
At present, most of us use a social network. Whether it be to inform us, keep in touch with our friends or family, to share our experiences day by day and find advice or support, and even to share and promote our art or to promote our company. The fact is that social networks are already part of our daily lives.
Essentially, we can define "social network" as an Internet platform that we access through an explorer or application, to share interests or activities in general, allowing the exchange of almost any type of data, privately or publicly. Among the best known we can think of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram with 1,900, 328, 1,000 and 700 million users, respectively. Each focused on different types of content. So it was only a matter of time before distributed accounting touched this area.
In this context comes Steem, the blockchain on which is based the social network Steemit. In this article we will take a walk through the most important aspects of this network.
STEEMIT
The Steemit network has the main difference, as for other social networks, that rewards its users with cryptoactive, or, in other words, the participants of this social network could earn money by sharing, creating and voting content.
We do not need to be experts in blockchain or cryptoactive to use Steemit, just constancy and creativity, because the main goal of this network is that the content is useful and attractive to other users. It's very similar to a blog: users write posts to which photos or videos can be added, as well as links or mentions to other accounts within Steemit. There are even some tools to facilitate some related functions.
Basically, to make a publication we click on "Submit a Story", and there we are presented with a simple box in which we will write and develop our idea. We also have a simple text editor.
Then, we can only promote it through the chats, tags (tags) and channels that Steemit has to do it. For this, we can include other social networks and share our content with more people, expanding the network of Steemit.
It should be mentioned that the post will have seven days to be voted and generate income, then it will be registered in the blockchain forever, so we must be sure of what we will share; Although, yes, we can edit after published - if you were asking. Creating or voting valuable content (being healers) is the way to earn STEEM (the network crypto). However, we must know the platform a bit more thoroughly if we want to realize its full potential.
HOW DOES STEEMIT WORK?
On the platform there are three types of rewards for publications: STEEM and Steem Dollar crypto, and STEEM Power. The first is used for the operation of the network and to be marketed in exchange offices such as Poloniex, Open Ledger, Bitterx or ShapeShift, which could also be bought STEEM with other cryptoactive, as well as Steem Dollars; With the difference that the latter will always have a value close to 1 to 1 with the US dollar. For its part, STEEM Power is the measure of influence that the user will have to vote or publish: the more power a user has, the more rewards he / she can receive. Additionally, with STEEM or Steem Dollars you can purchase STEEM Power.
In order to claim the reward, however, we must wait for Steemit's seven days for the publication in question to be voted on and disseminated; Equally with the comments. The payout percentages are typically split between 50% STEEM and 50% STEEM Power, although there is the option to collect everything on STEEM Power.
On its operation, it must also be said that, on a technical level, the Stech blockchain differs from others like Bitcoin in that instead of "miners" it uses "witnesses", who are rewarded with STEEM Power to produce the blocks; So no, it can not be mined. In the protocol, called "delegated proof of stake", only 10% of the cryptoactive produced is assigned to the witnesses, while the other 90% is awarded to "Content Producers, Healers and Holders of STEEM Power" . With this system, which is also open source, a new block is produced every 63 seconds.
At the same time, the community will choose the "witnesses" who will operate the network, produce blocks and act as a kind of government. There are 20 witnesses each producing a block in each round of 63 seconds, and a number 21 that will serve as a reserve. The user has 30 votes to choose the witnesses he prefers.
advantages and disadvantages
Of course, the first advantage is that we could make money simply by sharing the content we probably already share in other social networks. Second, it is transparent, thanks to blockchain technology, giving us greater security. We also have freedom of content, because through the right labels we can expose almost anything, as long as it is legal. And, finally, it is decentralized, which means that no state entity or government can control it.
Of the cons, in the first place, is that after the aforementioned 7 days the content does not generate income and only remains as information - the comments can continue to generate if they are new, because they work as another small publication. Secondly, everything is registered forever in the blockchain, which depending on how you look may be an advantage; But we run the risk of repenting to publish something and when it is registered there is no way to remove it, although it is possible to edit and hide it from the Steemit interface.
It should be mentioned, surely as an extra advantage, that the network has been under the gaze of some of the famous and enthusiastic Bitcoin ecosystem, who have become steemians (as users are called), such as singer Tatiana Moroz, or Writer Neil Strauss, also known as Style and Chris Powles; Who accompanied Ned Scott, the CEO of the platform, in the first Steemfest.
DOES SIMILAR PLATFORMS EXIST?
The immediate answer is yes, although many are in their early stages. In fact, Steemit is still in its Beta stage. There are some other networks of this type, but focus on another class of content, such as music and multimedia content or art. Alongside these, stand out blockchain platforms that specialize in rewarding just the creators of content (whether artistic or not) and enforcing copyright.
Akasha, which is an application that combines Ethereum technology with the so-called "Inter-Planetary File System", where users can publish and vote content and also generate micropayments; And Voice, a Russian platform that using Steemit as a template intends to give a voice to the Russian people in their language.
Both the latter and Steemit can be combined with other systems, which although they are not social networks, aim to decentralize the Internet in the same way that Bitcoin has done with money. Of these systems, MaidSafe points out that in 2016 it was already launching its alpha version of SAFE (Secure Acces For Everyone), a platform that aims to improve the protection and storage of data and cyber attacks, and avoid massive surveillance by the agencies of security. Sia, meanwhile, seeks to offer the best decentralized storage service in the cloud, and just this July received $ 400,000 to boost their projects.
Finally, the outlook seems to indicate that both decentralized networks and decentralized Internet in general have many benefits and good chances of becoming part of the day to day in our future. And Steemit, with its latest steps to improve the platform and its decentralization plans, does not intend to stay out.