Should I start posting again on Steemit? [Steemit Identity Issue]

Back in the days (~2017) I was trying out Steemit. See my old posts at https://steemit.com/@sanb

One of the issues I addressed was the identity of Steemit, rather to say the lack of identity. Recently Steemit got my attention again and wanted to share my thoughts again on propose something to move forward for Steemit.

Analysis Steemit [rand incoming]

Let’s face it, I am a designer and the look/feel for Steemit is kinda hard to read.

The color usage is blend and typography is small, and on the homepage the typography is a sans-serif but at the posts the typeface is a mix with mainly serif. The pages seems to be divided in 3 columns, of which the left and the right column stay the same throughout the website. The greenish color has hardly any contrast on the white backgrounds. Certainly isn’t WCAG 2.1 approved at this point. Although dark mode seems a bit better. On desktop the typography is kinda readable, but on mobile it simply doesn’t work at all. Text and image overflow, and the comment section has a tiny typeface. The pages are loading slow which shows in the PageSpeed run tests. It grades as “F” with a 8% performance and average loading time of ~11s (seconds!!) and a page size of approximate 15MB (that’s Megabyte) and a staggering ~600 requests.

Anyway room for improvement.

Community proposal to improve the Steemit Website

First of all we need to look at the user of Steemit. What does the user looks for when visiting Steemit? We need to figure out the needs and requirements of the Steemit user.

• What is the "Why" of Steemit? Why does the user come the Steemit and what are they looking for?
• Where can the user find interesting stuff to read tailored to their personal interests?
• How to connect to the community in an engaging way?
• How to contribute and what can I do with Steem Power?
• What does the user need to keep coming back and engage with the community?

Personal note: When I visit a social media/content website I want to learn/read on something that is engaging, fun or entertaining.

Photo by UX Indonesia on Unsplash

Who is the Steemit user?

When browsing the website, I find a lot of posts that seems to have a promotional function. Links and ads are put into posts. That leads me to the question, what does the reader wants to read or is the website just a link builder for SEO? I know a lot of bold statements, but we need to address issues in order to move forward.

Who is the steemit user?

Please comment in the sections below what you want from the Steemit community.

Abstract from the the white paper

I have read bits and pieces of the white paper, below a summary.

Steem is a blockchain database that supports community building and social interaction with cryptocurrency rewards.

Steem combines concepts from social media with lessons learned from building cryptocurrencies and their communities.

An important key to inspiring participation in any community, currency or free market economy is a fair accounting system that consistently reflects each person's contribution.

• Principle 1: The most important principle is that everyone who contributes to a venture should receive pro-rata ownership, payment or debt from the venture.
• Principle 2: The second principle is that all forms of capital are equally valuable.
• Principle 3: The third principle is that the community produces products to serve its members.

Note: There is not much in the paper about the users and focussing on the user interests.

Compare the statements from the white paper to competitors in the space:

• Reddit is a network of communities based on people's interests. Find communities you're interested in, and become part of an online community!
• Twitter is a 'microblogging' system that allows you to send and receive short posts called tweets. Tweets can be up to 140 characters long and can include links to relevant websites and resources.
• Facebook is a social networking website where users can post comments, share photographs, and post links to news or other interesting content on the web, chat live, and watch short-form video.
• Qzone a popular social networking platform based in China, where users can upload multimedia, write blogs, play games, and decorate their own virtual spaces.

My point here is that competitor (centralized) socials networks are focused around user needs and requirements. The idea to engage is to provide useful content and evolves around the user. If I am missing the point with Steemit, please correct me in the comments below.

Proposed community rewrite of the whitepaper and the purpose of Steemit

As Steemit is a decentralized social media platform I would suggest we simply as the community how they see Steemit and what do they want from Steemit.

Everyone in the community can propose suggestions on what should be improved and by voting, discussing we will figure out the future of Steemit.

Anyway I could be totally wrong with this post, and just trying to figure if there is still life in Steemit for me.

Photo by Robynne Hu on Unsplash

Onwards to a Greatness!

Share who you are and what you want to get out of Steemit!

Let's start a movement together.