I don't come to Steemit to see the bland and blahzay.

I come to see real people, doing real shit. My facebook feed is flooded with things I don't care about and articles that I could find on my own. It's less a content sharing platform and more just an aggregate source of stale memes and rants about the latest thing to be outraged by in the news.

^{It's the new social media CRAZE!}

Steemit is OUR place, OUR home.

And we can decorate it however we want. Instead of letting the boring and terrible decor hang as it may, Steemit weeds out the dreary and drab by its very nature...by no one upvoting it. Those that can adapt will, and will start posting better content for their own benefit as well as that of everyone else. So here's five quick tips from me to you on how to maximize your own experience and share it with others.

1.) Embellish on the Details
If you show me food, tell me how you made it.This isn't instagram, a picture isn't enough. If you want to post a meal here, I better be able to duplicate and improve on it. If you ate somewhere fancy I better hear a tale of how you talked to the waiter and found out they were an extra in a B-rated movie or how the conversation at the table somehow got on the topic of tiddlywinks, or how the smell of the store reminded you of wal-marts before they were supercenters. John Hodgman says that "Specificity is the soul of narrative." and I couldn't agree more.

^{Tina makes a mean martini but in her off time is a roller-derby goddess and a drummer for a local grunge metal band!}

2.) Be Your Real Self
That kooky crazy snark-filled rage machine that has something to say, THAT'S who I want to see here. You can pretty up your best fake image for pointless likes on other social media platforms, but I don't give two shits about the twelve selfies it took to get the right one. Instead, post the grunged out dragon breath you that dragged your sorry ass out of bed ready to snarl at the world without fear of judgement. Tell me your darkest fears and deepest regrets. Tell me your dreams and your hidden superpowers that only work when no one's looking.

^{Does the light out here make my foundation line visible? Is my contouring unnatural?}

3.) A Thousand Words Are Worth a Picture
Don't exhuast me with a wall of text for no reason. Although you have more than 140 characters to express yourself, be kind to your audience and give your points some breathing room for digestion. Quips, funny images, memes, or photoblogs go a long way, but a picture all its own doesn't serve your blog justice unless it's for a photo contest, and even then, there's always a story to tell. I'm here to read those stories.

^{This picture should perfectly express my time in Egypt. No need to say anything more really.}

4.) Life's Not Perfect, Learn From It
This doesn't mean write nothing but sad sob stories about how the universe has singled you out for torment and failure. What I mean is that you don't have to exaggerate things to the point where everyone knows that it didn't happen like that. We all learn through failure, so share how you grew as a person by overcoming the odds, whether it was as simple as getting through a day of work or climbing a mountain, let me know what you learned.

^{No really, I totally walked 12 miles while eating a kale wrap on lunch. The natural yogurt in it makes my sweat smell like lavender, but I took a shower before I got here so it probably wore off.}

5.) Have FUN
Let go of your fears and wishes to be a Steemit millionaire. Instead, enjoy the platform for what it is, a place where you're paid to express yourself, and all the things that make you YOU. If you're not feeling some kind of emotion while you write, be it jazzed up that you're making a great story or fighting back tears of sorrow, then you can't expect your readers to connect on an emotional level either. Even the driest of analytical posts can be sprinkled with sarcastic humor or feelings of joy and dread.

^{After finding out the pinata wasn't actually filled with free bitcoin, Dave collapsed in disappointment.}

What are some ways that you've made Steemit YOUR platform?

Image Sources 2, 3, 4, 6