by @cryptoctopus
Yesterday, because of the impressive amount of people sign ups, steemit decided to closed it's door and have this whenever someone is trying to sign up:
Many people may think that it is a terrible thing that could harm the growth of the community. I, on the other hand...I'm doing the happy dance! Let me explain...
In a very early article I wrote about Pinterest growth hacking strategy, I exposed one of the best strategy ever used for a new and budding social media platform. To this day, Pinterest was the fastest growing social media platform to launch.
The "Private Club" Effect
Do you remember when you couldn't simply "sign in" to Pinterest but had to request an invitation? That was brilliant. I know it sounds completely counter-intuitive but bear with me. Why would a platform that intend on world domination would want to make itself exclusive?
Because early adopters are driven by three main motivations: INFORMATION, NOVELTY, AND STATUS
You have to consider that we are not at the stage of marketing to the whole world. We are after the "innovators" and the "early adopters". This group of people respond to very different emotional triggers than the masses. Scarcity is one of the best growth hacking strategy to increase the perceived value on a product or service.
It's The VIP Effect.
Controlled Growth
So by having a "under invitation only", Steemit is on the bleeding edge of technology and cryptocurrency. There are people out there who do not want it to succeed...a behaviour that is unfortunately too frequent. Steemit is a big threat to other cryptocurrencies because it could literally make it mainstream where the others couldn't. What is most important right now above all other functions is security of funds...everything else needs to wait.
The mainstream user cannot bear to have their funds stolen at any time. It would be disastrous if it were to occur later on when there are millions of users online.
Double Whammy
By controlling the inflow of new users, collect emails and put the platform under invitation only; steemit is poised to create a craze like we've never seen before! The honey pot is too big and the access to it is restricted!
If this process is done right, it's the best marketing strategy steemit can employ to create a stampede of users like we've never seen before.
On that...I'm leaving you with a happy dance.
All of us who got here just a few weeks later than we wish we had gotten here can breathe a little sigh of relief. We're minnows today but we're still here on the ground floor of opportunity.
From one minnow to the rest: if you're here for the right reasons take this 'time out' as an opportunity. Make sure you're focused on adding value as opposed to seeing how many pennies you can collect. There are probably dozens of good ways for us as a community to use what the founders have built, many of which haven't been dreamed up yet.
Start dreaming, share your dreams in well written posts, vote for value when you see it, add comments to streams worthy of further discussion, have fun.
Very nice reply, I really believe in what you are saying and I am amazed at the maturity of the comment section, it's staggering. For once I feel like my brain isn't shrinking using the internet.
Yes, what you said. I just now read your comment. :)
inspiring!!!
Would love to see invites handed over in handfuls to Steemers so we can get them into the hands of people like us or who have similar interests to us, so we can grow our communities based on what we'd like to see.
I posted a similar comment before I saw yours. Just upvoted THIS.
I've upvoted for sharing information on this news. Thanks, I'm busy trying to sign up people and wouldn't have known that they cannot do it.
However I'm wary of this approach. Unlike Pinterest, potential new sign ups are missing out financially by being excluded. This could cause resentment if it's a deliberate ploy. The door could be left ajar for a competitor to exploit.
I hope it's a precaution... or a very temporary ploy to drum up a bit of hype.
I think security is first concern here. Having to reimburse 100,000 people stolen founds would kill the business. But when it's ready to re-open, I think we should consider having the "friends invite" function added to increase the virality of this baby. Keep it under invitation only BUT allow everyone that is in the invite.
If that's the case, I think it should be communicated as a security precaution rather than a"private members club." Certain voting behaviours are already beginning to foster a feeling of "insiders" and "outsiders"... this step could exacerbate that.
Having someone that can vouch for a new member may work as it should raise the quality of content. However even that won't legislate against hackers/lax passwods etc.
that would not be a wise on the branding and marketing side. Message it has invitation only and then move forward as invitation only too. They need to control the growth of it and putting a dampener is wise at this point. It's not a lie to say that it's under invitation only when it is. I use "private membership" term to illustrate a phenomenon that people will experience by being invited.
An affiliate link would be fantastic to piggypack from future whales. If I can push a link to someone famous that I want to see on Steemit, then boom, I can actually start changing my kids life.
Financially motivated folks won't do as well as those who really want to offer something valuable to the community. Just because you can sign up does not guarantee monetary rewards other than voting. Maybe they can take this break and use it as a time to hone their crafts ?
Is there anything to suggest "they" need to hone their craft any more than those of us who have had the good fortune of finding Steemit early?
I meant that they can be getting their blogs ready to post when they join. We are all always honing our crafts.
