Not too long ago, I wrote a story about how we often fail to recognize just how revolutionary and how much of a game changer certains technologies are, even if all the elements were in front of our very eyes.
Today, I get the opportunity to write to you about one of those game-changing technologies, doing so while hardly being able to contain all the excitement that I’m feeling at this very moment.
But before we talk about the Smart Media Tokens and the magnitude of what what’s about to come… Let’s backtrack a bit to get more perspective into what the SMTs represent for the future.
(If you want to skip that part however, you can just scroll down to the robot picture)
A Brief History of the Social Media Evolution
If you went back to the past - just a few years ago - and pronounced the word “Blogger”, what is the first thing that most people would think of?
A bored college grad with a hobby and not enough friends to talk about his passion. Everyone can create a blog on WordPress and play pretend-writer.
Okay. How about the word “YouTuber”?
Now that’s just a “Jackass” wannabe who’s goofing around with the camera trying to emulate Johnny Knoxville and his crew… Get a hobby and leave the camera to the professionals!
Get a hobby, huh? Maybe he should get a Blog.
Days of Future Past
Now, let that sink in there for a moment, all the dogma, all the resistance… Because when we’re gonna travel back to 2017, it’s going to feel like Mark Wahlberg coming back to earth from The Planet of the Apes only to realize that:
It’s a whole new planet entirely.
Take a look around, even the biggest brands have blogging digital content nowadays, no matter how big or how massive they are.
They all have video content as well, both in long form and short form. Some of them have even launched podcasts around their product and invite all sorts of influencers to create a community around it.
Like the Quest Protein bars, just to give an example.
This is a very recent phenomenon by the way. A some point in time, big companies started to realize that the attention market is starting to move from traditional television and paper-version newspaper and onto the new media.
The truth is, barely anyone watches TV anymore, if someone decided to watch a movie, they no longer have to remain at the mercy of the television programming while they can just stream the program of their choice.
Plus, who would want to sit through ten minutes of paid advertising when they have far better option at their disposal?
From there, it was only a matter of time until more and more advertising money started fleeing from the pockets of the six major TV conglomerates and onto the new media channels where the real attention has turned.
Here's the thing, every person from the new generation owns a smart phone, and they’re on it all day, every day. So sooner or later, this was always bound to happen.
And from that point forward, the game has entirely.
When Attention Shifts, Markets Shift
Now more than ever you have communities building around a passion or a topic of interest than any time before. Communities with their own private groups in social media and their own Slack channels.
With the widespread use of social media, everyone started talking about their passion and creating engagement about it. No matter the topic, no matter the skill level.
Let me give you an example:
Let’s take The Walking Dead for example, the series came around in the golden years of social media, and so many fans of the series created blogs or YouTube channels to talk about their favorite TV shows.
Some of those channels and blogs have hundreds of thousands of followers if not millions, so what happens?
AMC starts rewarding those influencers by gives them all sorts of early access, all kinds of merchandize, posters, and toys... Those on return, also start to reward their audience for their attention and engagement, not only in the form of giveaways, but by being active in the community, answering their questions..etc.
And that phenomenon kept growing to such point where celebrities are going to podcasts all the time now. Because when the attention shifts, market shift.
You look around and you see all kinds of new brands taking on the big companies that had absolute consumption monopoly for generations and generations. Whether it’s Harry’s taking on Gillette, or Jessica Alba’s Honest Co. taking on Pampers... Examples are many.
All across the board, you see new companies building actual communities around a new product that not only improves on the previous models, but also advertised through all the newest social media channel, from fresh juice to eco-clothes.
Living in the Age of Communities
Given the massive attention shift, it was only a matter of time before brands started teaming up with bloggers and Youtubers to create a culture around what they are passionate about.
Say for example, grooming product.
All you need is to find some content creators and community that share the same passion. You know they are going to talk about the subject everyday, so why not team up with them and create a win-win for everyone involved?
You reward them for the attention they generate around your product, they reward their community members for their time and engagement and everyone wins.
And by the way, this was just the beginning, because from that point on. it went from evolution to revolution.
