What is STEEMIT? The Complete Guide to Understanding STEEMIT

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What happens when you combine social media with cryptocurrency? You get STEEMIT. STEEMIT is a relatively new social media sharing platform that lets users monetize their voice and influence. Before we go more into detail about STEEMIT and how to use it, let’s start by going over the basics.

STEEMIT Guide

History of STEEMIT

STEEMIT was launched in March 2016 by Ned Scott and Dan Larimer, who was also the creator of BitShares, a decentralized exchange and Fintech platform.

Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steemit

STEEMIT was modeled after the Reddit platform when Reddit hypothesized that they could improve their system by offering rewards to those who contributed to the community by posting comments, stories, and sharing content. STEEMIT took this idea and ran with it.

They created their own blockchain database that rewarded users with STEEM, their unique form of cryptocurrency. STEEMIT also utilizes US Dollar-pegged currency, or STEEM Backed Dollars (SBD). SBD represents the fraction of STEEM required for 1 USD.

Basic STEEMIT Terminology

Each social platform has their own jargon and takes some time to learn and fully understand. Much of this jargon has now become common knowledge.

For example, “Like”, “Share”, “Tweet”, Instagram, Snapchat, “Stories”, etc. are all now commonly used words. Soon, “STEEM”, “Upvote”, “STEEM Power”, and “Resteem” will hopefully be added to this list of common knowledge.

We’ve already briefly described STEEM and STEEMIT, but now let’s go into more detail about the platform.

 

1) STEEM

STEEM is a form of cryptocurrency that is used on STEEMIT’s platform. Users can buy STEEM through an exchange. This STEEM can then added to their Wallet, where all STEEMIT transactions and currency are housed on STEEMIT.com.

STEEM is also earned and traded on the platform. STEEM can be earned by writing great content. Users can also earn STEEM by curating, or upvoting, content. STEEM can also be transferred between users (with no fee) on the platform.

2) Upvote

Imagine if you got paid every time you liked something or received a “like” on Facebook? That is exactly what upvoting is. Just like you are strategic about what you “like” on Facebook (you don’t like a post that doesn’t interest you or provide some value to you or the poster), you should be strategic about what you upvote on STEEMIT.

Upvoting may cost you STEEM, but can also gain you SBD. You can become profitable through upvoting with the right strategy in places.

How to Upvote on STEEMIT

According to STEEM.io Curation Rewards, you should abide by four principles when upvoting. These include:

  • Only upvote posts that you believe others will upvote.
  • Vote as early as possible once content is published.
  • Don’t upvote already popular content.
  • Obtain as much vesting STEEM Power as possible.

Essentially, it pays to vote for something that you believe will be popular and to vote early on. Like the old phrase goes, “the early bird gets the worm”.

3) STEEM Power

The amount you get paid for upvoting depends on your Voting Power or STEEM Power. STEEM Power is determined by your total vesting STEEM and your Voting Power.

Your voting power diminishes up to 5% every time a vote is cast; however, it regenerates to 100% every 24 hours. Your STEEM Power is your “influence” on the site.

When you post content, you get paid out 50% in SBD and 50% in STEEM Power. According to STEEM.io Posting Rewards, a vote-weighted average of 24 hours after each vote is cast determines when the post pays out.

STEEM Power should be seen as a long term investing strategy. You cannot transfer STEEM Power to STEEM. You can buy more STEEM Power with STEEM, but you cannot buy STEEM with STEEM Power. If or when you decide to “cash out” you would Power Down your STEEM Power. This would cash it out over the course of 2 years and 104 payments.

The video below provides a good summary of STEEM and STEEM Power.

4) Resteem

Even though you may have written good content, it doesn’t always mean that it is going to be read by others. That is where Resteeming comes into play. Just like Sharing on Facebook or Retweeting a Tweet, Resteem is a good way to share valuable content to gain more upvotes and Followers to an account.

Resteeming content builds a reciprocal relationship between authors and curators. As an author of content, when someone Resteems your post, you get more exposure thus more upvotes. As a curator when you Resteem content you provide your readers with more quality content and thus receive more Followers to your account.

Ideally, with STEEMIT you would like to organically build followings and relationships so content is Resteemed naturally. However, newer users can utilize those who have large followings and transfer them STEEM (or essentially “tip”) them for Resteeming content. All transactions between users are viewable publicly in each users’ wallet.

How to Author Content

When writing content, the more organic and natural the content, typically the better it performs. People want to hear your voice, not someone else’s. Although you can post duplicate content (content posted on other sites), you will truly gain the most reward when posting unique content, not from outside sources.

Cryptocurrency posts tend to perform well. STEEMIT is a good source to learn about Bitcoin and all things crypto. Currently, a large majority of posts are centered around different types of coins and the state of cryptocurrency. This is not a surprise, given that the platform uses cryptocurrency so heavily.

Should I Get on STEEMIT?

 

 

When it comes to using STEEMIT, it’s totally a personal choice. When users sign up for STEEMIT they start off with a minuscule amount of STEEM Power to work with. If you believe that STEEMIT is a solid, long term investment strategy for you, then you should buy more STEEM to help build your STEEM Power.

The site has truly a zero upfront cost to get started, so it is worth trying out, especially if you already use similar platforms to share content like Reddit. If you find that STEEMIT is not for you, you always have the option to power down and slowly convert your STEEM to USD. STEEMIT embraces early adopters and those who engage frequently with the site.

Think about if Facebook a decade ago allowed users to monetize content. Today, those early adopters would be wealthy as the platform has grown substantially in a decade. You could be one of those early adopters with STEEMIT so register today.

PS – Be sure to follow me on STEEMIT and check out some of my other articles. Thanks!

Disclosure: Author holds $STEEM tokens at the time this review was published.