http://i.imgur.com/IzPycqD.jpg
## <center>Ideally, we would all like to see a rise in the value of STEEM.</center>

If there was a simple formula to follow and all it took was a few talented and educated individuals to “make it so” then it would have already happened. Simply put, much is beyond our control.

However, there still are some factors that I think that we have an influence over, and although there is *no guarantee* in things like this, I believe that there are certain steps that we can take to set ourselves up for the greatest possibility of success.

https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/http://i.imgur.com/uVNBbyL.jpg

## <center>STEEM RECAP</center>

http://i.imgur.com/lMeSRm8.png

In my previous post, I focused on the currency STEEM. This post will focus on the platform **steemit.** IN the previous post, and a lot of the comments and replies on it, a good discussion occurred. Some of the best ways that we can attempt to do things with STEEM itself that could increase the value have to do with being able to make it easier to use and getting it more widely accepted as a currency. 

Personally, although encouraging more online stores and physical businesses to accept STEEM as a viable form of payment, I think that having a card tied directly to our steemit wallet (or a secondary wallet created for the sole purpose of being tied to the card… this may be way better) would be one easy way to have STEEM be suddenly accepted by *any* business that normally allows payment with a debit or credit card. When I use my **Shiftcard** at a store, it is not necessary for *anyone* there to have even heard of Bitcoin, it works regardless. 

Also, in the “SUPPLY & DEMAND” and “ANOTHER SOURCE OF INCOME” sections my basic point yesterday was trying to position ourselves *individually* where we did not *need* to sell our STEEM. Basically, a buyer will never *need* to buy STEEM, and though they have the opportunity, it is not a necessity, like food is. This means that *anyone* buying STEEM obviously has extra money to invest… or not. However, if steemians are *desperate* and need to sell their STEEM, then the advantage is completely towards the buyer.

A desperate person will almost always be taken advantage of. If you have a vehicle worth $3000 USD so you ask for $3000 *or best offer* and also put the words “**MUST SELL**” on it, you’d be lucky to get an offer for more than $2000. The potential buyer knows that you are desperate, so they often respond by attempting to “low-ball” you. If you are in a position where you must take *any* offer for your STEEM, then you will not be able to hold out for a higher price. 

https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/http://i.imgur.com/uVNBbyL.jpg

## <center>STEEM IS NOT ALONE… IT HAS STEEMIT</center>

Though many attempts can be made to increase the value of STEEM by focusing on STEEM itself, I think that ultimately, it is the platform that holds the keys to the value of STEEM. As @catharcissism pointed out in the comments on my previous post, STEEM will not be succeeding just because we need another cryptocurrency. This is where I believe STEEM has a great advantage to many other altcoins. 

### <center>STEEM has an entire platform and community tied to it!</center>

For this reason, I will be sharing some thoughts and contemplations about what we can be doing to benefit the platform steemit, that will *hopefully* eventually lead to a price increase of STEEM as well. 

https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/http://i.imgur.com/uVNBbyL.jpg
# <center>STEEMIT</center>

## <center>USERS</center>

For a community to exist, *someone* needs to be there. For it to grow, *someone else* needs to join. From all around the world, many users have already showed up on steemit. Some, like @stellabelle, happened to find it “accidentally” while spending time online. Others, like @papa-pepper and @giftedgaia, were told about it by their friends. 

I think that word of mouth has great potential to continue to encourage others to join, by many other forms of attempting to encourage others to join have been brainstormed and attempted. Does anyone remember the steemit billboards? Does anyone know if people joined because of them? 

### <center>As a bit of a quick research project, if you reply to this post, could you add how you found out about steemit?</center>

Anyway, the point is simple, however new users show up on steemit, we need them to be joining if we want the community to be growing.

https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/http://i.imgur.com/uVNBbyL.jpg
## <center>USER RETENTION</center>

http://i.imgur.com/tDI1aJr.jpg

Yes, getting people to join steemit may have its difficulties, but getting them to stay on steemit can be tough too. For many reasons, people have quit steemit, or even committed steemicide. Some just didn’t make the money that they thought they should, some got fed up with how the upvotes and Steem Power system works, others got harassed enough to call it quits. 

Whatever the individual reasons are, the fact that our user retention rate could use a boost remains a valid concern. Personally, I try to do what I can to be inspirational and encouraging, but I am only one person. There is only so much that I can do, and my 1 cent upvotes won’t be the reason that someone keeps working hard and being active on steemit.

I’ve done a few posts that touched on this subject previously, so rather than restating some of my ideas here, I’ll just link one of my best posts on the matter.

http://i.imgur.com/86wd5qH.jpg
### <center>[JUMPING SHIP](https://steemit.com/steemit/@papa-pepper/jumping-ship-thoughts-and-considerations-on-dealing-with-the-problem-of-user-retention)</center>

https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/http://i.imgur.com/uVNBbyL.jpg

## <center>ACTIVITY</center>

Though there are many accounts on steemit, only a small portion of them are actively posting or commenting. Because of alt-accounts and curation trails, many more accounts vote than post or comment. Once we have users on steemit that stay on steemit (don’t quit) we ideally need them to manually be active on a fairly regular basis. The more real interaction occurs and the more content is added to the platform, the better off the site will be.

https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/http://i.imgur.com/uVNBbyL.jpg

## <center>VISIBILITY</center>

The more active users that we have, the more original content will be created. The more we put out there on the internet, the greater the probability that search engines will lead people to steemit. Creating quality, original content will be the key to increasing our visibility online. 

