In light of the recent news that Steemit Inc has laid off 70% of their staff due to funding shortages, I thought it would be worth sharing my (admittedly, uninvited) opinion about how to create a sustainable funding solution for Steemit heading into the future.
Crypto Merch Link: https://www.moonmerch.co/
DISCLAIMER: This is NOT financial advice. I am just offering my opinions. I am not responsible for any investment decisions that you choose to make.
▲▲▲▲▲ Looking to get started with cryptocurrencies? Check out my crash course here: https://louis-thomas.teachable.com/p/buying-bitcoin-crash-course
I think it would be a shame if steemit started advertising but if that what it takes so be it. Thanks
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I would be fine with ads, but I'd rather have the option todo a paid membership. For example, if you use Steemit for free, you'll see ads. But if you're on the subscription plan you can have three choices:
Monthly subscription for $10 a month
Yearly subscription for $60 a year
Lifetime subscription, a one-time payment of $150
Paid subscribers will be able to use Steemit ad-free and become a verified user (like a golden star next to their name or something) since they're contributing monetarily. I would buy the lifetime subscription in a heartbeat.
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Hi @yogidarshan thanks for the reply. The verification mark (check or star) shows others you're a trusted user. To me, it would add more value to the account than just a high reputation number, especially for those who are running a non-dApp business like I am. And I'm talking about paying with a credit card, not cryptocurrency.
A company like Couchsurfing, for example, has a multiple-level verification system. You can submit your passport pic, add your address, etc.
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I like this, maybe you could earn access to steemit by contributing content, likes earn you access?
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I think that Steemit could work with advertising but innovating in doing so. They currently have the capacity to leverage the data available on the blockchain from the millions of data points from posts, comments, and votes. They could provide both advertisers and users a transparent experience by targeting ads to the interests of users or even a section for ads that can be consumed at the option of the users in exchange for upvotes.
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Ads suck rocks. Consider the number of people who would instantly quit if Steemit started using their data to serve ads. I for one would certainly perceive it as cheating and a broken promise
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Agree but unless I don’t understand the concept of the blockchain, isn’t all of the activity and data available and immutable? My thought is to provide a gateway to pay for ads for those who opt-in to see them which will then be rewarded for their attention. The ads would be catered to the interest of those users so that it is not as disruptive.
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I see what you mean - but that implies getting interested parties to invest in steem power first (so that their "upvotes" can entice people to have a look at their ads).
And that is precisely Steemit.com problem - focusing on the blockchain they were not very successful (to say the least) at bringing investors to the blockchain and making them power up in sufficient proportion as to at least keep the price of steem at a cool 0.35 mBTC for instance (while Steemit.com would power down and sell STEEM to pay salaries)
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i really see this model of steemians being paid for their attention working well potentially. similar to how the brave browser works with BAT. i think this video is wonderful! thank you @louisthomas :) i'm a brave user and BAT investor. investor here as well...and i think it'll work great! we shall see. @exyle 's post today is excellent. https://steemit.com/exyle/@exyle/steemit-com-is-running-at-a-loss-start-generating-revenue-or-get-out-you-are-strangling-other-applications-from-succeeding
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opt IN...as you said @newageinv ;) https://basicattentiontoken.org/brave-launches-user-trials-for-opt-in-ads/
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Hmmm, it can be a good idea. Steemit INC should take 1-3% of all posts to fund itself. I believe ‘‘tis is the best solution. 😀
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Thanks for making this video. I also believe that advertisement is a underutilise tool to generate revenue.
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Then again, lack of advertising is a unique selling point for the steem blockchain in general and Steemit in particular. I don't think I'm alone in saying that is Steemit introduced advertisements, I would instantly lose interest in it. Ads destroy the trust bond between a user and a platform. Suddenly I cannot feel part of this platform but I become a product, to be sold for money by the platform. I despise the idea. I gave a lot of personal data to this blockchain precisely because there was no commercial exploitation of my personal data. I would certainly not have done so if I had been just a product to be sold to advertisers.
That certainly doesn't solve the funding issue of Steemit.com. Then again, "two wrongs don't make a right". Steemit.com sits on over 45 Million STEEM and it is only their fault that these STEEM are not worth $450 million but rather $15 million
That is to say, the real solution to Steemit.com funding issue is increasing the value of STEEM
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AMEN, I despise advertising as well for the exact same reason you mentioned.
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No problem! I've really enjoyed hearing your perspective on the matter over the past few days.
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Good idea on opt-in advertising, but you can't have "censorship resistance" and business advertising together. Public corporations at least can't allow their brand to be screen captured in context with many of the content creators that are being censored elsewhere. That's WHY they're getting censored in the first place. It's all about the money.
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This was what I was going to say. Ads would be trading one problem for another. Become beholden to corporations and then they begin dictating what can be allowed. They will become the gatekeepers to what is fake news and what is real, what is real science as opposed to fake etc etc. Alternate versions that are contrary to not only their image, but their product (if they are shady, which so many are) will not be tolerated. The path to freeing our community from censorship is not to hand the keys over to those who are known for censoring.
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I think in general this platform/community is in the process of needing to clarify its guiding principles. It has recently come out that what we thought were those of Steemit Inc. in fact never have been. See this from Luke if you don't know what I mean.
So are we foremost about paying content creators for their content? Or about being a platform rewards pool tokens can efficiently launch on? Or about being a blockchain social media site supported by advertising? Or about being censorship resistant social media? Or what? We've been having a bunch of parallel conversations because there are disconnected ideas of who we are even trying to be.
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The more I read and the more I think about it, I am reaching a terrible conclusion. It is dead caused by bad management. I don't see how can things improve, after wasting a year in Hard Fuck 20 Velocity, which by the way didn't improve registrations
Ads? To what Audience???? Bots???
