens to communities with some portion of them earmarked for community organizers and moderators. Essentially, each community can run as a little application itself with paid organizers and moderators that offset the personal costs associated with management. There are several benefits to paying for this for the application.
One is of course widening distribution of their token and encouraging usage of their application. Another is that with that distribution comes ownership and the more ownership people feel they have, the more willing they are to protect it and of course, word of mouth it onward. Having professional organizers with application stake means that there will also be the ability for a much clearer line of discussion and feedback from the communities themselves which translates into apps that are more sensitive to the changing needs of their user base.
The oracles come int play because they could be used in various ways to evaluate the fitness of the organizer and potentially the organization itself. This means that a person in charge of a large community with 10,000 members could be distributed to at a different rate than one with 100 members due to the difference in responsibility. It is not the size that counts, but that depends on the application and its purpose and having mechanisms in place to be able to recognize the values of individuals is important.
In time, the Steem ecosystem is going to evolve from cottage industry only to include more and more professional services. This means that there are also going to be an increasing number of intermediaries of sorts that offer less tangible value than a post or an app. The ability for an SMT to st aside some of their inflation/supply for community development and maintenance gives the opportunity to really leverage as well as show how important the communities are to their success. This can both serve as feeder support for the application as well as risk management across several communities.
Even though I am not quite sure how this will look, the growing dependence on communities means more responsibility on the shoulders of those who are managing and this work should be rewarded in time. I know that for several of the curation communities, management is a somewhat thankless job, no matter how vital it is to the system. What I am hoping is that application developers are factoring in to their design and business models ways to find, evaluate and reward community orientated people and leaders so that all of their behind the scenes work will not only be for the love of it.
The love of it is a vital piece of the puzzle but it cannot be only based on this, eventually, there has to be return. It isn't suitable for the applications of the future to leverage the communities yet fail to return to those communities. What I see happening however is a great deal of coaction, interaction and cross platform alliances that weave a tangled but very robust web. I am going to keep repeating until it is a known reality, community is the value of Steem and the more bridges that get built between app, community and the key individuals, the more likelihood of success.
Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
The power of the community and these organizers will also focus on retention which is a key factor still missing as the DApps are built out. Delegating SP and/or RC will be a key task for communities to handle in order to motivate engagement while also limiting abuse as well. That is the way a slow grind of creating value will need to be achieved.
Yep. The conversations I was part of often crossed into the area I want to see, the communities and apps working together to create a complete experience, a home.
Yeq. You are quite definetly right. It is sometimes not easy to post continously and also for new comers, you really need to work and work either by posting or commenting to earn some steem or steem power that will make you to stand firm also in steemit. But i believe and i hope with the rate of applications been developed on steemit, in the next 2 or 3 years, steem will be flying higj and will be at another dimension
yep. The next 1-2 years is pretty vital for Steem apps and the communities should find ways to support them and vice versa.
...I used a dormant account - post hf20.
It had no sp.
I posted 1 post and 3 comments.
I had no more RC's to anything else until the day after. I could not interact on the social platform, called steemit.
If I had just joined I would have left, and never come back.
How does this help steemit to grow? To fill the site with content?
(because it's totally beyond me).
It's great having the best tech the best smt's or whatever , in the world - for when everyone comes...
Betamax was superior to VHS, but hey...
Just my opinion, what would I know? lol
you are looking at the situation now, not in the future. HF 20 allows for new infrastructure to be built upon it that will aid users so none of that is an issue and it can scale much larger than pre-hf20 could. As i have said, this place isn't ready for everyone to do anything they want.
Have you read about what hf20 changed, what it has done so far and what potentially can be built upon it?
...the problem with forever looking into the future - and ignoring the issues of right now, is that that the future never actually arrives...
The graveyard of a million projects, can testify to that one...
Well, have a look at how Resource credit pools work and how apps can onboard with them for starters. What people don't seem to realize is that previously, no more than 10m users could be on the platform and none could ever have more than 30 SP.
....the place is bleeding active users !
What difference does it make if we can have space for 100 million users if it has a reputation for being crap, and is empty?
A bad reputation is hard to recover from....
The active users who know what is going on here aren't bleeding, they are developing a place where active users can be supported properly. What you are missing is that without these steps, there is no way to stop any bleed but many of those inactive users are likely to come back once the platform has a better process.
Well, I hope I'm very wrong...
Btw, 15 SP was always considered the absolute minimum to hold to interact. The system was not designed for accounts with no stake. Resource credits means that now it is.
...just in case you missed it... ! lol
https://steemit.com/blog/@lucylin/the-sunday-pulpit-sermon-1-steem-price-is-good-for-you-comedyopenmic-38-yes-38-i-have-no-37-s-left
Replying so I can reread post properly later.
I understand that now with the resourse credits and SMT it's possible to have users that can add themselves for free. But let's say we have a bunch of dapps, each with their own users. The users don't have to buy Steem, and they are possible not active on Steemit. But the costs of the Steem blockchain goes up since it's used more and more. Were does the money come from?
So very true. One of the things that SF showed me is that we're nowhere without personal connections. Also, that there is so much to look forward to in the near future and so many involved, willing inidividuals that it really seems we're heading somewhere good with Steem.
I am unsure how to get that view across to people who haven't experienced it. It is difficult for the average user to get an understanding of the platform and all of the implications of each change due to the high complexity and inter-connectedness but I am trying :)
Did you get home safe? Thank @ladyrebecca for me please. @smallsteps will get the books tonight :*
You're welcome. Sorry I couldn't find more books for the little one.
They are great, thank you so much.
Owwwwwwww <3 this picture just made my night <3 so adorable.
It is, but then again, it was hard for everyone at first. Drawing a parallel and also answering your question, my trip home was hard and very tiring, but in the end, I got home okay and going through it was the only way I would get home.
Same for new Steemians - powering through the initial difficulty is the only way you get to the awesome community that exists on steem.
I have, she says you're welcome <3 How was your trip?
I hope @smallsteps likes them!
some people are only willing to be here and act as they choose, even if it doesn't get them the results they are after.
Thank you. he trip was okay, a bit sad but also got home in time to spend an hour with the family and play a bit. I am a little sicker but I think considering the lack of sleep, it could have been much worse :)
When is the next meetup? :D
I guess it all depends on what you're willing to do and how much you're willing to invest. you can't get the rewards you seek if you're not willing to invest, in my opinion. But this seems to be people's attitude on anything. WE all want to be loved, appreciated, paid well etc but not run the risk of losing, of being disappointed, of wasting time and suffering.
It's a price you have to pay.
Oww, I'm sad too. SF was mindblowing. Sorry to hear you're feeling sick, but yes, I imagine the lack of sleep that was essentially Steemfest is very much a culprit.
I have no idea, but soon! It must be. Seriously, I know there are country-based meetups, but after this, there should be continent based ones as well. Just set a time and place that's okay for everyone and go. As @blewitt was saying, this feels so much like family now. <3
Running at 80% means that with the 20% that remained unused, one never knows what was truly possible. Most don't run at 80.
And essentially one that one must be willing to lose completely.
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