Social Networks Paying or Trading in Crypto - A Steemit Un-Competition Overview

prowebwriter (55)in #cryptocurrency • 7 years ago

I say "un-competition" because I haven't run into another platform like Steemit yet that focuses mainly on blogging. Therefore, none of these can really be considered direct competition. That would be like saying WordPress is direct competition for Facebook.

Introduction

I've compiled a list of websites that either have their own tokens or trade in an existing cryptocurrency. Because I have SEVERAL sites to cover, I'm not going to go into a ton of detail. I'm just going to try and give you enough of an overview to help you decide if you want to try out a specific platform.

I'll rate applicable selections on a scale of 1 to 5 stars where 1 star is poor and 5 stars is Steemit! So, here goes nothing!

SCRYPTO

I did a fairly detailed write-up on Scrypto when I first head about it. I didn't realize then that these sites would be a dime a dozen.

Coins

I cover the coins in detail in my write-up linked above; however, Scrypto didn't have Dogecoin at that time. This is BY FAR the most well-known coin on the platform. The other three are:

DigitalPrice
Motocoin (MOTO)
Evotion (EVO)

All of these are available for research on CoinMarketCap.com.

ProWebWriter's Quick Review

The overall interface is simple and intuitive. The platform is packed with features like communities, messages, and friends lists. I can't really compare Scrypto to an existing platform as it's unique. The platform hasn't seen a lot of growth yet, but it's super new. If you want to jump in on a ground floor, you can do that with Scrypto. It has a public timeline which is a great place to get in the habit of promoting your Steemit content!

ProWebWriter's Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐

LINK TO WHITEPAPER

Nexus

Coins

Nexus has its own coin called Social.

ProWebWriter's Quick Review

Um, I haven't spent much time on Nexus because I find the Dashboard kind of confusing. The platform integrates a little bit of everything, and it just feels like a bit much. You get the standard groups and messaging, but you also get a marketplace and ad network that will presumably all run on Social.

The platform has shown a strong start and has already released their Android and iOS apps to the community. If nothing else, it could be a good place to build a following and promote your Steemit content.

ProWebWriter's Rating

⭐⭐⭐

LINK TO WHITEPAPER

Investfeed

This ones looks very Twitter-ish which excites me greatly because I LOVE Twitter. Its slow demise depresses me.

Coins

FEED (IFT) tokens

ProWebWriter's Quick Review

Incentivized Twitter. How can it go wrong? But then, I'm biased. Users will be able to create premium content and charge FEED tokens for access. Other than that, the community seeks to center around crypto news, networking, investing, and education. Currently in alpha, I look forward to seeing what becomes of this platform. With more than 50,000 sign-ups as of this writing, it looks to have a strong start.

ProWebWriter's Rating

⭐⭐⭐

LINK TO WHITEPAPER

Akasha

A downloadable thing. Hmmm. Fear not, I have downloaded this thing to tell you what it's all about so you don't have to if you don't want to.

I downloaded a thing, it installed a thing, and it downloaded the Geth client, it tripped my firewall, it apparently synced me with the Ethereum world computer network, and....

Well, it's still doing that. I will keep you updated.

Coins

Ethereum (ETH)

ProWebWriter's Quick Review

It syncs well...and for quite a few minutes. I'm not thrilled that I had to download a thing. Once it completed synching, I was able to create a profile. When all was said and done, I received almost 5 AETH to get started. I like that!

It's definitely unique, and I think it not being browser-based is both a blessing and a curse. I may keep it and I may not. At 194MB, it might have to go.

ProWebWriter's Rating

⭐⭐

No White Paper

Yours

Very Web 3.0 with the minimalism, huh?

Coins

Bitcoin Cash (BCC)

ProWebWriter's Quick Review

The concept is simple. All transactions on Yours are defaulted to 10 cents. You pay to post, pay to comment, pay to vote, and earn on your own posts, votes, and comments.

I love the simplicity of the idea. It almost seems too simple. You will have to invest to participate and I think that might deter a lot of people, but it's only 10 cents!

ProWebWriter's Rating

⭐⭐

No White Paper

onG-Coin

Their website states:

We’ve been backed by IBM since 2014, because they believe in the value of our project.

