I have come to zero conclusions with this article. It’s just facts and data about some similar sites to Steemit.
In an attempt to get a full picture of the decentralized social media space, I’ve started to compile a list of different sites that are in varying stages of decentralization and experimentation.
I’m very curious how the problem of bots, scams and reputation will be dealt with when new social media sites are mixed with monetization. There seems to be a variety of strategies in this area, so it’s worth looking at different methods.
Also, it’s clear to me that the main problem with all decentralized social media is user retention. It’s true that most people are kind of complacent and are content just to use Facebook because that’s where all their friends and family are.
Humans are wired to stay in the herd and so I see this one aspect as the greatest challenge to new decentralized social media networks. Facebook has a stranglehold on users because of existing friend and family networks on its platform. But younger people, early adopters and those whose currency is devalued are always ready to leave old platforms, so it’s clear that this group will determine which new platforms are going to continue growing.
It’s incredibly challenging to get people to move to a brand-new system, so I am really interested in studying how and why people decide to shift to something new. One thing is clear to me: people will stay where they feel valued, liked and appreciated and so far, user-friendliness and user support is kind of lacking in the decentralized social media space.
Whoever does this the best, and has the best tech that offers something new will probably see big growth in their user base. Feelings win over logic, almost always especially where social interaction is concerned. Not many new companies get this right, and so, I believe this is an area that could be crucial in terms of competition.
A well staffed tech support department is exactly the thing that could bring in big growth and I think it will be something that each of the Dapps spearhead themselves. So, I could envision Dlive having its own support staff, same with Partiko (actually Partiko is already doing this in its Discord channel), Utopian is doing this, in fact the successful projects already have something like this in place. It’s completely necessary to have ongoing tech support and a clear way that users can get help they need. Otherwise, the project will lose people constantly and cause a lot of frustration.
The new decentralized platforms have a different feel to them than Facebook in a couple of respects and it has to do with active and passive roles. Facebook is kind of a passive experience in most respects, while the decentralized sites require people to be more active.
Steem has the feel of a blank canvas upon which anyone is free to create anything, and I suspect a lot of Facebook users are not comfortable with this level of participation.
You can program bots, make a business, participate in various challenges, start up a fundition project, join a club, start a club, fight spam, work for steemcleaners, build a new site (Steemhunt, Musing, etc.), contribute to Utopian, post memes on DMania, upload videos to DLive, Dtube, etc, join the Open Mic community, become part of the Steemit Blogger group, buy some Steem Monsters, and the list goes on. There seems to be no end to the variation of different communities, projects and sites that are associated with the Steem blockchain, but which no one really knows about, outside of Steem.
I tried out a few of these platforms for fun to see what they are doing. I tried Sola.ai, minds.com, Rize, Mithril (Lit app), ONO and a few others. One trend I noticed is that existing centralized sites (like Younow), which started more than 5 years ago are beginning to adopt blockchain systems.
Many new sites are using point or coin systems to retain users. For example, some sites give you 10 points or coins for logging in each day.
Gamification of a new site is almost essential in attracting and retaining users. I think we are moving into a new phase of people realizing that they have some value, but it will be something that takes a while to happen, if it does indeed happen. I suspect it will happen though. I’m a big fan of earning activity points for doing things like logging in each day. It keeps me hooked.
During my research of minds.com, I noticed that Inforwars has migrated there.
Instead of one site completely replacing Facebook, maybe there will be a number of sites that displace it. Or, conversely, if Facebook gets its own crypto coin, that would completely change the landscape, and make it really hard for other platforms to get popular. I don’t know how this is all going to play out in the next few years, do you?
So here’s the list of new projects in the decentralized social media space. If you have more to add, put a link in the comments. Some of these have not launched yet, and still are in the roadmap phase or could be scammy, it’s hard to tell.
Here’s Steemit’s Alexa ranking:
Content Neutrality Network https://cnntoken.io/
Diaspora: https://diasporafoundation.org/
Indorse: https://indorse.io/
leeroy.io: https://leeroy.io/
Lunyr: https://lunyr.com/ ERC20
Mastadon: https://joinmastodon.org/
MeWe: https://mewe.com/
Mithril: https://mith.io/
Minds: https://www.minds.com/
Narrative: https://www.narrative.org/
Nexus: https://nexusearth.com/
ONO: https://www.ono.chat/en/
Peepeth: https://peepeth.com/welcome
Props Project: https://www.propsproject.com/
Reos: https://reos.me/ ERC20
Sapien: https://www.sapien.network/
Scorum: https://scorum.com/en-us/
Sola: https://sola.ai/
Sphere: https://sphere.social/
Typerium https://typerium.io/
Younow: https://www.younow.com/ Rize App
Yours: https://www.yours.org/
First impressions of some apps:
Mithril: Lit App
MITH token
Sign up process: Easy. Only phone number or Facebook.
