Entrepreneurs & Developers: Let's Improve Coinmarketcap & All Other Predatory Ad-Based Applications
We're now in the 9th year since Bitcoin came into existence. So what's are some of the most successful eyeball-grabbing cryptocurrency-related web applications at the moment? The most prominent is Coinmarketcap.com. It's now coming close to the Top 100 websites in the global arena. To my knowledge, runner-ups are:-
- Binance at ~#200
- Coinbase at ~#300
- Bittrex at ~#400
- Poloniex at ~#900
- Steemit at ~#1000
*according to alexa.com
As someone who's into Steem, naturally I'd want to see more (web) applications leveraging this piece of technology. It works, and in my opinion, has the potential to solve problems with monetizing web traffic and user activity. Today I'd like to focus on Coinmarketcap.com because I'm fairly confident that it's a path of least resistance to perform the following:-
Decentralising power and control. Becoming too large and centralised has always shown not to be a great idea as it becomes disproportionately profitable for exploits, usually at the expense of users and supporters (re: the recent Facebook and Cambridge Analytica fiasco). For Coinmarketcap, there's also a case to be made for replacing the Twitter / Reddit segments in the social tab into Steem-based community applications, while including actual social content functions that tap into the Steem ecosystem.
Getting rid of predatory advertisements with functional, battle-tested token economics. Applications built on Steem don't have to rely on the notion of ads at all, at least traditionally, as already proven on websites like Steemit and D.Tube. You just need community activities and votes. While advertising is not entirely a bad thing, I think we can all agree that advertisements ought to evolve into something more non-invasive, non-predatory. Let word-of-mouth and peer-to-peer communication work the magic of entrepreneurship and discovery.
Personally, I think utilising Steem in getting rid of predatory advertising and improving applications of such nature is one of the better solutions out there. There are others as well with useful and differentiated crypto-economic models such as Substratum and Oyster Protocol. However, they're still just not as intensively battle-tested as Steem, and not even available for mass use at the moment so it's hard to recommend at time of writing.
So if you're faced with a Coinmarketcap with ads versus a clone without ads, which will you go to? The ad-free one that works similarly like the original ad-based one, of course. Unless you really don't mind pesky advertisements. The same can also be said straightforwardly for just about any websites and applications from Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, and such. The Steem protocol and its applications is making such a convenience possible. App entrepreneurs and developers should just focus on the integrity of content and information.
In the near future, web users could all be co-owners of the applications they use through the power of Steem and Smart Media Tokens. Quoting myself from a recent private Discord channel recently after wondering about the store / marketplace function previously suggested back in 2016 - "In the end, I guess users will need some dashboard populated with apps for different things on the Steem ecosystem. Steemconnect V2? Or maybe V3.."
So if you're a developer, entrepreneur, or have family and friends with such skills, perhaps it's time to starting building on the Steem ecosystem! Spread the word.
Resources
Steem Whitepaper: https://steem.io/SteemWhitePaper.pdf
Steem Bluepaper: https://steem.io/steem-bluepaper.pdf
Smart Media Tokens Whitepaper: https://smt.steem.io/smt-whitepaper.pdf
Steemit Winter Update: https://steemit.com/steemit/@steemitblog/steemit-winter-update-2017-reflection-our-vision-statement-and-mission-and-a-look-forward
Steem Apps Listing: https://steemprojects.com/
Steem Dev Portal: https://developers.steem.io/
Note: I'm surely biased about ads, as I'm sick of seeing scammy or annoying crypto ads on Coinmarketcap, about 2 or 3 in every page that I go through! Even on Youtube multiple times a day.
Hi, I was invited in a focus group discussion attended by economics lecturers from a number of prominent universities in Indonesia and Bank Indonesia (central bank). The FGD will take place in Yogyakarta on 5 April. FGD themes on cryptocurrency. And I want to promote Steem and SBD in the meeting. You know, many economics lecturers and central banks are very anti cryptocurrency.
The article for FGD was already I posted and got curation from you. I want to get criticism and suggestions, what else to say in the meeting? I want to make them respect to Steemit, Steem, and SBD.
Sorry if I use this space to ask you for suggestions. But this is related to the strategy of introducing Steem and SBD to the financial and academic authorities in Indonesia.
Thanks so much @kevinwong.
It's very well reasoned, I like your article @ayijufridar. You've included what I think are strong points. I'm not sure what else to add. In the end, I think most people in institutions are uncomfortable with volatility, which is the nature of unregulated markets. Regulation is all about stability, hence the requirement to be able to exercise some control on the markets to reduce shocks. However, doing that for a prolonged period of time just hides the risks, when in fact, things are going bad especially for something as large as national currencies. Faked market stability could lead to complacency, because people don't see any problems then. This is why regulated markets could blow up really badly when it happens. Unregulated markets like cryptocurrencies on the other hand, reflects risks and confidence of the people more clearly, which is why it's volatile. There are many kinds of cryptocurrencies, but I think Steem stands out as it's engineered to be a voluntary platform that's free to use, decentralised, secure, and is simply a public content platform with its own currency. Not sure what "collaborative commons" is in Bahasa Indonesia, but it's a term I like to use and it appeals to individuals - afterall, it's what communities are made of.
