Hello Peerplays Witnesses! My name is Hive account@timcliff. I am one of the witnesses for the Steem blockchain (currently #21). If you are considering a run for Peerplays witness, I strongly encourage you to use the Steem platform to create your witness post!

Steem is a social media platform that rewards it's users for the value they add. It is free to sign up through Steemit.com, and once you have a account - you can publish your content for free on the blockchain.

In addition to being a free place to post your content, you will also get extra exposure to your witness post. Steemit.com gets a lot of traffic, and many of the Steem users are also PPY token holders as well!

Did I mention that the Steem blockchain uses the same underlying blockchain technology as Peerplays? Both Steem and Peerplays were created from the state-of-the-art blockchain technology - Graphene. BitShares uses it as well!

By posting content to the Steem blockchain, you may even earn some free STEEM tokens! If the community values your content and upvotes your post, the blockchain may pay you based on the value of your contribution. If you are interested in learning how the payment process works, you can read about it in the Steemit FAQ.

I predict that the two platforms Steem and Peerplays will grow and succeed together side-by-side. Steem users can now have an exciting place to play with the tokens they earn, and Peerplays users will have an awesome social media platform to share stores about their exciting wins! Peerplays + Steem is a win/win :)

Information about posts:

Steem uses 'markdown' formatting, which means you can format your posts without needing to do any coding. Here is some info on markdown in case you haven't used it before:
https://steemit.com/faq.html#How_do_I_format_text_in_Markdown

Here is a link to my Steemit witness application, so you can see what one looks like:
https://steemit.com/witness-category/@timcliff/timcliff-s-updated-witness-application

Here are more from other Steem witnesses to give you some additional examples:
https://steemit.com/witness-category/@roelandp/witness-roelandp
https://steemit.com/witness-category/@pfunk/pfunk-s-witness-post
https://steemit.com/witness-category/@arhag/witness-arhag

These examples were mainly selected for formatting reasons. If you would like to see the witness posts of all of the Steem witnesses, you can view them on the Steem blockchain exploder: https://steemd.com/witnesses

Steps to Create a Witness Post on Steemit.com:

1. Signup for an account if you do not have one already. (There is currently a waiting list, so it may take a few business days to get approved.)
2. Once you have an account, click on the "Submit a Story" button at the top of Steemit.com.
3. Think of a catchy title.
4. Create your post.
5. It is suggested to add some images to make it interesting. Make sure you have the rights to the images though. https://pixabay.com/ is a great site if you are looking for free CCO images to use. Also, the first image that you use will be the thumbnail image that is shown along with your post. The recommended image ratio to have it fit well in the preview mode is 16x9.
6. Add your tags. 3 tags that you should use are: peerplays-witness, peerplays, and ppy. You get up to 5, so you can chose up to 2 more. There is a list of popular tags to chose from here: https://steemit.com/tags.
7. Proof your post. First check the title and tags to make sure they look right. Then see what your post will look like in the preview mode below. You can always go back and make changes later (for the 7 days while the post is active), but it is best to try and get it right the first time.
8. Click the "Post" button to create your post.
9. After that, you will see a thumbnail of your post show up in the new posts page. You can click on it to view the full post, as well as copy/save the URL to use later.
10. Enter the URL for your Steemit post when setting up your witness in the Peerplays blockchain.

Lastly, some tips for being a good witness:

• Add Value - Being a witness is much more than producing blocks. You are one of the leaders and ambassadors for the platform. Everybody has unique talents and skills that they bring to the table. Find out how you can use yours to make the platform better!
• Stay Involved - It is crucial that the PPY token holders know who you are, and what value you are adding to the platform.
• Stay Informed - Make sure you know about all of the things going on with the platform, especially surrounding hardforks. It also helps to know where you can put your skills to best use by knowing what is needed.
• Be Helpful - There will be tons of new users on the platform. Many of them will have no idea how things work, or even worse - incorrect ideas on how things work. The more you can help them learn the platform and have a good experience, the more the platform will grow.
• Communicate - It is important to regularly let the community know what you are up to. If you don't let everyone know what you are doing to make the platform better, how are they going to know to vote for you? Your Steem blog can be the perfect place for users to check in and see what you are up to!

Good luck - I wish you all the best!