One of the wonderful aspect of the STEEM blockchain is that there are many accounts on here that seek to help the newer people. Many of us are well aware that the success of STEEM depends upon the success of many who become part of this ecosystem. When a person signs up, tries the site for a while, then leaves discouraged, this harms us all. One of the unique aspects of an ecosystem is that we are all tied together in our impact. The success of one (whether it is an individual or application) helps the entire blockchain.
We see programs such as @minnowbooster target those accounts with lower Steem Power. These bots are wonderful in that they allow people to delegate SP to them which, in turns, increases the Voting Power @minnowbooster has. Over the course of a day, hundreds of upvotes are given to Red Fish and Minnows in an effort to help increase their accounts.
There are also a lot of individuals who focus a great deal of attention on these same people. Dolphins are well aware of the same basic idea, that we are all tied together. Our success depends upon bringing newer people onto the blockchain and getting them to participate. 60K daily active users is sensational yet 200K is better. This is why so many focus upon the smaller accounts.
That said, there is a challenge with this. Every economic system that has thrived, historically, had a robust middle class. Regardless of the political and economic environment, a strong middle class means a wide reach. Part of the problem is many economies today, according to experts (for what they are worth), is that the middle class is disappearing. Hence, the wealth inequality continues to grow.
On STEEM, the class of people who are considered the middle class are the Dolphins. These are the people with enough Steem Power to make a difference, especially to smaller accounts yet they are not so large they are the main "players". One advantage of STEEM is that the inequality, as a percentage of the total holding, diminished in the past year. Over the past month I monitored the situation each week and this trend is still holding. More of the STEEM created, as a percentage, is going into the hands of the those other than Whales and Orcas.
@fulltimegeek started the Stewards of Gondor a few months back by delegating SP to a number of individuals. He did this free of charge in an effort to create a wider concentration of the wealth. This was a groundbreaking decision which, based upon the weekly stats produced by @abh12345, is having an effect.
This is a situation where a Whale took it upon himself to help create a thriving "middle class".
Since that time, many of the individuals who received delegation, including myself, started to delegate to others.
At the head of this class is @wwf. He started the Stewards of Terra Mater which is identical to the program @fulltimegeek laid out. @wwf is delegating the SP he has to others free of charge, those who exemplify the ideals and beliefs about the STEEM blockchain that he holds dear.
The challenge I see with @wwf doing this, along with all the others who were delegated SP by @fulltimegeek, is that we are Dolphins. We believe in the pay it forward idea and are happy to do this. However, as an economic system, this is akin to taxing the middle class. When this group of people has their pockets picked by governments, it weakens the entire system. Not only are individual returns lowered, but the entire system weakened because that money is directed towards the upper classes, either directly or through the lower classes who end up spending it at entities owned by the wealthy.
Delegation is a loan. Obviously, loans are necessary for any economic system to grow. What @fulltimegeek and @wwf are doing is providing interest free loans. That is the idea of the pay it forward mindset. The SP is still owned by the original individual. Yet, we see many renting out delegation for payment. Naturally, I agree with one's right to do this. However, this is what banks do and, over time, we saw how that worked out. When one rents out delegation, he or she is creating a ROI. There is nothing wrong with this. What I see as a challenge is that these large accounts are getting bigger at a disproportionate rate. From an ecosystem perspective, we possibly run the risk of re-creating the banking system. Is this what is the best for the STEEM blockchain?
Another interesting observation is that of those who grew their accounts via purchasing delegation, I have yet to see many who gave any to others to help out. It appears that when one operates with a "business" mindset, and renting out delegation is a business decision, this carries forward. Hence every decision will be looked at from such a perspective. It is simply a "what is in it for me" mindset.
Notice the difference that @fulltimegeek created. Of the people who received delegation from him, many have already delegated SP to others free of charge. The mindset is completely different. While all of us have an eye on our account value and would like to succeed financially as much as possible, trying to claw each SP out of another is not at the top of the agenda. We realize that there is a much bigger movement going on here and this is a means to an end. SP is simply a vehicle especially since I hold the belief anyone holding even a few hundred SP are going to be well off in a couple years.
For STEEM to truly flourish, from an economic perspective, requires having a vast amount of people with between 35K-50K SP. This is the sweet spot where a robust middle class is having an impact. At that level, upvotes are worth 10-15 STU. People in this realm can lay votes worth a couple dollars many times a day. They have the ability to keep growing their accounts at a fast rate while also turning around and helping others. Following the cycle that is always present on STEEM, increasing one's account ends up helping everyone else.
I know @fulltimegeek isn't the only one who did this. @stellabelle also delegated a vast amount of SP to others gratis. Since I am not part of that movement, I can only hypothesize what is happening, but I am sure her actions are having a significant impact. I believe I read @v4Vapid also did some delegating.
That said, there needs to be more if we are going to see STEEM truly thrive. Even though this is a social media blockchain, there is a monetary element to it which means we also operate as an economic model. How we structure it is up to us.
Focusing upon the Red Fish and Minnows should be done with all the earnestness we can muster. However, I think it imperative that we not overlook the ones who will truly make this economic model success, the middle class of STEEM. Concentrating upon the smaller accounts to the detriment of the Dolphins (STEEM's middle class), especially with so few at this time, is not sound.
Whatever the number is, STEEM needs a 10 fold increase in those accounts with between 35K and 50K SP. These are the ones who really can have a major impact, especially with the pay it forward mindset.
After all, we have hundreds of economic systems which show us how they fare when there is little to no middle class.
Perhaps there is a lesson or two we should learn from them.
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