As you know, the direct recommendation is the best way to sell an idea and this article is how I've been preaching away the word of Steemit.
In the last days, I've gone deeper and deeper into this rabbit hole called Steemit, it's becoming such a thing in my life that almost without notice I've been talking to people around me about this new and amazing social project.
To be honest, I'm quite surprised and amazed how well people tend to receive the Steemit concept. I've been in the Bitcoin scene since February 2014 and since then I've talked to so many people about bitcoin and maybe 95% of them didn't understand what Bitcoin could do in the future or even sparkle the curiosity about a new disruptive technology.
Well, with Steemit... that's a different story! I say this because in just a few words about Steemit I'm able to grab people's attention and notice that "sparkle of curiosity" regarding Steemit becoming a bright lighthouse! I'm truly amazed regarding the feedback I've been having, and if with Bitcoin I felt that only 5% would grasp it, with Steemit it's the exact opposite and I feel that almost everyone shows genuine curiosity leading to a quicker understanding of the basic concepts of content versus reward.
I guess that when people are looking at a post and they see the total amount earned with the dollar sign "$", it's normal and usual. They don't stop to ask, for example, if it was displayed "124.42 SD" they would stop and ask "what's this SD, this is not money...". Usually, this kind of situation tends to create confusion and branches out to technical questions pushing away newcomers or leaving them thinking it's not actually real and it's all play money.
Conclusion, Steemit hit the bullseye by choosing to display the amount earned in "$" instead of STEEM, Steem Dollars, or BTC, or any altcoin! It simplifies and for example when I start showing a post to a friend, I say "look, this post has earned so far 1000$" and the magic happens, people know that 1000$ is worth 1000$ and there's no confusion there leading the talk to other Steemit details.
In the last four days, I've talked personally with more than ten friends about Steemit and some already have joined the platform, Hurray! And others are motivated to join real soon saying "I'll join it soon!" and I only say to them "Call me if you need any help with it, or if you have any more questions! (smile = trust = support )"
Meanwhile, with all this preaching, I've picked up some good pitch lines to grab my friends attention and also some basic and minimalistic explanation on how things are within Steemit:
"... So, we have the button "Like" on facebook right? In Steemit, it's almost the same but the like button it's called "UpVote" and when you give an UpVote you're claiming that the content you upvoted has some value in some way. On the other side, the publisher (content creator) will be rewarded according to the number of votes and status of the voters, cool right? Well, everyone knows that Facebook does not reward they users in any way, in fact, they just take your data and profit from it, and if have to pay to have more expose and more likes. In Steemit you get paid. Pretty cool right?"
"The basic concept is simple, in Steemit it's all about the "content", everyone can write about anything but it's not guaranteed that every post you make will bring you profits. If you publish interesting stuff or quality material it's highly probable that your post may start getting attention, in time the community will pick and reward good content. As always, some may like what you post on your blog, others may not, but everyone is free to share their stories, advice or junk without any nonsense!"
Usually, when I'm "preaching the word", It helps a lot to have a computer or a smartphone nearby because you can show the Steemit platform in real time. Just before I type the steemit.com address I also say something like this "Ok then... what you're about to see, imagine that it's like facebook when it first appears on the university campus, the very early stages. Steemit now is like that first version of facebook that was not very pretty and lacked some functionality, in time will grow and be more user-friendly ok? so let's dive into it!
About the "user Status in Steemit" I explain that it's not just the upvote that counts, but who gives the upvote. There's the Status Factor, and there are users that have more Status in the platform and their upvote is worth more than a new user without any Status. So one upvote can be worth 0.01$ or it can be worth 30$. The users with high status usually try to pick and upvote contents that are juicy, that are interesting, or have what it need to be a hit post. If they pick a post that in time has a lot of upvotes, that same upvote will be profitable in the long run.
One moment I like to watch, is when they start looking at the Steemit landing page and they start looking at the top payouts, they start opening their eyes making remarks about the rewards per post, they make comments, questions, they become so intrigued, it's priceless to witness that "wow moment" and probably it's that moment the fuels me to keep it going!
And it's not only young people! A few hours ago, I went out to eat with my parents and they had the complete and full introduction in Steemit! We've talked almost for two hours about Steemit, Social Platforms and we're the all may go in the near future... At the end, even they like the idea! They understood the concept and how it could give some extra financial support to people that are in need! (Big shoutout to my parents: Love Them!).
And what do you reply when asked "where does the money come from????"
I have a straight approach to this question, and it goes more or less like this: "I'm not going to get too deep with technical details and I'm going try to keep it simple ok? So, everyone can upvote and each upvote has its value. I don't know the exact numbers but let us say that every day the Steemit platform releases 1 million dollars per day to be distributed throw upvotes, during that day all the upvotes will drain that 1 million dollars and on the next day the same thing happens. So, every day there's a constant release of value. Then there's another variable, and it's like stocks were the price of a stock can go up or down, the same happens with Steemit were the Steam Dollar has a price and can be sold in any exchange."
But without any doubt, the hardest part is when I have to explain how to get their money from Steemit into their bank accounts. Since none of them have ever bought bitcoin, it requires me to explain the current state of cryptocurrency, where there's an exchange where you can sell this for that, then send it from here to there, and finally to the bank account. I usually end saying that cashing out money from Steemit and all the required conversions takes about an hour or less and what really delays the most, is actually the Bank Transfer, but since Portugal is in Europe's SEPA zone, it takes 24h to reach your account, so it's quick!
This conversation can happen in 5 minutes, or it can take 2 hours, every case is a case, and if you have understood what you're saying and you have your pitch lines at the end of your tongue, then this new thing will continue to go Viral has it become to be!
And tomorrow is another day, I'll come across more people and the cycle will repeat itself over and over.... and to be honest, I'm loving each moment of it!
From Portugal to the World with love! Cheers!
This post goes with inline with yesterday's post "Steemit Community Challenge - "How can you change someone's life for better when they are in need!" and if you like today's article, check it out also!
(message from the content creator (ME): if you reached this far in the text, congratulation to you! you rock because you're really using the platform and reading content! thanks and remember to upvote if you like my stuff!)
words and thoughts to feed the mind by BrunoPro // 22 July 2016
Time thinking about this: a few days
Time writing draft: 1 hour
Time reviewing to final version: 2 hours
Time to do graphics and text formatting: 3 hours
Total time spent in article: 6 hours
Feeling after publishing: Exhausted but again, that same fulfillment.
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