So I''ve had a very interesting day and I owe it to Steemit and how it has empowered, inspired and fueled my passions, all at once. I've only been on here a short while, but the overall feeling I get from people is that they are still limiting themselves on here. We are sitting on some of the most amazing technologies of our times and just using them to put up normal blog content like we used to do on other platforms. That's cool, I guess... Buuuuut
Let's just jump back a while. We don't remember what life was like without the printing press, but it was pretty different from the information saturated world we live in today. Books were hard to come by, very costly and people usually kept private libraries. That is of course, if you could read at all then.
Fast forward some more and we have telegrams, phones, faxes and eventually the home personal computer. Suddenly, people could write and edit text without the annoyances of typewriters and white-out. Not long after, we are all able to connect and share information. Slowly, we start to see what else we can do and e-commerce, wikipedia and all forms of Offline, become online. It all comes one after the other and we get used to new things, find new ways of using them in order to create new things that couldn't have existed before.
The Machine is Us/ing Us
Now we are at the point where Social media, face to face conversations, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies are easily and readily available for anyone who can get online, which is also much easier, faster and more enjoyable to do (comment below if you are an 80s kid an know the pain of dial up.... that noise!). One person can connect with, share information, NOW send money directly and otherwise help that person tap into their own personal network. I know it sounds simple, but let me give you an example through the day I just had.
I wrote this:
/@ecoknowme/just-got-my-gynostemma-tea-jiaogulan-ginseng-nice-for-green-tea-price
I was just trying to think of something to write about and figured it would make as good a story as any.
I also go to send an email to the company since I had been a bit rude and impatient, wanting to let them know I received everything just fine. No worries, sorry for being feisty.
I had gotten my original bad mojo from a review I'd seen, so I wanted to counter it with my own positive experience that might quell other people's concerns.
This leads to me getting contacted directly by the company, inviting me to give a good review, which I was happy to do.
In jest, I also attached a copy of the article since I had just written it coincidentally, and thought they might get a kick out of it.
Next thing I know, I'm talking to the head of the company on the phone discussing plans to help his ecologically minded organic products get more coverage. This is exactly the kind of thing I wanted to do on here. Help people already doing awesomeness.
SO I tell him about Steemit, and ears go up and seeds start to get planted and suddenly I realize this is an opportunity for him to not only promote the company through Steemit, but actually he could move his operations onto Steemit, as well.
It's a very simple idea and I know many of you are working towards promoting your own work, company, project etc, but then again, some of you might just be trying to think of some interesting things to write. And that is fantastic and I enjoy lots of content on here. But sometimes it feels like we are all driving around in really fancy expensive fast cars, but instead of going to the beach, or to visit friends, or GO somewhere, we somehow are content to just drive slowly back and forth on the same road, holding up a picture or an article we threw together quickly just to have SOMETHING to show. We are all finding our way and I am none to judge being such a nube myself.... but I do appreciate many of the developments I see on here and many things that have probably been here for a while but are just new to me. @steemshop and @curie come to mind.
So here is my vague, somewhat inspiring plea to you dear Steemians, think outside the screen. How can we use Steemit in ways that aren't even in development now? Forget the beta, delta , omega version... try to imagine how we can use this revolutionary technology, that can protect our content, connect our wallets, share our hearts and actually make changes in this world that simply wouldn't be possible without Steemit?
I made a friend, managed to convince a company I believe in to give Steemit a go and got to integrate many of my interests, hobbies and passions all into an experience I couldn't have imagined happening without Steemit. You have leverage here. New people are coming. You are going through the growing pains of an emerging community that may still be digesting itself with imaginal cells. What comes out of this community in the days, weeks and months to come will depend on us and how we make use of the tools so readily available. We might all be wanting our post to get read in the next 48 hours, but it will stay there, for the ages ;)
I'm just one person, but I have a feeling that if combine this blah blah with the type type machine in the right way.......
Magic might come out.
Got any plans?