Steem: There Is No Competition

Of late, it seems people are hung up on "competition". I feel this is a misguided way to look at this situation.

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I am going to state it from the outset: Steem has no competition.

That might surprise many of you. There are a number of reasons I write that stemming from a few different levels.

To start with the most basic. What is Steem? It is a blockchain, i.e. network. That is all it is. At the base layer, it has a content management system that creates coins as a reward for certain behaviors.

So where is the competition? There are other networks out there but few with the technical capabilities of Steem. We obviously see EOS and Bitshares along with a number of other graphene systems but few would be called superior. EOS does a lot more potential uses but that is a general chain clearly designed for different purposes.

Of course, there are all the forks of Steem itself. Is that competition? Since it is a fork, it is on the same level from a technical standpoint. But, as Vice found out, having the blockchain capability and bringing it to life are two different things.

Ultimately, this course of discussion is pretty useless since a network ultimately has little value on its own. It is what is on the network that matters. How come Verizon's network is worth more in the U.S. than T-Mobile when they both cover the same area and basically have the same specs? It probably has to do with the fact that Verizon has a ton more users than T-Mobile.

So what is on other networks? How many actually have users? People talk about "competition" of Steem; what do they mean?

My guess is they are still stuck in the blogging mindset. Even those who know the difference still look for a competitor to Steemit. It is remarkable how even the seasoned people on here cannot separate the two.

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Here is the reality: Does Steemit have "competition? Yes, it is called Busy.org and @steempeak. Both are "competition" in the traditional sense. In fact, @ned stated that he is planning on creating another interface that will also "compete" with Steemit. One does not need to even look outside the blockchain to find "competition".

Yet, when you analyze it, competition does not exist. Does @steempeak really compete with Steemit. If @steempeak takes all the new users from this point forward, and has 10M users, what does that do to Steemit? Based upon the amount of SP, it makes Steemit a very valuable organization. Ironic, how the "competition" actually enhances the value of what is taking place on here.

This epitomizes the difference between a centralized and decentralized network. In a centralized one, the users, at first, benefit from the service. Things are tilted in their favor. Over time, as the network effect kicks in, the balance starts to shift to the centralized entity. If this company is publicly traded, like most of them are, then it has a responsibility, not to the users, but to the shareholders. Hence the ensuing network effect has to be leverage more and more to the benefit of the shareholders. This is where we see the need for profits derived from advertising or, worse, the selling of data.

This is not the case in a decentralized, tokenized network. The users and the "owners" are not only aligned, they are mostly one in the same. Under this model, the network effect benefits all parties. The users have more incentive to engage in the system which stimulates more development.

Ultimately, the different entities are not competitors but collaborators.

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I write about this in my Age of Abundance posts. In the 5D realm, we move away from the 3D, scarcity idea of competition. Instead, we see the true nature of interaction is collaboration. This is what occurs in nature even if we skewed the message. Everything is part of the ecosystem, with a part to play.

Even the fawn that is eaten by the lions is collaborating with them. The fawn provides nourishment for the lion's to carry on. We can stretch this idea to the entire circle of life to witness the collaborative nature.

So I ask again, what do people mean when they say competition? Do they refer to applications on other blockchains?

I do not do a lot of traveling around the internet but is there a chain out there with a version of @steemhunt? @dtube? @actifit? @dlike? @steempress? Heck, if we want to really show a difference, where is there another @steemmonsters?

My guess is you can't find it. Is there a blockchain with this many applications getting the traffic they are in these early days? I would like to know if there is.

Does that mean that applications will not pop up on other blockchains? Of course not. I am going to stray out onto a limb and say I feel certain there is going to be another digital asset game other than @steemmonsters. In fact, there is a good chance another one shows up on this very network. Does that mean @steemmonsters has competition? Not at all.

There is a point here that even those with the "Steem is a blogging platform" mindset miss: we are free to use both, any, and all. As content creators, we are not limited to posting our content on just Steem. Actually, if there is another kick ass blogging platform, why not post articles on both? There is nothing that says one cannot earn coins from different blockchains.

I am going to guess that many who are excited and involved in @steemmonsters play other games. It will only make sense that if something else comes along that catches the gaming world, many on here will try it even if it is on another blockchain.

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Over time, we will see the developers creating multi-chain applications. This means that, as a user, I will be receiving different coins for using the same application depending upon where I am at when interacting. This is akin to a teenager going to the mall with her mom while on Instagram. When starting out, she is on the home WiFi. Then, when getting on the road, most likely the network for the mobile carriers. Once reaching the mall, she is on the public WiFi.

Yet to her, she was on Instagram the entire time.

The competition mindset diminishes once an individual has different coins. If one earned STEEM and, say, EOS, does one have a competitive mindset? In this situation, we instantly become stakeholders in both networks. Down the road, we are going to be getting dozens of coins on a regular basis becoming stakeholders in many different networks.

A final point that I want to make is that of the entire crypto-economic system. This is a radically new concept. It is disruptive and destructive to the present system. If there is competition, it is not within this realm. The threat is not from other DApps but the traditional entities. They are the monopolistic institutions responsible for so much damage.

Every coin that gets into the wallet of another individual, is one more piece of wealth that is out of the hands of the elite. We need a couple hundred million more people using crypto-economic systems no matter what chain they are on. It is here where we need collaboration the most. There are more than 7B people who have never even engaged in a single cryptocurrency transaction and are completely oblivious to what is taking place.

In light of all this, I think focusing upon the idea of "competition" is something we need to leave behind. We are in the world of open source. Anything that is out there can be adopted and improved upon.

This is the true value of open decentralization.

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