Very interesting.
Yeah what is the "thing" about Steemit.
Well for me it became pretty clear from the outset that the community was very different from other social media platforms.
But what?
First of all, what really captured my attention was the Steemit "introduceyourself" method with the obligatory photo holding a piece of paper. I had not seen this before. As a visual person this had a powerful affect on me.
It shouted out something of truth and integrity and motivated me to be part of it. I spend a lot of time advising newbies to the same if they had not done this. Only yesterday I did this with a new member who has been on Steemit for about a month. They then looked at my intro post from December 2016 and today I saw that had gone for it.
Perhaps I am making too big a thing of this but I am only speaking from my own experience here. In my opinion this is a "thing" on Steemit, or at least one of the "things" that makes it unique.
The money part on Steemit will always be a "thing" I guess. But as time goes by and crypt currencies become more accepted in the general population, it will become less of a "thing". The world is changing because ever since the 2008 crash people are educating themselves about how money works. People never thought about this before. They simply went on with their lives trying to earn a living. But when their jobs and homes were suddenly gone because of greedy corrupt banksters who had broken trust with us all, then people began to wonder how this could have happened. They started educating themselves. That is what happened to me and it lead me to Bitcoin 6 years ago.
Steemit is revolutionary for sure but history moves on and rivals to Steemit may pop up in the future.
I see your meaning here @timcliff. In a world with many other Steemit style platforms on a blocjchain and its own crytpo-cucrrency, why would people choose Steemit? What is its "thing".
One other "thing" for me is the "reputation" system on Steemit. I was also blown away with that too. In modern times reputations seem to mean shit. In fact having a bad reputation can even go in your favour in certain circles or professions. I am rather old fashioned that way and like the idea of people earning a reputation. It is a kind of self policing method. A good reputation can take years to make but seconds to destroy. In the american native indian culture, a chief was chosen from their reputation of demonstrating wisdom.
Putting reputation as an integral part of Steemit was a wise move IMO and is a "thing".
Honesty is also a "thing" here on Steemit I would say. I tend to find people more honest here. I dont know that for sure of course because I can only speak from my experience. Perhaps I have been lucky but then I have been lucky many times. These are just what was my initial reaction but I will give the matter further thought and see what else comes to mind.