Welcome to the Social Media Revolution
If if told you a couple of years ago that there is a social media platform on the blockchain that rewards users for creating and curating content would have believed me?
Enter steemit.
When you think about it, steemit is just a social media platform on the STEEM blockchain, though for many of us no matter how many new platforms emerge and no matter how excited we are for them being on the STEEM blockchain, steemit will always have a place in our hearts.
People from all walks of life found their way here, from all backgrounds, countries, and cultures, and they all brought their passions and their skills with them.
No, I’m not trying to get all romantic on you. I’m saying this because there is no other crypto-currency that has managed to attract a crowd so diverse than STEEM did.
Standing on strong contrast with the popular stereotype that cryptocurrencies have, which is them being formed mainly tech-friendly people.
But enough history talk, here’s where it gets exciting. Are you ready?
You see, while we’re still in the early stages and we’re still experiencing just how exciting STEEM is... Something bigger has just happened, far bigger.
SMTs: Introducing the Game Changer
Imagine that you have the possibility to create your own currency and start rewarding people with it. It sounds amazing, doesn’t it not?
Now might be the time where you’re wondering why I’ve spent so much time in the build up, talking about the evolution of social media.
Remember when I mentioned that part about content creators and influencers rewarding their audience with all kinds of giveaways and creating private groups and channels to grow a community and a culture about the topics they are passionate about?
Now, Imagine that very exact situation only this time, imagine if their have a Smart Media Token that allows them to not only monetize their content but to reward the most engaged members of their community via inflation or otherwise.
Let’s say they’re into Gaming, they can create Game Coin - or whatever they wish to call it - and not only use that to reward the most valuable members of their community, but also to gamify the user experience and to grow their community even bigger.
And with it, the value of their SMTs would inevitable grow even as well, which will benefit all parties involved.
As the community grows bigger, and as one of the founders of that SMT, you will be getting a percentage (that you set beforehand) as the user base grows and price goes up, it’s like creating royalties of sorts, a new stream of income so to speak.
There has never been many tools for monetizing your passion as we have on this very day.
So if you’re a Youtuber, Blogger, writer with your own fan base or community, you might wanna check the Smart Media Tokens.
This is not about individual users, the same is true for multi-user platforms that already established like Medium or FEE.org, or even traditional style magazines like Mashable or Rolling Stone.
Personally, I can’t wait for the day for when big outlets start shifting their content to the STEEM blockchain.
And most important of all, I suspect many steemians will create their own SMTs in order to grow whatever field their passionate about which will only contribute to the growth of STEEM.
It’s needless to say that we are before something truly revolutionary, something that can be the next step in social media evolution and at the same time something that can fast-track blockchain adoption, and I say this with great intent.
So let me explain just how massive of a win-win the SMTs create to all parties involved.
For the content creator:
Not only the SMTs will give them the ability to reward the most valuable people in their audience and create more engagement, but it will help them create a culture and community around their passion or product which will only increase the value of their coin.
For the regular user and content consumer:
There many people out there who do not precisely want to create content but they’re still passionate about their interests and you often find them very active in all sorts of forums or comment sections.
They may not write long form essays, or create videos, but their value is beyond any doubt. They still jump in the discussion and add value to it any chance they get, thus increasing engagement and helping create a vibrant community that they're members of.
Now with the SMTs, finally they could get rewarded for something that they were going to do for free anyways. Now tell me:
How great does that sound?
For the crypto-currency sector as a whole:
Nothing will accelerate mass-adoption and public consumption than having social media influencers rewarding and increasing their audience by using currencies on the steem Blockchain.
I stand corrected, there is only one thing that beats that.
Nothing will dissipate the initial fear and dogma around cryptocurrencies than having every single person using their own crypto-currencies and use them in their daily life, either by creating them or by receiving them from the social media community that they belong to.
For Steem:
Today, steemit ranks in the top 2000 websites worldwide. Imagine what happens when all sorts of social media platforms and all kinds of social media influencers start creating SMTs on the STEEM blockchain...
Wait, I think I’m hearing someone saying:
To the moon!
I know this post has been longer than usual, but believe me when I say this:
We are just scratching the surface here, and the best is yet to come.
Steem on!