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A lot of things have changed since I joined steemit in Aug 2017. I have watched the steem network slowly transform from a blogging site into a technology ecosystem with limitless abilities to create decentralized apps that could one day change the the idea of internet and social networking as we know it.

Most people on the steemit platform only come here to earn money by blogging, they don't even realize the underlying value in the steem network. With the crypto market cap taking a beating (all of 2018) many people are loosing faith and interest in steemit/steem, but I am here to tell you this is the worst time to walk away! Believe it or not Steems future is extremely bright.

However, unless you took the time to read the 23 page Steem whitepaper pdf when you joined steemit you might not realize steemit is just a small part of the Steem Network, the tip of the iceburg (so to speak). The reason the Steem token will be so incredibly valuable one day isn't because of steemit, it's because of its ability to allow other Dapps to ride on top of the Steem network blockchain while simultaneously creating their own tokens and networks. Basically creating its own ecosystem which all ultimately runs on Steem. Many of you have seen this slowly integrate into steemit but never knew what was even happening behind the scenes of this "blogging site."

With hardfork20 completed we are now looking forward to the release of the Smart Media Tokens (SMT's) protocol which is scheduled to happen in Q2 of 2019. I don't know if you have been paying attention but things have really started to change on this platform. A lot of decentralized apps (Dapps) that ride on the Steem blockchain are gearing up for the release of SMT's and things are starting to get pretty exciting around here.

Decentralized Apps

There are many different kind of Dapps available on steemit, some are new ideas some are not. Some of the Dapps created on the steem network just improve the steemit blogging site like @esteem, @steempeak and @partiko, because lets face it the steemit platform itself is not that impressive. So people have taken it upon themselves to create a more user friendly and better looking steemit site. But I don't think any of these offer a SMT token as of right now.

Some Dapps mimic mainstream social media sites on centralized servers. Sites like YouTube, twitter, snapchat and instagram have been transformed into Dapps like @Dtube, @Dmania, @Dlike, @steepshot, @appics. Sure these Dapps aren't quite as good as the mainstream sites yet but those sites don't pay you to create content, so which is really better?

Mainstream social media companies have had years and years to develop/code and had endless amounts of cash to advertise and help move that technology forward. Whereas Decentralized Apps (on the steem network) have mostly been developed with a small handful of people on a shoestring budget (if not for free), so you can imagine why they aren't "equals" just yet. But that is changing fast as more and more people realize they can get paid for their content!

There are also other Dapps that offer services like @dstores (not released yet), that will act as a decentralized e-commerce store like amazon where you can sell your products through their Dapp and @air-clinic which is a decentralized health care Dapp. Or even @steemmonsters which is a unique card game with trading cards, the ideas seem to be endless.

Lately I have been trying to indulge myself in as many of these Dapps as possible to see what they are all about. Many of them have some really great qualities and some off the dapps have even started their handing out SMT tokens (they are locked up until SMT protocol release in May) so I am able to start collecting their SMT tokens through delegations or proven acts via posts (which are linked through steemit).

My favorites

After trying out many of these Dapps for the past month or more I have finally decided on my (personal) favorite Dapps that are available so far. From what I understand there are hundreds of Dapps already on the steem blockchain so I know I missed a lot, please don't be upset if I didn't mention your favorites.

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#1 - @actifit - Actifit is a Dapp that rewards you for your activity (step count). Not only do you get nice upvotes on steemit but you also earn AFIT tokens with your proven activity (through an app that links your step count to your steemit post). The fact that this Dapp encourages people to be more proactive with their health by rewarding them monetarily is truly a life changing idea!

The team on this Dapp is extremely motiviated as well, they are constantly updating the Dapp and adding features to make it better. Actifit just made it possible to connect to Fitbits, so anyone who currently uses a fitbit could download the Dapp and get paid to do something they are doing anyhow! This Dapp has the ability to really become huge in the future, I mean who doesn't want to get paid for their activity?!