My guess is there have been quite a few security enhancements i.e. thresholds to how many upvotes per hour, etc to make it more difficult for the bots & spammers.
that's a great guess!
finally i was afraid there will be no end to new sign ups, actually was afraid of millions new bloggers that would slim my chances of blog being visible.
Yes, we are the lucky ones
They will re-enable registrations but in a more controlled way. In the meantime they need more time to make the Steemit more stable for the people already using it 24/7. Remember those 500 Page Errors that drove page refresh frenzies? I haven't seen them that much once the new user flocking has stopped.
Here's to the crazy ones!!
I can feel a relief now. No i actually im feeling special being one of few who got a chance to come here!
Well, I feel like my blogs are already invisible. hahahaha
I thought I was the only one who had this crippling fear.
Really good job
EXACTLY what I was thinking!
Well that's a greedy way to look at it, kinda.
Well... that's inevitable anyways, isn't it? Wait until there's 30 million Steemers and corporate whales show up.
Wow. I'm ecstatic. I feel part of a special club....Despite the enormous amount of time I spend online, I've never beta tested a platform before. Steemit is just ticking all boxes for me...
The waiting list is a great tactic to create virality. Thanks for the observation. I ddnt even know signups have been paused.
i didn't know either. was shocked to hear this.
Myself, I told my significant other, my family, and close friends to get on Steemit several days ago. Some did, but my partner texted me at the office this morning to tell me he tried but it wasnt accepting sign ups. It felt kind of amazing to know that my intuition about the importance of this platform was right. I bet they listen next time the door opens and new accounts can be created ;)
This is our chance to help use the platform so we can keep uncovering any issues, keep creating awesome Steemit tools, and get the rocket ready for some more guests.
And, of course, to keep the good unique content coming and the conversations flowing.
Cheers everyone, I'm glad to be a part of this experience
Agreed @prufarchy @jsteck @btcbtcbtc20155 @logicwins this is by far the greatest social media platform I have ever used. There are things that need tweaking but that is the responsibility we hold as testers.
The exclusionary aspect and already strong community may be just the push needed to make this amazing beta into the best forum for original content and self-sustaining independent media. I have already seen self-policing members responding to posts by catfish, scammers, and plagiarists with good intentions and the determination necessary to keep those only interested in financial gain downvoted (alongside apologies when folks have been mistaken because we are only human and full of error). I personally am glad to be a member that produces her own material or sources news I feel others may enjoy (with disclaimers about the reposting factor, of course).
Thanks for all the genuine support and dialogue,
Truly,
H
Not a bad idea, hope they're also gonna give some steems to those who signed up early.
I just did by upvoting you :-)
Hey....share the love man.lol
Thanks for the LOVE. Hope I didn't come across like this guy:
you forgot to write "Steemit 07-20-2016" xDD
No you come accross worse.
Holy crap, you have valuable upvotes!
Thanx cryptoctopus!!
Doin the same since I stumbled in here
Here, have my two cents. (Literally, lol)
Me too!
Ever since I joined Steem, I have lost my interest in other social media. In fact, I just get slightly mad when I think how much money I have made the shareholders of those companies when I have created so much content for them. Steem means I own and can monetize my own content.
Even though the platform is not developed out much yet, I am using it to replace instagram for my drone photos and blogging. It is such a great platform.
It really is.
This is literally like the episode of South Park where cartman buys a theme park. I LOVE IT
Wow happy I joined over the weekend. <3
Awesone news for existed members. I think it will help the network grow much quicker down the road.
Yes!!! This is so good for us people that have already signed up!
Exclusive system for exclusive people.
Steemit is a big treat <- you have a typo here ;) i think you meant threat?
anyway, i agree. all the people i invited today, asking me how to fasttrack their appliation to steemit. they all want in, after them seing me earning over 4000 USD today https://steemit.com/steemit/@knozaki2015/steemit-has-insane-numbers-check-this-out
thanks man, I'll fix that. (French is my first language...something I make stupid errors like that). The craze is on!
That may have been an error, but if you think about it, Steemit is a treat for other crypto currencies. More awareness through Steemit, coupled with lower entry barriers to learning the crypto economy could bode very well for many currencies and, of course, for Steem in particular :)
I feel like this was the right move - especially considering the platform is still in beta. It will allow the people already on-board to familiarize themselves with Steemit and start producing content which hopefully will allow us to collectively refine and enhance the platform before the masses are slowly getting access.
I remember few years ago the app mailbox had a waiting list and you could see what number you are on the list, everyday i was stuck to the app waiting for my turn for an email app.
