The essence of community, its heart and soul, is the non-monetary exchange of value: things we do and share because we care for others, and for the good of the place. - Dee Hock (Founder and former CEO Visa)

Lately the community spirit on Steem has begun to live a rennaissance.

Projects that foster synergy effects among the members of this network are in vogue these days.

We're all pretty itchy, and that's a promising trend.

People team up and bundle forces under the umbrella of the shared aim: wanting Steem to succeed.

The integrated way.

The pioneer #promo-steem - with its vision to promote the Steem blockchain through a network of ambitious, voluntary blockchain marketers and Steem Ambassadors - has grown out of its infancy now, leading to multiple new spin-offs and great showcases.

Currently we're counting 67 Steem Ambassadors on the world map, people from six different continents and 21 countries, all driven by the same passion for this project.

Their ways to promote Steem are as different as themselves, everybody having their own background and knowledge, providing their own perspective, talent, skill and creativity.

For a reason @tarazkp tried to uncover the big mistery about Steem City and its residents a couple of days back:

The most interesting people in the world?

Probably.

Whatever that unique blend is about, it's of inestimable value.

@oracle-d - the new baby of the promo-steem founders @starkerz and @anarcotech - has clearly recognized the tremendous potential of the Steem community.

They prove on a daily basis how valuable community effort can be in terms of future investments and (the so needed) increase in capital.

Using our unique Multi-Proof-of-Brain (MPoB) system, we incentivise and reward exceptional digital content creators with Steem Cryptocurrency tokens for choosing to produce valuable work for our clients and partners. - oracle-d.com

Oracle-d defines communities as integrated part of new business models, smartly leveraging their talent, creativity and influence.

These type of projects build bridges not only between members of the community and the dApps and services they use, but especially between STEEM and the market still to conquer.

It's a clear win-win on all levels!

The more successful showcases find their way into the crypto market, the merrier for the overall value of STEEM. Think about the recent Netcoins contest in order to understand its dimensions.

One of STEEM's unique selling propositions in the crypto market is that its value is not based on pure speculation - it's backed by a whole network of seminal decentralized applications and services, as well as the people who use them on a daily basis.

Tools and brains - in a healthy balance.

@ned via Twitter

Aiming for sustainability.

Steem's churn rate is currently ranging at about 35%.

Even though new accounts are created on a daily basis, we're losing more people than we're able to keep.

Churn rate Jan-Sep 2018 provided by @paulag

Active users to date provided by @arcange

Now one could argue that these statistics behave according to the general trend of the crypto market, but then I'd want to ask you:

Who speculates on their users?

Think about the future vision of Steem as Steemit Inc's CEO @ned already defined it one year ago, aiming to tokenize the internet and to bring multiple new businesses into the network.

One could not want to see Steem's userbase being tied to the dollar price of its currency. Do we?

A constant and sustainable growth of active users on the blockchain, Proof of Brain and successfully implemented community projects are one of the best showcases to pitch to investors.

What we want and need is organic and sustainable growth, independent from pricing.

Now how can we improve retention? Of course, by increasing the users' loyalty.

Give and take.

There was @meno's open letter to a future steemian (and I hope you all read it), clearly underlining engagement with the community as ultimate reason why Steem:

I will tell you one little trick, one thing you can do, but only if you are willing to put in the work. It's so simple that some people don't ever believe it; Become part of the community!

Communities work on give-and-take basis.

If we're able to provide new users a place where they find something no other place provides to them, we'll be able to create a win-win situation.

Value that grows out of the community is a true seal of quality no other blockchain in the world is currently able to market.

That secret weapon called community will lay the foundation for a future increase in capital.

This is why community projects deserve to be a top priority on Steem.

Currently most of the attention and rewards go to new developments, and there can't actually be enough spotlight for newly built apps and services on the chain.

That's fantastic, but I believe that we need more balance between product and people.

If we build more and more dApps but constantly fail on retention, then we're not creating a sustainable product.

Let's talk about ways to further leverage the Proof of Community at Steemfest³. I'm all in for some great discussions!

Looking forward to it!

See you in Krákow.

Best,
Marly -

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This blog was created in July 2016, aiming to provide thought-provoking content for open-minded people who go on adventure, step out of comfort zones and embrace the new.
Thanks for being part of the journey!

PS: All my blog posts are created and submitted via eSteem Surfer 1.1.12 - my favorite Steem desktop client that was developed by @good-karma's @esteemapp team. Check out their account for more information.

Original content. Cover kindly provided by pixabay.com;
quote found on hallofquotes.com.