For this purpose, I will NOT be joining this network. I'm not really down with companies who colluded with Hitler even though I probably patronize a few unwittingly.

Coins

onG Coin

ProWebWriter's Quick Review

N/A

ProWebWriter's Rating

N/A

LINK TO WHITEPAPER

DECENT

This one is like a cross between Akash and Yours. It is downloaded like Akasha and it seems like they may have a cost-based model like Yours where you pay a small fee to publish. Let's see what it's all about.

Coins

Unknow

ProWebWriter's Quick Review

I'm a little floored by all these networks that think themselves worthy of my hard drive real estate. It's feels like a regression. I mean is this 2003 before the onset SaaS (Software as a Service) and browser-based programs?

DECENT launched on June 30, 2017, so again, if you like the ground floor, this is it.

After download, the install didn't include a desktop icon, so I had to create one manually after digging the program out of the Start menu, and again, we are syncing. It synced the entire 2 months + worth of stuff since June 30.

I nearly got this entire article written before it finished syncing. It then asked me for a password, an account name, and key which I had no clue where to find.

I didn't receive any emails, and honestly I lost momentum. In my most humble opinion, signing up should be intuitive and not complicated. I will be removing DECENT from my machine.

ProWebWriter's Rating

⭐

No White Paper

AdzBuzz

I can't make heads or tails of this place.

From their website:

ADZbuzz is a Reddit-type social network that allows people to discover interesting content in numerous categories. Users and publishers get rewarded with daily ADZcoins for logging into the site and using the ADZlink. A unique icon that replaces intrusive and privacy-invading advertisements. On ADZbuzz, advertisers can buy and swap ADZcoins for ad space. ADZcoins get sent to an inspendable address, decreasing the ADZcoin supply gradually and advertisers get a lifelong percentage of the ADZbuzz ad space in return.

I don't see the Reddit correlation, and I have to say I'm just not interested in finding out more.

Coins

ADZcoin

ProWebWriter's Quick Review

N/A

ProWebWriter's Rating

N/A

LINK TO WHITEPAPER

Ones To Watch Out For (Not Launched Yet)

Decentralized Video

PopChest

PopChest allows users to set a price to unlock their video content. A short preview can be played, and then you are asked for the fee currently in...well, it looks like USD. They do have a POP token, but it doesn't appear to have launched yet.

Coin

POP token

ProWebWriter Quick Review

I pretty much said it all up there ^^^

We Steemians all know there is a better model and better coin. That model is DTube and that coin is STEEM.

ProWebWriter's Rating

⭐

No White Paper

DTube

DTube was developed by a Steemit user (@heimindanger) and written totally in Javascript. It is a great start for creating a decentralized YouTube replacement.

Coins

STEEM

ProWebWriter's Quick Review

It integrates seamlessly with Steemit and pays in STEEM. I hope to see more users taking advantage of this platform. I'd love to see more YouTube creators embrace it.

ProWebWriter's Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

White Paper N/A

Decentralized Audio

DSound

DSound is another Steemit member (@prc) contribution and follows the same ideology as DTube.

Coins

STEEM

ProWebWriter's Quick Review

You sign into the platform using your Steemit account and are compensated through that network. You will notice the platform is reminiscent of Soundcloud. It's simple and easy to understand how it works.

There are few features missing like share buttons and the like, but with a robust basic infrastructure, the features will come.

ProWebWriter's Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

White Paper N/A

Conclusion

It seems like there are a lot of ICO's out there trying to reinvent the wheel. I'm not a fan of monopolies, but I think we are so used to having one resource dominate and that be the one you can be confident everyone knows about. Steemit is that resource for me right now.

If you doubted the innovation, you can really see that Steemit was ahead of the game when you look at these other platforms that haven't really taken off and definitely don't seem to be paying as well as Steemit does.

Can a decentralized platform be a monopoly? I wonder what that would look like? Imagine if Facebook used it's revenue to reward its users.

I will stay on top of this and do another post if this list expands. I will also do more detailed write-ups of any platforms I opt to use regularly. Stay tuned.