It is a little late but it's still 2017. Actually, @steemitblog requested community input to finalize Steemit Roadmap 2018. The request was posted more than a week ago but I couldn't post due to some reasons. I do want to be part of community input program and suggest improvements that I can think of. This post is my contribution as a Steemian who wants to see Steemit go bigger!

Image Made Using Free Tool Canva

Steemit Blog announced that two developments will be completed before the end of 2017.

•  A highly secure mobile wallet app for Apple and Android 
•  An updated notifications system for steemit.com 

Meanwhile, there are three important 2018 items on the plate already.

1. Improved sign up process for new users.
2. Hardfork 20
3. Smart Media Tokens (SMTs)

I wish to suggest three improvements on Steemit. 

1. Fiat to Steem Direct Purchase Option

Much needed is an option to buy Steem directly instead of first buying Bitcoin, sending it to an exchange, buying Steem from it and then send it to Steemit wallet. Here are the problems.

Problems with Existing System

• Buying Bitcoin is not easy for all. Some countries have declared Bitcoin illegal and most popular Bitcoin exchanges do not work there, leaving Steemians with little options.
• Even if Bitcoin is bought, sending it to an exchange where Steem is traded costs significant fees.
• Then buying Steem has a transaction or network fee on that exchange.
• The whole process involves at least three different platforms (Exchange where bitcoin was bought, exchange where Steem was bought and Steemit).
• The whole process not only costs a lot of money in form of fees, but also takes a considerable amount of time.

Clearly, the current options of buying Steem (or Steem Dollars) are not fulfilling Steemians' needs.

Proposed Solution

• A fiat gateway in internal currency market on Steemit which allows buying Steem or SBD at market rate (CoinMarketCap), with a nominal processing fee.
• Or a separate website independent of Steemit.com but built on Steem blockchain where such a fiat gateway may be provided.
• The financial regulations are involved so an existing company, which already fulfills financial regulations, may be brought to an agreement to provide such a service.
• Steemians should be able to use thier credit/debit cards to pay for buying Steem.
• Such a platform can also be used to help Steemians to cashout directly into their banks/cards but to avoid excessive liquidity (and thus a fall in Steem's price), limits should be implemented on Steemit.

If Steemit does not intend to provide such a service, it is a very good business opportunity for anyone else. In this case though, transparency and trust cannot be assured and scams can happen.

2. Influence Adjustment of Steemit

The current reward system and influence allotment mechanism seems to be depriving Steemit of fresh user base and user retention is such a great issue that Steemit must solve at the highest priority. I think user retention has a lot to do with how influence is distributed on the network.

Problem

I am using graphs from @arcange latest Steemit statistics report published on 25 November. All images are his creation and being produced here with full credit to him.

• Firstly, know that Steem.io shows 334.25k Steemit accounts. Meaning that more than 334,000 people are on Steemit.
  
  
  
• Now, let's look at graphs from @arcange post and see how many of them are active. Look at the overall number of active users since the beginning. Still under 30,000 (less than 10 % of total accounts).
  
  
  
• But new users are joining daily. In thousands.
  
  
  
• Without significantly increasing the number of active users; which remain below under 30,000 consistently. Look closely at the number of authors who are active. Hardly 10,000! That's less than 3 % of the total users.
  
  
  
• In fact, we are looking at very base of the problem in our next visual. The number of new inactive users is more than 289,000.
  
  

That's not a problem. It is a chaos for a platform which is trying to become the next way of doing social media and blogging. The way things are, only a handful will stay active and rest of the Steemians will leave.

Solution: Adjustment of Influence to Retain Users

The only way to retain users is to give them some of the incentives that elder people enjoy here. I mean the Steemians with more influence on the platform. Currently, the platform distributes influence (the value of one single upvote/downvote at 100 % power to be exact) as per the vested power a user has. In simple words, the amount of Steem Power. Here are some problems with the current distribution.

• While Steem Power is a good metric to distribute influence, the distribution itself is way to favorable for those with money, and way too hostile towards people with just brain but no money.
• Steemit boasts Proof of Brain but rewards Proof of Money. The whole thing is called Folly of A vs B; which means rewarding A while demanding B.
• This seemingly unfair distribution of influence leads to mass abandonment of Steemit platform by users; as already proved with evidence above.

Here's what Steemit can do to retain users.

• Change the influence distribution such as the new users and minnows have a slightly more valuable vote and the whales have slightly lesser value of their votes; thus balancing the influence distribution and incentivizing staying longer on Steemit.
• It will greatly reduce heavy bias towards whales and motivate user retention as minnows could be able to support each other better on their own without having to look for whale votes or voting bots.
• Communities will flourish when minnows will be empowered enough to support fellow Steemians and thus Steemit userbase will increase; active and engaged.

The problem of voting bots also arises partly due to this distribution of influence. That will also be curtailed.

PS: I wish to get this blog noticed and as per current algorithms, the only way to be seen is to get bigger upvotes. I will buy votes from a few boosters. Please do not flag me for buying votes. See what this post is trying to achieve and upvote it rather than flagging it for buying votes. (@transisto, I respect your concern for the platform. I am concerned too and this post is a proof. Please don't flag this one.)

3. Curtailing Self Voting

Another reason Steemit struggles to maintain a healthy active user base is that people use their votes for themselves. Self-voting is perfectly fine because their money is their own investment or hard work. But it is certainly not fine to use majority of Voting power on yourself.

Problem

• While many users distribute their vote across the platform, there are some who self vote excessively. 
• Self voting deprives others of votes and drains reward pool for limited or no effort (in case of self voting on all posts and comments of own).
• It promotes selfish behavior in the community. 

Solution: Limited Number of Self Votes

• Everyone should be allowed just 3 full votes for self per day. It means that a total 3 votes of 100 % power of votes of any percentage but adding up to max of 300 % (for example 6 votes of 50 %) should be allowed per user per day.
• The algorithm should not allow more than 3 full votes per day and 7 votes should be dedicated to others' content.
• The 7 votes will be distributed in the community and authors will flourish. Reward pool will be distributed all across the platform, rather than going to a few people.

Conclusion

That's it for my suggestions for Steemit Roadmap 2018. Please be part of the discussion in the comments and also support with your upvotes and resteems. 

What improvements do you want to see on Steemit next year?