Nothing. That is the answer I can put forward.

However, this is going to depend heavily on perspective of what *"something"* is. I don't have an application, I have not created a community, I am not a leader of any kind here. *But,* I have been able to develop a network of people who are knowledgeable, talented, invested, forward thinking and most importantly, fun to interact with in various ways. 

https://i.imgur.com/CVCqGj0.jpg

People tend to forget that while Steem is not strictly social media, there is a social aspect that is required for participation in the community and is key to personal growth and development. There are many advantages to building a group of decent people around you and it goes beyond all of the potential to earn. What I find is that when people complain heavily about Steem, they tend not to actually have many friends here. Yes, they might have people around them but, *friends?*

With so many taking the *"what can you offer me"* approach, friends can be hard to come by unless one is generally interested in other people. This is no different in the real world though where the people we feel use us, are generally not in our lives for long as either we get tired of giving without return or, we have nothing left to give and are therefore useless to them. Do you know anyone who is only interested in someone *only if* they are able to offer something desirable? 

I do. That person has lots of people around them but, they don't have many (if any) real friends. Everyone in their life comes, buys-in to the shill for a short time and then quickly leaves as they realize that they are nothing more than food for a vampire or, the vampire has gotten their fill or another fatter target has come along. That isn't friendship. 

But, there are other factors on Steem besides friends, they just make the experience much more enjoyable. 

Just like decentralization benefits from well, *decentralizaton,* having people around is somewhat of a stabilization mechanism as it means that while there are always those who come and go, there is much more likelihood that a number will always stay. 

One of the problems with centralized platforms is the power they have over individuals as they encourage a person to build a strong following and then, that following doesn't travel well meaning the account *must* comply with the platform in order to keep their following. Again on Steem, a follower list isn't application dependent meaning while one could effectively stop using a particular interface, the follower list and the wallet travel well anywhere on Steem. Are your followers yours if they can't follow you off the platform?

On the centralized platform, if one chooses to no longer comply or agrees with the platform, the platform doesn't care as they will retain the user base anyway. This is obviously a growing use case and opportunity for Steem though as the centralized power concentrations of the likes of Facebook and YouTube are coming under question and fire more often. 

But again, there are there factors past this and that will include getting support and maintaining *some* consistency and reliability. A lot of the early users onto the platform benefited heavily from being in early and a few whales supporting them heavily. While there were many arguments, they always maintained that it was because they deserved the vote however, they were entitled for being early adopters or networking well. This meant that many had *easy Steem* and sold, knowing that the next stream of large votes was coming anyway.

However, once the delegation and then the bidbots arrived and their voters had a *better way to maximize* their earnings, the support dropped away very fast and they were left high and dry, friendless, voteless, lonely. They didn't often react well and many of them rage quit. This is the problem with expectations and entitlement on Steem, *no one* is entitled to anything other than what they can provide themselves. Again, much like the real world, despite what many of the 'everyone gets a prize' generation believe. 

There are obviously other reasons to build a community and social network also, but my point of this is to remind people that in the long-run, it is going to be those who have people around them that are going to not only perform the best but have the most fun and opportunity on Steem. Building a social network doesn't require being an extrovert, but it does require interaction and a little bit of quid pro quo, not necessarily in the vote arena but at least in the friendship one. 

One of the things that has been the hardest in the last few months for me on Steem is that I don't have the time to engage well with people in the chats or join in on the various community discussions at the level I did or would like to. For me, Steem is an ecosystem that offers an increasingly full and diverse range of *life experiences* that enrich my world in many different ways. There are people here that I am eternally grateful to for their support and I hope that while I find my feet with my family and work situation, they don't feel like I have abandoned them or perhaps worse, *take them for granted.*

I do know however that there is a long way to go on Steem and while I may not have built anything *real,* I do feel that what I attempt to do does bring various forms of value to the blockchain, points that are going to increase in value over time. And that value is hopefully going to extend well past the economic boundaries of the platform and deep into the lives of us here on Steem and all of those who will benefit from us being here on Steem. 

This is another factor that many people don't necessarily think much about; while we are on Steem building, interacting and earning for now or the future, we are value adding to the world around us, to the people who may have never heard of Steem, blockchain or cryptocurrencies at all. This goes beyond our immediate sphere of influence of family and friends, it also encroaches into the lives of strangers and those we will never know or meet.

The intertwining of life and the blockchain is what is going to take Steem to the moon but, it will be the vast and complex networks of interactions between people who would not otherwise be connected that is going to be the mass of value of the blockchain. Millions of people all doing their thing together on Steem, is going to be a beautiful sight to see. 

Keep building, anyway you can.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]