http://geraldzmorse.com/images/steemit/steemitad1.jpg

I think Steemit is highly credible as a content-delivery-platform construct which could massively disrupt the online content distribution system as it exists now. This is a powerful statement, so please allow me to explain my thought process on this.

Currently, if you are a content creator as I am (please visit my introductory post here: http://goo.gl/cliI88), and wish to use the internet to attract an active audience, one that would help increase exposure to a larger audience via tapping into their circle of friends, then you are forced to post your content on the current selection of what I call “gatekeeper sites.” Namely, Facebook, Youtube, Reddit and similar sites. 

There are other supporting social media sites/apps such as Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, but this article deals primarily with the three main aforementioned websites. 

Facebook/Youtube/Reddit make money via advertising and as any entity that earns their prime revenue via advertising, they unfortunately must allow themselves to be influenced by the advertisers. 

In plain terms, this means they will not allow content that goes against the grain with their advertisers, and in fact, they will go out of their way to restrict said content, which IMHO  is an insidious form of censorship. 

Steemit operates on a different playing field all together. Here, the content is controlled by the community via their votes. If the content is good, then hopefully it will receive decent attention, and the community at large will support it via their votes. This attracts content creators and provides the community with a source of creators who are happy to be rewarded for their hard work. Bad content gets no votes and hopefully the authors will realize why and not continue to post that type of material. 

http://geraldzmorse.com/images/steemit/steemitad2.jpg

Same thing with the voters. The way the payouts are organized is that the authors receive the majority of the payout, but the people that vote on it get a share by splitting a set-aside portion of the earnings. To see this in action, take a look at posts that have already paid out and look at the earnings tab and how it is divided.

The community also succeeds because they too get rewarded for participating in the process by voting, this unique process makes the voter a curator, and they are who make this entire construct work! This is why it is so important on Steemit to be an active participant, not just passively peruse articles, but actually vote on them, comment on them, and interact with the authors. 

http://geraldzmorse.com/images/steemit/payoutimage.jpg

I can tell you that, as an author,  one of the best aspects of posting my introductory article was the interaction with viewers who took precious time out of their lives to not only read the article but make salient comments about it. That is a breath of fresh air to content creators. Much better than the usual slog you have to deal with via the negative trolls that exist on almost all the other platforms. 

I am not claiming that Steemit is without issues, difficulties, and problems―such as my biggest gripe that they are not allowing the embedding of higher quality Vimeo clips on the site, while instead only supporting Youtube, which leaves a lot to be desired with their terrible video compression algorithms. 

Nonetheless, Steemit is light years ahead of all the current gatekeepers, and I predict that many other developers are seeing what is happening here on Steemit and other communities will soon follow, giving more opportunity for a very diverse online offering that will undoubtedly force these gatekeepers to reevaluate their business models. 

One such kindred newcomer like Steemit is lbry.io. They are building a blockchain rewards-based video delivery site that will directly rival Youtube. I can only hope that they follow the model of Vimeo and opt for high quality content streaming. There is nothing worse than spending countless hours and loads of money creating stunning looking content only to have it distorted by compression for internet delivery. Vimeo has proven that is unnecessary.

Steemit needs good creators true, but it also totally depends on a good set of users that make up this highly active community. It is each of us individually, and all of us as a community, that makes this social experiment viable! 

I, like everyone on here, am still learning about this new concept, this experiment runs deep and has amazing potential. I plan on using it for my projects from now on. I am a huge fan and supporter of this platform and I am trying to attract my fellow content developers to join forces. *Spread the word!! And join in!!!*