Thanks so much @kevinwong. Additional explanations from you can be my argument in the discussion later. I will mention the source from you if you allow.
You are right. Stability and protecting citizens' assets are often the reasons for the financial services authorities to make regulations that have the opposite effect. instead of protecting assets, it actually gives a disservice to the citizens. I think, in any country, the condition is almost the same in view of the existence of cryptocurrency.
The state seems to want to affirm its existence by making regulations, limiting and making restrictions. They don't see the problems from the aspect of the interests of the citizens.
The existence of Steem / it should be examined from various aspects, not just from the legal aspect only. The social aspect should also be studied, as many young people get jobs through Steem. Many young people can hone their skills through Steem. Steemit has helped a lot when the government (eg in Indonesia) cannot do much to reduce unemployment.
Thanks for the addition of your argument, @kevinwong!
Yeah that true ads are really annoying on coinmarketcap. I check coinmarketcap nearly every hour and these ads pissed me off. I would be great innovation if there is app like coinmarket app on steemit/steem. We want to get rid off these annoying ads. Thanks for article.
Resteem
Kevin, I think you should create a fund for these purposes. Unfortunately, developers wont create complex things on Steemit for free. As developer myself I can tell that's because of a double risk (risk of creating something new + risk of the platform). I love steemit, but I have to admit that there is an additional risk.
So, the Steemit Developer Fund could solve this problem in some degree.
I think there are dev funds on the platform, although I'd need to hunt that out. Plus there are already ready-to-go ways to monetize (like the beneficiary split when votes go through a dev's platform) and build the budget for projects starting from scratch. In that sense, the risk is lower compared to most platforms. I'll look for it btw, thanks for the reminder!
Thank you for those resources!
CoinMarketCap is a big provider of crypto related data. Other Applications relate on them, because they got their name already big in the game. If you would ask me, i would rather go on cmc than on anything else atm. Nobody likes ads, but i like to see them as an way to appreciate an content developer on other platforms. The way steem work, is and will be far more superior.
Thank you very much for this big upvotes
A decentralizing CMC (maybe even an SMT?) would greatly benefit some of the components they have and incentivize crowd-sourced material like their lackluster "social" information that's super vital but poorly managed.
Sorely needed! Also, check this out.. very amusing info: https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/7o0sej/coinmarketcap_data_analysis_people_are_mostly/
that is, all express each other. may be more to the motivator
Forgive me, if this somewhat off-topic, @kevinwong, but everywhere I turn, I hear talk of Facebookgate.
On FB & Twitter, talk of folks deleting their account after this latest privacy breech scandal. And, every opportunity I get, I pipe in about the alternative I’ve found, here on Steemit...
I hope this works out to our collective advantage! BTW, did you see this damning confession by Mark Zuckerberg? in 2010?
Perhaps this is really the time to leverage on the growing Population in steemit and build more apps on the system. Developers and entrepreneurs need to come together to make this happen. I have a few developer friends inam hoping to talk to today and hopefully they will join the steemit platform and do a few things for us.
Decentralized all the way. Look at the recent trouble Facebook is getting into with user data. And even YouTube is getting controversial with demonetizing users whose "views/opinions" do not match those of the "advertisers" of YouTube. I also think Decentralized Exchanges will play an important role later in 2018. I like your ideas.
I think with user adoption, Steem's multiasset DEX will work wonders. Also time for whichever exchanges that are widely used to pivot into DEXs..
@kevinwong. this post is the great. because, talking about crypto, is indeed unique. because this is a new thing. some people understand crypto is only limited to high-tech modern applications. but some of the other crypto is a borderless business world
LOL :) Although I understand what you are trying to say, all the methods used by users at Steemit to advertise their own posts is also advertising, just in a different way but sometimes more annoying than the banners-ad websites. And I agree with you, too many ads run to try and get people to buy some new token with nothing solid behind it. I guess we will she this increased even more with more and more platforms emerging allowing anybody to launch a token.
Haha coz Steemit is still a free-for-all website (or Steem in general without the segmentations at the moment). I've not been looking at the ICO landscape. Seems like it's still going if the ads are still going..
Interestingly, when we consumers start paying for content, this will provide a business model for any content and service provider. I for one, am subscribed to a independent news agency; Their subscription fee gives me NO ADs + independent research not pushed by advertisers, or hold back by advertisers. Within a year they were able to gain about 60.000 paid members, all Dutch since the content is in Dutch language. 60.000 from a population of 17m is quite a bit. This tells me when done right, people are willing to pay for good and quality content. The blockchain and the money a blockchain creates is another way to finance; However I give it another decade to become more mature.
What is also an interesting development, but still not rolled out in to many sectors is the VRM model: the consumer indicates what he/she wants, and the producer/seller can make their offers. When we deploy this for everything we as consumers want to buy, advertisement as an art/task could be completely abandoned. What a nice world would that be!?