I know it will help the team building and scaling the site with ease and not building the ship while in the middle of the ocean.
great analogy!
agree with article mostly, but i dont think limit the growth rate of Steem new users is a good new, more users mean more exposure and more potential steem buyers
Maybe...but it my opinion not when there is important security update needed. Newbies getting hacked will hurt it more and may even bring it to be labeled a scam or an unsecure platform. Something Steemit would not be able to recover from.
Ten best growth in a safe way step by step and improvint security than a become viral and get massive sign ups?
sounds like a plan~!
That's really great news i feel so lucky, i sure that thousands of people are waiting now to create an account on steemit, i'm so happy that i have create my account since 1 month :D
Definitely is a form of marketing that might create a hype fomo machine.
Yeah sure that make steemit more valuable
Exactly!
The hype "invitation-only" generates is immense. Look at the OnePlus phones: initially an invite was required in order to BUY the phone! And no, it did not harm sales, quite the opposite, the sales skyrocketed!
Yay. I'm not writing about Steem (haven't had any desire to) but I'm confident I'll have a nice small, steady income stream writing about dating, philosophy, buddhism and other things that interest me 'cause I been here for 4 weeks now :)
I love you
Thank you :)
Nice post! I commented on this 11 hours ago.
https://steemit.com/steem/@mastertrader777/steemit-locks-its-doors-for-now-new-user-signups-being-paused-steemit-getting-too-popular
=)) Its the early bird that gets the worm! bahahah
This is awesooooome! It will also give us some time to get to know one another and earn some steam power before new ppl arrive. Do we know how long till Steemit will be accepting new signups again?
There is a chance to become a millionaire? I'm ready!
There were plans to introduce incentives for inviting friends. There is information on this subject?
not yet...hopefully this feature is going to be online soon but right now the top priority is security.
okay. I changed my pass to veeeery big. more than 36 letters.
Do I need to change my private keys?
And can I change them at all? I'm just a little confused.
This is very informative
Awesome :)
I was one of the initial Pinterest accounts during the invitation phase. Something you forgot about is that they also had you invite 5 other friends (emails) to get in.
This is terrific idea. I wonder how long it will be closed? Are new signups going to be governed when its re-opened? I searched and could not find a post about it.
Still reckon the powers that be need to let in one MASSIVE celebrity. Get Lady GaGa in and make a post, she'll post that on facebook and hey presto. STEEMIT.COM is suddenly a household name.
When the time is right of course :)
Any mention of how long registration will be closed?
Next step: charge $50 in BTC to register a new account!
This is now the VIP area we must look so cool !
People like to feel they belong to something. This is a great article!
Great article @cryptoctopus, totally agree with your opinion. Doing happy dance
Shall we auction off some new signups and distribute some of the proceeds to all posters?
Eventough its awesome for us that are inside it will make it more centralised, also not letting users in is kinda censoring them. I do like it is stopping people from being able of making alts for bot/marketing.
Engineered scarcity....that outta send the valuation through the roof!
No need for me to worry about sybil attacks!
Totally true, Bitcoin is going into mainstream right now
https://steemit.com/life/@cultura.bitcoin/bitcoin-into-mainstream
...
But for steemit it's a whole new story :9
Joe Averages like myself dont like such closed doors.
In such case I always think : "ok guys, if you dont want me, life without me. Good bye".
Bravo - a fantastic move. They will be beating down the doors to enter.
Limiting new members is an excellent idea. We had a big inflow of new members in the last few weeks and found more than a few bugs that needed fixed. Hardfork, Hardfork ... Hardfork. Getting a pool of anxious new users ready to jump in and use the system after all the fixes are implemented makes good sense.
I would love to be able to see a daily total of the size of queue to join. Even better would be tallies of new sign-ups, invites issued and invites exercised on a daily basis. I don't have the skills for that, but maybe someone can figure out how to show us that information.
Even more genius on so many levels! I am happy dancing with you!
Gmail did the same thing. When they opened it up, well, now everyone has a gmail account. Or two. Or three....
yeah, baby!
in the future we'll see the list of the oldest members 8]
It is awesome BUT there are new problems coming up with the masses like tag-spamming and no whales what do editorial work.
@cryptoctopus - As you are (what I would call) a whale, may I ask you for some feedback on the actual upcoming spam topic and editorial work? I wrote an article today and need some statement from "valueable" voters (aka whales) on that topic.
https://steemit.com/money/@hastla/why-whales-and-dolphins-have-to-start-work-for-steemit-or-lose-their-whole-investment
Im feeling honoured :)
We all are lucky people.
I am trying to get my friends and family on steemit for a week now. But nobody was interested. Yesterday night I finally managed to get 1 friend convinced to make an account, and you are telling me he will not be able to do so today ?
Doing the Happy Dance with You all!
Yes God! Muahahaha!