RE: The 2017 Steem Growth Plan

_{Fans of Lawrence of Arabia will get this reference.}

I'm skeptical of crowdsourcing - as you correctly point out, the crowd can be disorganized and self-defeating. Nay, judging by history, that's the default result and there's a very high chance that's how it'll turn out. However, with the possibility of focused direction and coordination from your end, and the incentive of financial support and rewards, I'm not going to arrive at any judgments just yet. Eager to find out what your protocols look like.

Agreed about Communities, easier onboarding and mobile apps. I'd also prefer the platform to be simpler and more elegant in general. Simple stuff like being able to buy Steem with a credit card or PayPal etc, but I understand why that may be challenging. There's some obvious stuff like marketing materials that are currently missing - marketing and infomercial videos, a website, PR and communications etc.

Attracting influencers is obviously a good idea. So far there has been very little action - there is simply no incentive for the community to put in the effort. It's going to need appropriate financial incentive for people to get out and attract people. Could be weighted referral fees adjusted by the network of the influencer. A Twitter user with 1 million followers could easily increase the network's userbase by an order of magnitude overnight, for example.

People have forgotten about Steem's benefits as a currency. Very few crypto people are even aware that transactions are free, they are confirmed in 3 seconds, the wallets are online and easily accessible, only need a username to transfer funds etc. Anonymity is missing, but otherwise it's a strong platform for currency. So, an important step would be clarify all the FUD in the crypto community - many have already assumed it has failed. Let them know about its benefits etc. Needs to be promoted as a socio-economic platform, so to speak.