Economic cycles impact all economies, and all of those who are participating in those economies. On Steem many of us are very focused on Steem and our internal happenings. Who voted for whom, what is the correct percentage of Authors, Curators, and SPS allocation, is our inflation too high, who is posting legitimate posts and who is just reward farming? These issues get talked about every day.
What we sometimes forget to take into account is how well our activity lines up with the price. When the price was high our user base grew with it and when it was low our user based declined with the price and the rest of the Alt-Coin prices. According to the CoinMarketCap Steem's Market Cap dropped a bit harder than some other tokens. Yet, people continued to work and socialize here.
One of the most encouraging things to me is our constant supply of "Steem Skeptics". These are people who show up day after day to tell us how bad Steem is and how it is going to fail.
Do you know what I did last time I stopped enjoying a site I used to frequent? I stopped going there. I didn't login each day to tell them how dumb they were for not sharing my opinion. I didn't make posts about their founders, leaders and influencers. I just stopped going to the site. Yet on Steem it is a daily event for someone who has been predicting the end of Steem to pop in and make yet another post about how right they were to quit and how dumb we were to keep working. (Dude, if you are still posting you didn't quit yet)
The reason I see this as an important sign is that it shows passion and a lack of other options. It's like when lovers break up if they have worked through the emotions they just move on. If they are still angry, upset and watching the "Ex's" every move, they are not over the relationship yet.
Steem creates passion only when you have strong hopes can you have strong disappointment.
I don't pretend to know exactly how the next months and years will go on Steem or in the crypto-markets in general. I realize we have a lot of work to do. Some days I get discouraged too.
It is my opinion we will see another Alt-Coin Pump, and I speculate that because we have continued to build and retain a core base of users we will see some action in the next cycle. I've stated before that I don't expect the alts will perform really well until after BTC hits and ATH (All time high) again, and I have no idea when that will be. I do not deny that many users haven't stayed, but the masses do many dumb things that I don't want to emulate. Most don't invest. That doesn't mean that investment doesn't work. Many are heavily in debt, the fact that many choose to be in debt doesn't mean I am going to follow them.
Our daily number of active users IS low. Most do not have the vision, most do not have the ability to keep working when the future is uncertain. That is not behavior I choose to emulate.
My current plan is to grind my way through the Alt-Coin Depression and to contribute to Steem.
If the goal of Steemit Inc is to onboard the masses, I would like to see us focusing on the tasks that are likely to get that done.
Here is what I think we should focus on:
Breaking down the barriers to entry: Which means to fix the things that stop people from joining
You can't join what you don't know about
Once you do know about Steem it is still hard to get an account, get signed up and start using it.
Working on the Message
Clearly we can't set the expectation that everyone is going to earn just for making a post. networking, stake, AND content all contribute to visibility and performance just like they do EVERYWHERE there is money. Influence and Networking make a difference.
If Bitcoin is decentralizing financial transactions, Steem is decentralizing Information, Entertainment and the Arts. We are the Pulse of Crypto.
If Steem never does well financially, I feel my time spend here still holds value as it has been my Bridge to Crypto.
I'm grinding through the alt-coin depression and I am speculating there are better times to come.
If I am wrong, I am still learning, networking and making connections with people who are and will remain in the Crypto Economy and I believe that alone holds value.