First impressions:
Almost all the pictures were of Chinese users, and the experience was a lot like Instagram or Snapchat, with young people being the dominant crowd.
Features: Photo uploading, chat, commenting, liking. private chats, blocking,
Pros: fast upload times, easy to navigate, like and comment. This app might be good for young people wanting to meet, make friends and find dates.
Cons: Feels kind of like Tinder, with swiping posts being the dominant activity on this app. Also, when clicking on someone’s profile, you can’t see all their posts, only one at a time is visible.
minds.com
Sign up process: Moderately easy. Email and password.
First Impressions:
A quick scan to the groups section revealed that the following groups seem to dominant on this platform: Anonymous, InfoWars, Libertarians, Trump supporters, Anti-censorship groups and other assorted fringe groups.
Pros: Censorship resistant, you are able to express whatever thoughts, opinions or viewpoints you want without fear of being censored. There are groups to join, so newbies can at least find their way in various groups, as well as support groups for Minds newbies.
Cons: Very difficult interface and complicated system.
Cheers
Stella
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Mastodon has been doing there thing for a while, I don't care for the system personally, but they have definitely been doing their anti-Twitter thing for a while so I respect that. Surprised they haven't teamed up with someone in the crypto world by now.
You need to add https://memo.cash/ to your list and maybe check it out. Out of all the sites I use, I don't use that the most at all, but I do check it at least once a week, and has much potential with it's functions (also just happened to link back to a post of yours over there https://memo.cash/topic/ONO+ and is how I ended up reading this post now).
http://yours.org has been working for a while. If Steemit was like Tumblr, Yours would be like Medium.
Also possibly look at http://lbry.io as if you boot the app you will see it is a pretty social feeling app. It is like a beefed up working YouTube. I love DTube but LBRY is leaps a bounds ahead, and people who use one, should be using both platforms to be sharing their material.
If you haven't checked Golos since it was more or less a like exact Steemit clone, it really has grown a lot functionwise that I bet a lot of Steemians would be jealous of some functions they have going on now http://golos.blog/
Thanks for this post, I need to check out some of these other networks soon.
Oh cool thanks for that information and I didn’t know about memo. Yeah Lbry is one I definitely forgot about, thanks
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Won't reach mass adoption because you need to pay fees to post but it also prevents spammers
Steemit has no competitors, at most imitatives. Steemit is the best ever! :)
There is nothing without competition in life... it's important we face that. I share your excitement, though.
This shows STEEMIT it way ahead, let’s keep it that way!
how many of them pay me to post?
A lot do but the real issue is developing a fan base which takes a lot of time.
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It wouldnt take so long afterall. People like alternatives. China and other nations are already presenting alternatives, it is only a matter of time.
I think the persistent account name is going to win it for us.
I can send you a Defender of Truth Steemmonsters card, (and just did).
You may have never logged in, but it'll be there waiting if you do.
By persistent name you mean that our account names are across all the dApps? Yeah I tend to agree with you that it makes a big difference. And thank you for the card, I guess I have to check it now.... thanks!
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Just sent you also a @steemmonsters Naga Warrior @stellabelle
Keep STEEM N ON!
Frank
👍😉✌
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Thanks so much!
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That's a really good point, @mattclarke. Something I hadn't thought of before. With our account name staying the same over multiple/many dApps, it kinda becomes a web of sites interacting with users/followers on each of those sites.
The most interesting from all those sites you mentioned is probably Scorum. But its content is pure sports. So I wouldn’t say it is direct competitor.
The funny thing with Steemit is that we all agree that there dozens of options and apps like dmania and dlike etc, yet when someone uses them, he is accused of not being a good content creator which literally makes me laugh since many people treat Steemit as if it is a university where everyone should write novels and giving lectures. When in fact it is just a social media platform. Nothing more or less.
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I wish my upvote is worth a thousand dollars, I would have given you 100%...
I think it should not be addressed as a social media platform because IT IS NOT one.. It's getting so boring that i still find myself crawling back to my instagram page..
It is not. It is a content platform, like LBRY or Medium.
