My 10 year vision for Steem : could Steem become the WordPress of the tokenized world?

Most of us, including me, are too impatient with Steem.

Tokenization of the web is going to be a big thing.

Steem with SMTs will be perfectly placed to be at the centre of that movement.

But it will take time. It won't happen overnight. Just think Wordpress.

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A Quick History of Wordpress

Most people who use websites have heard of WordPress.

It is a free, open source Content Management System for building websites of all types and sizes.

WordPress is now used by over 60 million websites representing more than a third of all websites around the world.

But it took time to get to that position.

It was launched way back in 2003.

I first dabbled with it in 2005. It was clunky, difficult to use, but it did the job, just.

It was also quite revolutionary for its time allowing people to build websites without needing third party software like Frontpage or Dreamweaver.

WordPress was in a way 'decentralised'. Anyone could build a website for free and host it anywhere.

But it was still rather for the 'technically aware'.

Gradually though it built up a following, gained market share and attracted more and more developers to build 'addons' for WordPress in the form of plugins and themes to extend the capabilities of the core system.

Ten years after its launch WordPress in 2013 had a 17% share of the website market. Six years later, in 2019, that figure has reached 34%.

Now WordPress is very much the go-to starting point for many who want an open source website.

It has got ever more capable and ever easier to use.

There is an ecosystem of 10s of thousands of developers who work with WordPress.

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Could Steem become the go-to platform for the tokenized web?

Steem is only three years old. Wordpress was still tiny at the equivalent point in its history. It had only just released its second major version, and no one really knew if it would stay the course.

With Hardfork 21/22 and the arrival of 'NewSteem' Steem is in a similar place. It is ironing out the kinks, smoothing off the rough edges, becoming ever more capable and gradually easier to use.

Steem-Engine with its tokens and tribes has given a foretaste of what is to come.

With the imminent arrival of SMTs and Communities from Steemit Inc, Steem is looking well set to be in pole position to lead the tokenization of the web.

There are still big areas that need to be improved like account creation and onboarding. Many areas still need to be simplified and made more accessible for non crypto users.

Take a look at the history of WordPress on Wikipedia and see how it evolved over many versions...

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPress

I first had a go with version 1.5 and 2.0, but then left it aside. It wasn't until v3.7 before I started using it professionally.

My start point with Steem was a bit over a year into its life. I'm glad I have stuck with it as an early adopter.

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Imagine Steem+10 in 2029...

Think ten years from now.

Steem is the underlying platform (blockchain) for over a third of the world's tokenized websites.

The first port of call for businesses, public authorities, community groups looking for a website is a Steem-based SMT system.

Tens of thousands of developers are continually developing apps, dapps, tools and addons based on steem.

The Steem blockchain will be overseen by the Steem Foundation. Steemit Inc (or whatever its name may be then) will be like WordPress's Automattic, still contributing to Steem core development but also looking at commercial opportunities and acquisitions.

The few thousand active steemians that are here now will be the pioneers of the platform.

And the price of STEEM...

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[ graphics by @pennsif ]