How SteemIt Can leverage mobile technology to empower creatives around the World and especially in Africa!

Its amazing how Steem and its web app SteemIt has been able to revolutionize the way content is created and shared today. SteemIt is a social media platform similar to Reddit or Tumblr that leverages Blockchain and rewards content contributors. Steem is currently accessible online at SteemIt.com on a Web interface.

SteemIt can achieve even greater heights by developing a mobile user experience that targets the millions of creatives around the World who are looking for creative ways to earn an income. There are  99,832,718 units of Steem with the symbol STEEM which can further be divided into smaller units ensuring that there is enough potential earning power for earners on this platform especially if the platform is able to sustain its growth and get adopted in places such as Africa. 

There is an interesting blog written on SteemIt by @Invore who tells the story of how he has been able to generated over $40,000 of SteemIt just from blogging, read here. While this is an amazing feat there is  even more opportunity for many people to generate relevant content for their context. For example an African doctor can write blogs on how he is able to treat patients in the villages giving crucial tips to other people facing similar health issues around the World. Indeed it is NOT only about generating Steem Dollars but also adding value to people lives.

In our Blockchain Opportunity eBook we look at some of the key characteristics of SteemIt that could make it a huge success and bring normal everyday people into the Crypto-Currency space. They Include:

Innovation: Steem has identified a niche market where traditionally social media companies, such as Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter earn billions of dollars in revenue from content generated by its users. These users do not benefit from this earnings despite spending time and effort in curating their content. Steem supports social media and online communities by returning much of its value to the people who provide contributions by rewarding them with virtual currency. Other existing Crypto-currency tipping platforms require users to send Bitcoin as a reward to content providers. With Steem, rewards are sent out for activities such as upvoting a post. The Steem Blockchain distributes payouts in two ways which are 50% Steem Power for voting and 50% Steem Dollars. This rewards are distributed within 24 hours of content being posted on the platform.   The challenge for Steem is how to replicate its Web success in the mobile and app World think about how successful the Pokemon Go phenomenon has been in enabling people interact with the real world. This success is because the user experience of the application has been so well thought and developed for the mobile platform.

User Experience: Steem has a very simple to use online platform that allows users to post their content online and earn Steem Dollars and Power.  According to Eeks (Eeks, 2016) a user on the SteemIt Web2.0 platform is flexible and is what each person makes of it. It's also easy. Self-evident and easy. You sign up and write a blog or share news like on reddit or post photos or disseminate a white papers or tag a recipe or a hotel review and so on. That's why it's able to onboard so many new, different people.                         

As shown in the Image above Steemit.Com web application is very similar to Wordpress a Web2.0 blogging tool that is behind about 60% of websites on the Internet today. The main difference is that users of SteemIt as shown in the image above are able to earn Steem dollars for their posted content. Furthermore, there seems to be a correlation with how many followers and comments a post has and the number of Steem dollars earned for the post.    

The video above by Craig Grant explains how the SteemIt.com platform works. He explains, The reader is able to earn Steem Dollars from following the author and posting comments. An article by user eeks stated that SteemIt is Bitcoins killer application because it brings fresh and new people into the Crypto-currency space as they are already familiar with blogging. Indeed SteemIt has been able to enroll people from diverse backgrounds who are now posting a wide range of content ranging from academic papers to artistic content. As Eeks states in his article that most of this people have never bought Bitcoin before but are now earning Crypto-currency for their work.  Steem should now also introduce a micro blogging component similar to Tumblr.

Target Market and Potential: Steem is a well thought Crypto-currency project that is successfully merging the Web 2.0 with the use of Blockchain. Steem is currently adding 600 users a day and has the potential to grow to millions of users with the current momentum especially if it make use of mobile technology like Android phone which are being adopted exponentially in places like Africa .  Should Steem be successful it will have introduced thousands of people into the World of Crypto-currencies. Indeed, Steem lists the following benefits to identified markets segments, which includes:

1. Entrepreneurs: Who can use the Steem platform to empower people around the World. 
2. Content Creators:Who can reach more people and get appreciation for their efforts in content creation.
3. Readers: Who can identify the best content by rewarding the content creators and curators with Steem Dollars and Power.  
4. Market-Makers: Who can generate liquitidy while earning Steem and Steem Dollars trading on the inbuilt Blockchain-based exchange incentives. 
5. Social Media Sites: Can Integrate Steem to empower their users to earn for their posts and their time on your site. 

What is your Steem story do share it with us in the comment section below we will post the best comments in our ebook titled The African Blockchain Opportunity.