Social platforms are about bringing together people about some topic or affinity. On content platforms, people deliver content and the others consume it; the social aspect, like in blogs, is an accessory.
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Much ado about NOTHING
Am I wrong? You could at least try to convince me with arguments, like I did.
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You are not wrong, sir
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The problem most of these other "competitors" have is that they're not a blank canvas like Steem is.
That's why I describe Steem in so many different ways: there are many ways to build on it.
As Steem grows, it will take up more of the mindspace of developers, who will go where the users are
My biggest concern in the 1-3 year term is EOS, not any particular social media app.
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Well EOS and Steem are related children with the same DNA, there’s room for both and more actually...
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True. I've been playing with EOS a little and I curious to see where it will go.
But Steem has the most user friendly blockchain yet, and winners tend to keep winning, so I'm bullish that Steem is going to get leaps and bounds better in the next 6-18 months...so much so that we'll wonder how we ever did old school vanilla steemit. 😉
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hahaha
Amazing analysis.
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Thanks
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I think I know some of them, need to go through all of them!
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Excellent publication very suitable, I congratulate you, now my question is some of these are like steemit? that you can already withdraw or exchange with other currencies? since we must look for other frontiers since I think that steemit has changed a lot from what it was before and few are the communities that really support and the bots dominate us at any time
Many of them are like Steem
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Minds.com is one of my Favs :) Don't know any of the others...
I think it’s the most similar one so far
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Ringaling - great Info! When you signed up for these did you post any of your spectacular posts and make something as in reward of some sort?
Hmmm sort of. It’s intimidating and boring in the beginning when I’m a stranger so I logged out quickly
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thanks for this analysis. i'll look into minds.com as that seems to be the one with the highest (behind steem) alexa rating. i think you're right around FEELING being something that attracts and keeps people and also friends and family network and that this space if too "active" and requires too much that facebook just doesn't require. it's one of the problems with humanity i think actually (the passive consumption) and when i returned to facebook the other day it was riddled with engaging videos and memes but no one was creating... or really engaging... just memes and blurbs. i don't want humanity to devolve into that. maybe someone will make a front end more like facebook or a more passive social media site on steem blockchain.
There’s already a front end like Facebook, it’s Partiko and I’m addicted
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Haha! I like this. It's true though. We have the tendency to conform to the herd mentality. People only seem to seek out what is trending or popular at the moment rather than diversify and try new things. It is hard to think Facebook will continually remain on top with the current shift and decentralization of technology especially considering the tangent they are still on and the market they are targetting. However, if blockchain technology becomes widely saturated and implemented on a global scale, and like you said, if there is ever a Facebook coin or Token that rewards users on its platform just like steemit, then maybe they will maintain a dominant position in the social media league. But it will be interesting to see what happens in the future.
Facebook may just as well buy out or even merge with Steemit. Who knows right?
I didn't realize there were so many based on blockchain.
So it seems Steem and Steemit is still the best and winning. It is far from perfect but has no comparable at this point and time. It is still improving and will hopefully continue to improve.
Gab.ai I think would be another to add ?
Yes you’re right. Are they going to do blockchain?
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I think I heard they were. Not sure.
They're doing an ico:
https://bitnewsbot.com/gab-ai-ico-is-the-most-trustworthy-ico-in-history-heres-why/
The only one of those I looked into was Sola and didn’t really spend much time before running back here :)
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What I’ve discovered in my time here is the sense of community. You don’t get that in other social media platforms - and by that, I mean Facebook. I’m quite happy to not go back there ever again.
The take-up rate of something like Steemit will depend, I think, on the ability of people to shift their mentality from one of posting any piece of rubbish they find, to one of how can they create something worthwhile. People who may have found success on Facebook or other mainstream SM may not get the same level of recognition here.
I’ve had a look at a couple of other Steemit competitors, mainly just to see what others are doing, and am yet to find anything that feels ‘like home’ as the Steem platform does.
This was a really enjoyable read, and I’ve found a couple more Steem related apps/innovation I’d like to check out as a result of what you’ve written here. Namely this Partiko I see popping up all over your post. Thanks again.
Yeah also most of my friends have left here so I think the dApps needed more development. I think in two years it could look very different
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Well said! I’ve been on Steemit a little over a year and I love everything about it. I just wish the coin wasn’t tied to BTC so tightly.. gets frustrating when the price keeps dropping below 1$
Thanks for the list! Always interested in new platforms and innovations.
