The value of STEEM

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I read an article earlier today that while comprehensive and well written made me question their thought process. They had a few statements at the start that I just couldn't agree with.

Steem's success or failure really has nothing to do with how many tweets we make on the steem hashtag (sorry @nathanmars), or how much we power up as individuals.

When people hoard tokens trying to become dolphins, to gain reputation through over-investing in the Steem platform, it makes me sad. They are being taken in by a lie.

What you can do is be a little more selfish. Ask not what you can do for Steem. Ask what Steem can do for you. Expect a lot from it -- if you're going to contribute your time, your wisdom, and your reputation to this platform, it damned well better pay you a lot in return.

I'm all for people expressing opinion and I don't have to agree with them. And they don't have to agree with me. What we can do is put our points forward and create discussion about it. Maybe we can both be right or even both be wrong.

This was the original post, https://steemit.com/steem/@heymattsokol/don-t-ask-what-you-can-do-for-steem-ask-what-steem-can-do-for-you by @heymattsokol and I just wanted to write about why I think we can add value to the blockchain, no matter what level we are at.

The Monetary Value

In my opinion the value of STEEM is twofold. One side of it is obviously the money and the dollar value of STEEM.This is based on the perceived value of the token and the demand on the exchanges for it.

So can we effect the price as individuals?

Absolutely we can!!!
As @theycallmedan stated not long ago, "At the current cap there can only be 300,000 accounts that hodl 1,000 Steem, and that's if all the whales sold."
So if we as users can all power up and reduce the supply of liquid STEEM then people will have to pay more to buy it as it instantly becomes a more valuable asset due to its rarity. That's why I love to see projects like #tenkminnows as it educates smaller users on the benefits of long term thinking.

We have all seen the price increases lately and some of that is in part to getting more listings on new exchanges. It spreads STEEM to more people which is a big part of future sustainability.

So does tweeting help?

In my opinion, of course it does. One of the issues facing the chain is lack of users and user retention. Getting #steem noticed and spreading the message will be a huge part of gaining new people. Unless they know what we have here how will they ever join in? Twitter has a lot of people following crypto projects and influencers so getting our brand out there is step one of marketing. We have gotten notice and listings from twitter and from entering contests before so you can see the effect it has.

The Content Value

The other value on STEEM are the users and the content that they produce. Every person on the chain that is aiding development, producing content or using the apps is adding a value to the eco-system.

People are what gives this place value. The more you do to increase use and value the better for everyone including yourself. If the price rises we all do better for our efforts. This should be a long game and it's not about instant profits. I love being here so everything I earn is a bonus otherwise there is no point in spending my time here as I already have one job to grind away at.

The system isn't perfect but it is improving. We have some great people involved with it that will bring in more people later on. Every day people make the concious descision to log onto the STEEM blockchain rather than facebook or instagram or whatever they could be doing instead. Every minute spend on activity here is a choice. For some people it might be solely about the money but for the users active right now I doubt it. A lot of those dropped away with the price so I want to assume that the people still left are here because the want to be. Because they enjoy being here.

That is a value in itself. That is our selling point. People are here because it's a good place to be. You can game, blog, read, listen, watch, learn, interact. I can do this anywhere but I choose STEEM.

From above,

if you're going to contribute your time, your wisdom, and your reputation to this platform, it damned well better pay you a lot in return.

I don't think that there is any entitlement to earn. Nowhere else guarantees it and STEEM doesn't either. But if you do put time and effort into the site you can earn which is the take away from this. That is something that my other online activities have never offered to me even though I know that it can be done with other social media's here the smallest account can grow with time and effort.