As with anything, things take time. Eventually, we should start having posts, memes, or videos go *viral* and get a lot of exposure. I only started my YouTube channel *because* of steemit, but I like to add “steemit.com/@papa-pepper” to the end of the title just to increase visibility. Anyone who stumbles across a YouTube video of mine online will at least be able to see the name steemit.

What other ways can we be increasing our online visibility?

https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/http://i.imgur.com/uVNBbyL.jpg

## <center>CONTROVERSY???</center>

Though this can be a touchy subject with an often negative vibe to it, controversy can be a huge tool to springboard something into the limelight. Does anyone remember Insane Clown Posse? They were mostly unknown, until Disney signed and dropped them. This single bit of controversy launched I.C.P. into nationwide fame in the U.S. and that is when their career really took off.

Of course no one want to tarnish the name of **steemit**, but if steemit suddenly did become a household name, it would certainly cause a lot more interest in the platform. I have no intention of attempting to make a nationwide or worldwide controversy to attempt to gain some sort of publicity for steemit, I am just mentioning it as a potential occurrence that could lead to an increase in the value of STEEM.

https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/http://i.imgur.com/uVNBbyL.jpg

## <center>THE 2017 ROADMAP</center>

I have not read the complete volume, and I will not be recapping what I have read here. But, it is worth mentioning for multiple reasons. For one, people like to have a have a plan and to know what that plan is. The roadmap has accomplished that.

Additionally, many of the goals and implementations mentioned in it should prove themselves to be good, solid steps in the right direction. I have also been impressed with the amount of suggestions that have come from the community that have already been implemented. Two of my personal favorites are the double-checks before **resteeming a post** and **clearing a post**. Before the double-check confirmation was added I have accidentally resteemed the posts of others and cleared my own posts prior to posting them. 

https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/http://i.imgur.com/uVNBbyL.jpg
## <center>OFFLINE INTERACTION</center>

https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://s23.postimg.org/59bsm6k1n/MEETUP_COVER.jpg

This may be one of the most important things that really sets us apart from other online communities. I’m not sure how many of you went to “FACEFEST” back when you were on facebook or how many of you plan on heading to “REDDITSTOCK” this fall… but I’m unaware of any site like ours accomplishing the things offline that we have already done or that we are planning to do.

The local meetups have been very cool, and there have been multiple ones around the world already. Then there was STEEMFEST in Amsterdam, where steemians from all the world met up for a huge event. Now, @riosparada is planning on having our own MUSIC & ART FESTIVAL this October in Austin, TX, called “STEEMSTOCK.”

I believe that the offline interactions at the meetups and STEEMFEST have already added incredible value to this community, and the more that we can build up and inspire the community, the more the platform and currency will increase in value as well.

I’ll do a full promo post on STEEMSTOCK soon, but I think that this is the next big event that we need to focus on. To have a music & art festival fueled by our own musicians and artists would be incredible, and a great evidence of what this platform can offer. To have the music and art provided *solely* by steemians and to open the event up to the “general public” would also be a good deal of publicity.

Whatever events we actually pull off together, I believe that they increase the value of steemit and set us apart as a platform

https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/http://i.imgur.com/uVNBbyL.jpg

## <center>FOCUS ON CONTENT</center>

I post this section separately, although I did touch on it under “VISIBILTY.” Basically, there is a good amount of competition of steemit to get noticed and to get payouts. It can also be discouraging, but for those who press on past the discouragement, it encourages us to do the highest quality work that we are capable of.

The fewer and farther between *poor posts* that have been made with very little effort are, the better the overall content of our community is. When someone hears about steemit and the first three posts that they check out are pure junk, they will think that we are a joke. Quality can add to credibility and influence the way that others view us. We already know about some of tactics that are being used on sites like facebook and reddit to make sure that their users don’t get pointed in the direction of steemit, so we have to overcome those obstacles another way.

Also, the higher the quality of our posts (collectively) the better our platform will be as a reliable source of accurate information and worthwhile ideas and concepts.

https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/http://i.imgur.com/uVNBbyL.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/pKYLyb3.jpg

## <center>LARGER OBSTACLES</center>

Larger obstacles do stand in our wide of being more widely used. With the current lower value of STEEM and the limited number of whales, there is only so much *financially* that steemit can offer any individual. Many of us came for the money initially, but when we realized that is wasn’t exactly flowing, we had a choice to make. Can we who have stayed make this type of the community that people want to be a part of, even if their time is only worth a few cents or a few dollars?

### <center>WHAT DO YOU THINK THAT WE CAN DO TO MAKE STEEMIT A BETTER PLATFORM?</center>

I know that you all have some great ideas on the matter, and the ones above were just *some* of mine. Please reply with your ideas below, or just make a post out of them and drop the link below. Regardless of what happens here, I’ll be doing what I can to attempt to make steemit all that it can be.

https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/http://i.imgur.com/uVNBbyL.jpg

<center>https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/http://i.imgur.com/uAgeoSs.jpg</center>

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# <center>*FOLLOW*</center>
<center>https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/08/26/papa-peppe2r25056.jpg</center>

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<center>Awesome Handcrafted @papa-pepper logo **kindly donated by @vlad** - Thank you!!</center>

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<center>https://img1.steemit.com/0x0/https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/09/30/5bca34b1e3af80061337b7202f1a8a4e.png</center>
### <center>[OPERATION TRANSLATION](https://steemit.com/translation/@papa-pepper/operation-translation-now-under-construction-what-it-is-and-how-you-can-help) logo provided by @oecp85.</center>
<center>(click link above for more info on Operation Translation)</center>

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### <center>The long-term purpose of this account is to help provide the necessary funds to live a self-sufficient lifestyle at home with my family.</center>