My Steemit story...one month in

Hey steemers...I wrote this as a review for my blog but there's some relevant info you guys might like. What do you gus think?

Who’s heard of Steemit? I hadn’t heard of it two months ago besides hearing it’s a new social media platform. This didn’t pique my interest that much since I don’t particularly need a new social media in my life. Then I found out it was a social media that pays you. Since I regularly do pieces on supplemental income you could consider me officially piqued. I know from working with cryptocurrency what STEEM was but wasn’t familiar with the platform built around it. The first thing I did was research how it worked. Never jump into something before you understand at least the basics. That’s a good way to lose money.

So how does Steemit pay? If you post something or comment on something you can receive payment each time someone upvotes your post or comment(it’s just like likes). Where does this money come from though? The system is a bit complicated but the simplest way to explain it is what you’re being paid is a loan. Steemit uses 3 different currencies. STEEM, Steem dollars, and steem power. STEEM is the tradable token similar to bitcoin and other familiar cryptocurrencies. It acts as company stock would and gives a share of the steemit platform. Steem power is exclusive to the platform. It is used to determine how much steem you “give” to others when you upvote their posts or comments. You get more Steem power by cashing in STEEM or Steem dollars in essence reinvesting into the platform you now own part of. Steem dollars is where te loan part comes in. It’s the digital asset Steemit’s developers have set in place to reflect STEEM’s value in dollar format. It’s in essence a loan because your STEEM and Steem power balance is the collateral. Steem dollars is what you’re paid in for your content. Remember how I said you own a part of this platform? Consider the steem dollars you get the dividend paid out on your “stock”. By posting and curating good content you help the platform to grow and are compensated accordingly. It’s easily transferred into more Steem power or STEEM for either reinvestment or withdrawal So much for a simple explanation eh?

I’ve been on Steemit for just under a month and so far so good. I have 270 followers, have made 68 posts and have a reputation of 31 up from where you start at 25(this is determined by the upvotes/downvotes coming from other users). My account is worth a whopping $6. Woo hoo! Each of my post average around 5 or 10 cents and when I comment that grabs me a penny or two. Starting out it doesn’t even fall into the “supplemental income” category but it easily could with a little time and effort. There are more than a few people make $50-$100 every time they post and anywhere from $1-$10 for comments.

I like that Steemit incentivises good content. If you’re informative and interactive you’ll definitely climb the ranks rapidly. Although it has become one of my go to sources for crypto information, it has much more on it than tech speak. Photography, music, articles, even memes(yes that’s right….you can get paid for posting memes) are all floating around like any other social media site. In all honesty it’s not the most user friendly site(yet) and definitely has a long way to go before it’s a serious competitor for the likes of any social media site you’ve heard of but it’s still in beta and has updates all the time. One thing that’ll take getting used to for many folks is that after a week a post can no longer be edited. I understand why because your posts, comments, pics; all of it become part of the blockchain. If you know anything about how blockchains work you know they can’t be edited. So if you tell Sally Sue you love her on Steemit you better mean it because it’ll be there forever(like you told her your love would be). The password that is assigned to you is long as shit(it’s your wallet’s address encryption key) and if you lose it you’re locked out of your account indefinitely so I’d suggest you write it down. There are a lot of bots on the platform trying to make a quick buck and I’d hate to see Steemit lose market share because the user experience sucks. As I said it has a way to go but I’m sure these concerns and more are already on the developers to do list.

Steemit has got a lot of potential and is a good reminder to other cryptocurrencies to have some sort of utility behind their token. I’m jazzed that STEEM’s developers are trying to foster an atmosphere of decentralized ownership. This concept could do a lot to drive the decentralized revolution. Imagine real estate done in Steemit fashion I’m excited to see what the future brings! After you’ve done your own research join in. Tell em @Aatrayu sent ya