I’m ecstatic. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you guys to the twelfth edition of SteemMag, a weekend digest for Steemians.
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This weekend’s issue is a special one has it marks the 3rd month of running SteemMag.. And its been an exciting journey so far..
Every week, I take a look at some of the most important topics and have a chat with top Steemians who have expert views on such topics.
In case you missed it, here are links to Issue #1 , #2 , #3 , #4 , 5 , #6, #7 , #8, #9, #10 and #11
This Weekend Special Edition has thrilling features you would enjoy. To commemorate the third month of running SteemMag, I had a chat with one of the earliest Steemian to see how far we have gone….and chats with Steemians who are giving us a peek of what steem/Steemit is to become in the future.. An integrated chain of different web apps and functions…
Also, for this weekend issue, I would be using the same style as that of the first edition…
In page 1:
SteemMag reached out to @smooth, the first ever Steemian to be interviewed on SteemMag. He is an early whale, investor , a top witness and a cool nice guy to be with.
I also reached out to @steemrollin, the Founder of Peerhub, The Steem Dollar marketplace
In Page 2:
SteemMag had a chat with @thecrytptodrive, the Man behind SteemSports, a wonderful initiative that’s fun and aims to redistribute SP to participating Steemians.
I also reached out to some early steemians on Steemians Speak feature and asked them to make predictions on Steemit at the end of the year…
Also, to celebrate this special event, SteemMag will be giving out free SteemFest Tickets
A CHAT WITH @smooth
SteemMag:
You are one of the earliest Steemains joining over 5 months ago. How has the journey been so far?
@smooth
There have been obviously huge ups and downs, not only in terms of the price of STEEM (and I do come at this primarily from the perspective of an investor) but waves of new users and bloggers, the mega payout, the hack, etc.
SM:
You mentioned this 3 months ago on SteemMag #1… Which path do you think Steemit is currently heading to?
@smooth
Interestingly, both. As a cryptocurrency and blockchain platform, it has established itself in the top 10 (currently #8 on coinmarketcap). And likewise, as cryptocurrency projects go, the user base is a respectable size, and that was achieved very quickly. Yet, at the same time, active user growth has slowed to a trickle at best following the post-July 4 surge, and it doesn’t seem that on its current path Steem will necessarily be all that well known beyond its current audience by the end of the year.
As a social media platform the user base is minuscule. Those of us who have brought people to the platform have found that most of them have not stuck with it, which hints at some of the problems holding back growth. Unless something major changes to bring more users, investors, and attention I do unfortunately see Steem stagnating and even declining.
SM:
What's been your most exciting moment on Steemit so far?
@smooth
Clearly the July 4 mega payout. It was at that moment (and over the following days and weeks as people figure out how to “cash out”) that Steemit became “real” to users who had signed up and seen themselves being rewarded for their contributions with numbers on the screen but had no way to access those funds.
SM:
There have been several changes on Steemit over the months. Which has been your (a)favorite and (b) least favorite change on Steemit?
@smooth
My favorite change in Steemit is the “Feed” feature (including the new “Resteem”), which has really changed how people interact with the platform and discover content. My least favorite have been the various economic changes which have been proposed and in at least one case implemented.
I feel the approach that has been taken (especially cutting Curation Rewards from 50% to 25% of the reward pool) have led to making Steem a less attractive and more dangerous investment and contributed to declining investor interest, along with a number of other problems that are more complicated to explain.
SM:
You've been in the cryptocurrency space for quite a while, what do you see elsewhere that you would like to see on Steemit?
@smooth
More privacy. The Steem blockchain is among the least private with coin holdings and transactions not only on a public ledger but directly tied to a visible social-media identity, and easily visible on a web site.
Other privacy-focused projects such as Monero (where I’m directly involved) and Zcash have generated a lot of excitement in the cryptocurrency world over the past year and this is something Steem is sorely lacking. Private transactions are on the Steem roadmap but there hasn’t been any visible progress toward actually implementing anything.
SM:
What's your opinion on the current state of censorship on Steemit? A number of people think Steemit is fast turning into a highly censored platform…
@smooth
I do not like how the flagging/hiding feature works at all. I would prefer to see individual users have more control over who and what they want to hide, rather than enforcing these features globally as is the case now (which can indeed be seen as a form of censorship).
SM:
You're the most active whale on steemit. I see your comments on Steemit literally everywhere… What's the 'secret" and how many hours do you spend on steemit every day?...
@smooth
Sleep when you’re dead
SM:
What would you do if you wake up tomorrow as a minnow? (More like A Day As A Minnow .....an experiment by @smooth .lol )
@smooth
This is an experiment I’ve considered doing. Specifically to sign up using an unknown “minnow” account and try to build up my SP. Not particularly enjoying writing or blogging is the biggest obstacle, as long as those are the primary ways to earn on the site. Perhaps that is just saving me a lot of frustration though. The minnow’s life on Steemit is not easy!
SM:
Steem price is currently at $0.5. It shot from $0.025 when we first had a chat to over $4 last 2 months.. Do you think it can reach that height again and even GO higher?
@smooth
It certainly can, but it requires either a turnaround of user growth toward much higher levels on the social media platform, or some sort of “pivot” that allows the blockchain to thrive in some other manner despite the social media aspect stagnating.
Possibilities of latter that have already been discussed are smart contracts side chains and a decentralized marketplace. I’m sure there are others. There are also a number of independent developments to approach social media from a different angle, such as Busy and SteemQ, that have a lot of potential and I’m really excited to be supporting.
SM:
Any last thought/ message to Steemians?
@smooth
Invite your friends, which is the same comment I made during the first interview. However, this time I would say to invite your friends to bring new ideas about how Steemit can break out of its current fairly-limited model.
Thanks @smooth for taking the time to have another chat with SteemMag.. Wish you all the best… And do have loads of fun over the weekend ;)
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Steemians Speak - Where do you Steemit at the end of the year?
@the-alien
I see steemit better and stronger, we'll probably see and up and downs and we will have problems and solve them, the market will offer solutions. Or people will step up, But I honestly think that one year from now, we can look back on how far Steemit has gotten in one year. I expect many more people to join, and more social features and apps, and a larger market place
As in for the price of steem, I prefer not to make predictions. To give a wild guess, I'll say 1 Dollar per steem. But as I sad, wild guess
@nanzo-scoop
I think Steem will be in a very healthy position. Lots of new features on Steemit. Lots of new apps. Lots of great content. As for the price. High inflation will dictate that the price continues to decrease IMO.
I see the price being around 25 cents at the end of the year. However in crypto you just never know...
This Week On Steemit
A lot of interesting events happened this week. And in case you missed them, we’ve got your back. Here are some of the most important events that happened on Steemit this week.
~ @steemitblog announces Graphene 2.0 , the underlying technology that powers the blockchain.
~ Steem maintains last week’s 8th position on the coinmarketcap.com’s crypto market capitalization list.
~ @roelandp announces the third set of speakers for SteemFest – A November 3-day conference for Steemians
~ @furion lays groundwork for SteemQ – a decentralized video platform running on Steem blockchain
~ @ricardoguthrie’s Yaadio, a niche online store for handmade jewelry forges a partnership with Peerhub.
~ For a comprehensive list of dedicated Steem apps. check out SteemTools.com
~ Meanwhile, SBD reached a recent high with rates ranging from 1 SD = 0.88 -0.92 this week
~$0.45 and $0.5 were the lowest and highest value traded this week for a unit of Steem respectively.
Check out page 2 for more exclusive chats and Free SteemFest Tickets Giveaway
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