![](https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdSJC54LVNaumrt9Vwrrgnj9cempuExPKEvgSadhzQkoA/steeminfo.png)

         Back to the image I still haven't bothered to look up who the original creator was. The previous post was about past promotional efforts of Steem. The gist of it was that they focused on features your average social media user wouldn't care about.

<center>![](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/447023947620417536/647981334056402944/cares.jpg)</center>

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;On Discord, @bleepcoin likened it onto showing movie goers the movie projector. It doesn't make much sense, but that's what past promotions have been like. Instead of showing what "movies" Steem had to offer, it was all about the projectors, or specs of the chain.

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;If you were to open a restaurant, would you rather showcase your menu and food samples or your stoves? For some reason, showing the stoves seemed to be what that info graphic was all about.

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Was it all 100% information your average Joe doesn't care about? I may have been exaggerating in my last post, but the point stands. Let's continue on pretending we are potential new Steemians.

<h3>Easy to Remember Addresses</h3>

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Despite many of the shortcomings, this is one of the best features Steem has compared to other crypto. Most other cryptocurrencies use wallets that no sane human would try to remember. Even the current fiat bank account numbers aren't as outrageous as, say, a Bitcoin address.

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Even in the days when you can't remember your bank account number, there are other ways to identify it. At least in this regard, Steem is ahead of other projects. Unfortunately, when marketed as social media, people shrug and go on their merry way.

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Let's be honest, it's a nice feature, but it's not a groundbreaking. Mainstream social media already allow users to pick unique names they could remember. It is an expectation. Steem didn't innovate on that front.

<h3>Large Active Community</h3>

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;I have no idea how many active users were on Steem back in fall of 2018, but I felt the claim is misleading, at best. Even using the one million figure as the bloated number, it is still very small. Small, because Steem is a social platform.

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;It could be that having experienced Facebook, Twitter, etc. shaped my views. They have hundreds of millions of users. In comparison, one million seems weak and underwhelming. I don't know about other blockchain projects, but they can't be sparse in population.

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Have you seen the Ripple army? Or the constant battlegrounds between BTC and BCH?

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;This is a matter of opinion, I would have reworded to something like "active, growing, community". By this point, I don't even know if that would even apply. That bear market sure shook off the weak hands.

<h3>Tons of Popular Dapps</h3>

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;No offense, but I didn't join Facebook because of the applications. I joined long before that because my friends were all there. But having successful dapps like Splinterlands is definitely great for the ecosystem. Farmville was the lamest thing I had ever seen in my life, but that thing raked in like hot cake.

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Although I can't be too critical because I used to spend tons of time on Mafia Wars back in the days.

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;This goes back to the whole rant about businesses. If they add value to the ecosystem, everyone wins. Instead, too many dapps/projects only create value by extracting from the reward pool.

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;I don't know what "tons" mean, but I know Steem is more diverse when it comes to dapps. Unfortunately, the sales pitch was a bit ambiguous. How many people thought Steem was another place with two million gambling dapps? I guess we will never know.

<h3>Millions of Transactions per Day</h3>

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;When I signed up for my Visa credit card, it was not because Visa performed 17K transactions per second. I sure as hell didn't sign up for Steem because it can handle millions of transactions a day.

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;For businesses looking for a blockchain solution, this would be significant. But, for an average person like me, why would I care? Especially when I can't buy much with the STEEM in my wallet. At end of the day, this is not a stat most people care about.

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;But let's face it, as long as mistakes are not reversible, any crypto will have a hard time reaching mass adoption. I'm sure your grandparents are ecstatic to lose their lifesaving through simple errors.

---

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;So, what are some reasons people would want to come to Steem? What compels normal users to buy and power up STEEM? I'm not a fan of "use social media that pay" slogan. It implies that you join to extract value. Once the bear market hits, or you could no longer extract value, people leave.

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;People also need a reason to stay, but getting paid for shitposting should not be the main incentive.

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;I hope things will be different with the introduction of SMTs and communities. Steemians have been using a literal dysfunctional social platform. And I'm not even talking about the cult of personalities that exist here. At the very least, those are fundamental features that need to exist.

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Is it necessary to target your average Joe at all? Would it be better for people to be using Steem without knowing they are using it? That may be a philosophical question. But, as Splinterlands has shown, even coming only for the game benefits the ecosystem.

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The more I contemplate about the reward pool, the more I lean towards its elimination. I am definitely not the only one who believes that. I do think SMTs should derive their value from STEEM, or communities won't thrive. But, getting rid of the source of "proof of click" profiteering and rampant abuse would be good in the long run. As the Steem Engine tribes have taught us, allowing each community to manage itself may be the better way.

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Of course, how the chain would mint new STEEM is something else that need more thoughts.

<h3>Moral of the story: need more stuff for people to do besides focusing on the reward pool. When they have things to do, they stay.</h3>