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#2 - Dtube - This is a decentralized version of YouTube. Everyone loves youtube, we just need a decentralized version so central authorities can't take down any content they choose. Freedom of speech is under assult and the giant tech companies are leading the way. Let's give free speech a real platform for free speech with Dtube!

I know Dtube plans on participating in SMT's but they are just now gearing up for the release of the protocol so now is a good time to get more proactive with Dtube so you can be an early adopter of their native token when it drops.

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#3 - @steemhunt - This is a website where you "hunt" for new products/technologies and them post them with a brief description, a few pictures and a link to the steemhunt site. This is a great site to learn about cool new gadgets that are being developed all over the world, you wouldn't believe some of the cool things you find on this site. @steemhunt not only rewards you for your hunts but they also reward you for your upvotes and comments too. They have started their token give away and they also have a really cool "lottery" button that you can press multiple times a day and it will give you free tokens! How can you beat that?

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#4 - @steemmonsters - This is an online trading card game with a lot of potential. To be honest I don't know to much about this Dapp but it seems like everyone on steemit is talking about it. From what I understand it is kind of like the game Magic, you have battles with other players and each card possesses its own type of magic or power (someone please correct me if I'm explaining this wrong). You can buy sell or trade cards with other players to make the most powerful stack of cards you can. It seems like a lot fun, I just don't have the time to learn it right now. However, there is a massive following already and people are extremely excited about this Dapp so I had to have it on my list.

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#5 - @air-clinic - This is a Dapp was created by a doctor and could help to change the future of health care. Many people don't have easy access to doctors and/or can't afford to see a doctor as often as they like, @air-clinic is trying to change that so people can be more proactive with their health. This Dapp gives people easy interaction with doctors and also gives them opportunity to pay for services rendered with the cryptos earned for being active on the @air-clinic Dapp.

Ways to earn tokens on @air-clinic besides delegation are by writing health articles, daily check-ins, social activity like writing comments/replies and participating in health quiz's. @air-clinic also has health related articles to read and doctors that are available to chat with at any time. I believe this will really encourage people to stay more proactive when it comes to their health.

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#6 - @cleanplanet - This is still a rather new idea so it isn't quite as far along as some of these other projects but considering I am a hippie this one really hits home for me. @cleanplanet is a group of people who really care about the environment. They are rewarding people with upvotes on steemit and their own SMT token for helping to clean up the planet! Pretty easy right? I think so.

This is basically a group of people who are sick and tired of seeing litter everywhere and are trying to change the world one piece of trash at a time. To earn tokens in this group, just delegate some SP or take video or pictures of you picking up trash and do a quick post about it (on steemit) and make #cleanplanet your first tag, that's it. Then you have joined the @cleanplanet club and are helping to save the planet! ;)

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These are my favorites right now, I know I have missed a lot of great Dapps on this list but that just goes to show you the amount of Dapps that already exist. This is the reason that steem will be so incredibly valuable in the future, not at all because of the steemit blogging site so don't loose hope in these down times! Before you get all concerned about the low price of steem just remember that one day Steem will be one of the top 5 cryptos and the thought of a $0.40 token will be a distant memory as we all kick ourselves for not picking up more at these cheap prices!

Bottom line is that Decentralized Apps are the future of steem and to power these Dapps a lot of Steem Power (SP) will be needed. Right now there are already a few Dapps that have over a million SP! Just imagine when there are thousands of dapps that need/want that kind of SP!?! The supply and demand aspect alone should sky rocket the price of Steem, not to mention the use cases available and the sheer volume of the ecosystem at that point.

These Dapps won't be able to afford to buy that amount of SP in the future because it will be to expensive (and/or that amount just won't be available) so they will entice you to delegate to them with monetary rewards. So now is an amazing time to stack up on as much steem as possible!

Steem's future is so bright, I gotta wear shades!

Steem On Steemians!

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