WOW, if FB gets its own crypto coin, I think people will dig in deeper there with everyone else being a distant second as far as number of users and retention.
I'm personally trying to stick with the main networking accounts (FB, twitter, LI, Instagram) but getting around to using more Steemit apps. I can finally use Partiko! I just needed to load it to my Android tablet. happy day
Honestly, I think I sign up for everything that I find because I want to secure my username. Nearly all of them are collecting dust - but I'm okay with that! Time to visit these new links and sign up LOL
No mention of https://trybe.one/
They seem to be the most direct competitor to Steemit that I have seen so far. Seems to be running on EOS too.
Yes thanks for mentioning them
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so
many
social crypto blockchainy networky thingy
Steem blockchain has the clear advantage of being the first blockchain based social network of it's kind. Next in line is minds.com which is cool too and uses Crypto but Steem has a much bigger eco-system at this point - Dtube, Dlive, Parkito, Utopia, SMTs developing, Hives (communities) and the very important HF #20. Plus, the many others things.
Yeah that’s what I learned during my time away from here. Musing.io, Steemhunt, Partiko, Utopian and then Steem Monsters, it’s feeling like a larger ecosystem than before for sure. More development and users in niche dApps, that’s how I think it can grow once the dApps are responsible for onboarding new users... that was the bottleneck before that needs to get fixed
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I came across CROWDHOLDING last night, I really don't know how it works yet.. You should probably check it out. https://www.crowdholding.com
hmmmm contemplating steemit alternative? plummeting crypto price worrying everyone?
Hi @stellabelle! We are @steem-ua, a new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation! Your post is eligible for our upvote! Thanks for your contribution, keep up the good work, and feel free to join our Discord server!
hmmm interesting
Nice report, I think none of the competitors really have a rich eco-system as Steem. Although the current linear reward system might be flawed, and atmosphere of comment section can be a weird sometimes, but the eco-system on Steem is so far the best.
I'm using Lit too after @future24 told me, an alternative to Instagram story, I don't mind using it, but so far haven't found a way to transfer those Mith mined on the app.
I did some research about ONO, not really sure if I would spare some extra time for it.
Welcome back to Steem :p
ONO is just a baby but you get rewards for logging in and doing activity so it’s good for that aspect.
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Yes Steemit is the best & first of it´s kind (still unique too) and Im only using other social-network app/platforms for promoting Steemit and it´s nice to earn some tokens/coins with it in addition, like with the Lit app.
Geez, I had no idea there were so many up-and-coming social media platforms. Thanks for getting this discussion going.
great list of new dapps. I was not familiar with many of these. I just signed up for ONO yesterday. It's interesting, but I'm still getting used to the app. I do like that you can make ONO pretty easily since it is so new, but of course no one knows what that will be worth. Now I want to try out some of the ones you listed.
Good information, I appreciate you work. I created a account on minds some time ago but not able to spare time to explore more.
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Hello Stella, very interesting article)) Myself i ve tried Lit for almost one month and Minds just for a few days. Minds was really complicated and i ve lost interest soon, Lit on the other side is very very simple so i stayed longer. The problem with Lit is that it is all what is wrong with social media, like for like follow for follow, photos of nothing, just fast food and endless clicking. You become just a click machine. Now i am testing the Appics app and even though it is still in testing mode, it looks really good. I dont think that it will become a competitor of Steemit, but kind of complete it like a more intagram like extension of it.
A couple of others that have popped on my radar lately are https://whaleshares.io/ which is a clone of STEEM. Also https://trybe.one/ is in the early stages but planning to build on EOS.
Also I agree with a lot of the stuff you mentioned in the first half of the article. I realized very early on that this platform doesn't attract younger people. I feel like the core demographic is 35-45 and then you have people on both sides of that but doesn't attract people under 25 years of age.
I have thought about this a lot because I see people posting on Instagram and Snapchat and it is interesting to think about what those platforms have captured that a platform like this can't. It is very odd because there have been stats come out that about 18% of college students in the United States have some crypto so you would think they would want to earn some. But when it boils down to it this place is a weird experience for most and then they peace out quick.
Never know thereare so many similar platforms... Know a few mentioned above but not all.
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Steemit and Minds so far...
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Whoever pays the most wins... so far only Steemit. No one else compares....no one
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Ono looks like a disaster
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Great list. I'll have to check some of these out. I've already got accounts at Minds and Narrative. Otherwise, I'm still unsure about some of these. Thanks for posting this though.