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Sorry to hear Steemit is facing such serious problems. Thanks for the update Louis! Hope a solution will be found. Cheers
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Been off steemit for a while...really sucks to see this. The option of advertising is a solid one...needs to be executed sooner than later
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One very important fact is, that to implement an ads system, negotiating deals with advertising agencies or the likes would be a really huge project and require ... manpower.
That said, i definitely think you are right on your point and i see a natural fit with DLT eliminating the middle man. But only to some extend. There will still be a need for content aggregators. Otherwise, it would be a royal mess for both consumers and advertisers having to negotiate deals with a gazillion people.
Personally, I'd be fine about being exposed to advertising as long as it doesnt completely steal focus from the actual content I'm reading. And the option to have all users pick at least 2 or 3 areas on which they would accept advertisement seems like a fairly easy and straightforward implementation. But i fear that it would be everything 'around it' that would require massive amount of work and likely some up front investing too.
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No, please no advertising, at least no old fashioned advertising. I somewhere read ( I don't know where) a lot of brand names were claimed already by the Steeminc company. So why not give (or sell) these accounts to the corresponding brands. So that way they can create advertisement posts which in return the can promote to the trending page or whatsoever. That way there will be revenue for Steeminc and advertisements but not those annoying banners. This obviously has to be worked out more but you get the picture
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I think advertising is not a bad option as steemit is in dire straits. It can always be reviewed later if we need to continue or not
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@louisthomas I do agree that advertising on Steemit would be beneficial for the longevity of the platform, but you said it yourself, that is exactly what we as a community have tried to avoid. When SMT's are launched (will the launch date now change due to layoffs, who knows), the benefits of advertising could be astronomical for those attempting to launch their own ideas on the platform. I think we are starting to see now, though, that the idea of not implementing it would hinder its growth. We have seen such a downturn since the announcement to delay any rulings by the ETF. We are not dealing with a decentralized market anymore, in a sense. Government involvement, advertising....ergo becoming mainstream is the only way. I don't like it, but I get it and know its necessary in order to maintain value in the investment I've made in Steemit.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts @louisthomas - agree that advertisements could work on Steemit, if handled properly.
I must say a big personal thank you as it was due to one of your YouTube videos that I discovered Steemit in the first place. I even took the plunge and attended Steemfest3 in Krakow last month, and met some incredible fellow Steemians who opened me up to a whole new world of discussion and thought on the space.
Who knows what future lies ahead for Steemit (and indeed all of the cryptosphere), though the recent news is a real shame. The news particularly bad timing for me as I'm planning on travelling throughout 2019 and blogging about the experience on Steemit, giving away 50% of all Steemit earnings to charity!
For me (and for the people I hope to help), a Steemit resurgance would be a good thing, though clearly plenty would have to change before then. See you on the other side?
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With this many users there has to be a monetizeable solution, I will back them to eventually find the right strategy to keep the platform growing. If not, I can see users themselves finding the solution.
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I have been following your YouTube channel for sometime and didn't know you are also on Steem.
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Thanks for trying. Cpt. picard!
Im happy to assist your exit. I never suggested anything erotic!? How u infer the love of 100 mothers as erotic is beyond me! U have no concept of respect or humility, which is a real shame!
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This post was upvoted by SteeveBot!
SteeveBot regularly upvotes stories that are appreciated by the community around Steeve, an AI-powered Steem interface.
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Can the Brave Browser give $STEEM a shot in the arm ?
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There does need to be some outsource in revenue without it ur just bleeding the block chains value which will become unsutainable it's business 101 and steem collects hardly any fees at all so no wonder they ran out of money it's not rocket science
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You are correct ....by all means : ads.
You are correct....Steemit is pretty much free of ( centralised) censorship.
However the main driver for most people was the “money for nothing” angle. Now that it is clear that the “money” is a near-worthless cryptocurrency.....well....the future is not bright.
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Maybe most people are imagining seeing banners on Steemit. But let's remember Steem is a content publishing platform and, as such, nay be that advertising could be implemented as "promoted posts based on your previous interests and activities on the Steem blockchain".
Airdrops are often published on Steem. Those companies could create a new user account on Steemit and pay them in order for the post to be seen by those users which upvoted posts containing airdrop word on the title and which post or comment in ETH or Waves tagged posts.
I don't use Steemit too much, but I won't stop using any Steem client which started including that kind of promoted content.
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I've thought that adverts should be here from the beginning, with a profit sharing model.
They don't necessarily even have to take a percentage though, as many different terms of service for adverts do not allow sharing a percentage of the money. Due to this, they can actually choose to take 100% of these ads, and share a percentage, possibly even 100%, of the ones that do allow profit sharing. I believe that adverts would give people a lot more incentive to post content, as they could get income on content, even after payout.
A potential problem I can see with this is possibly ending up sending lots of Steem or SBD to accounts that are no longer active. Of course, that could actually be a good thing, as a large amount of Steem may eventually be tied up. That lowers potential supply. There are already a ton of accounts that have had their passwords lost.
The majority of problems people have with ads are specific types. We don't have to use popups or popunders. We don't have to have annoying vids that require you to watch them to see content. We can just use simple banner ads on the top and bottom, and potentially some sides. Maybe if we really need the money we can put them at the bottom of posts. We can host simple images on the steem interfaces to avoid tracking. We don't have to use anything that is a security risk. We can get paid without being Facebook. They chose to be that scummy.
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When BitTube's AirTime browser extension is activated in 3 weeks, it will pay publishers for content and readers/viewers for consuming that content, while blocking ads. So if Steemit does display ads on its site, I won't be seeing them because I will be using the extension and getting paid for it. The beauty of it though, is that Steemit will get paid for it also, just by viewers browsing its site. No ads necessary.
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