Steemit is a new social media platform where you can get paid to write and upvote content. Steemit is powered by its value token Steem and all the payments are decentralized and blockchain based.
Steemit has three value tokens: Steem, Steem Backed Dollars (or Steem Dollars) and Steem Power.
Steem is the liquid value token that can be bought and sold at exchanges. Withdrawing Steem from Steemit is automatic.
Steem Backed Dollars are dollar pegged tokens that are worth around 1$ each. They exist to protect content writers from volatility and Steem's inflationary nature. Steem Dollars take 5 days to be converted into Steem.
Steem Power is Steem locked in a vest fund. It is used to curate (up or down vote) content and can only be withdrawn over the course of 104 weeks.
It is also important to note that Steem has a yearly issuance rate of 103%, which makes it an extremely inflationary cryptocurrency. The Steemit platform itself is also very new and has already been hacked once, though all the funds were reimbursed to the respective users. With any nascent technology there are many unknowns and so an extremely heavy dose of caution is advised.
There are many ways to earn Steem, Steem Backed Dollars or Steem Power in the platform, and today we want to show you how to do it! We can only show you how to use Steemit, then it will be up to you to create new quality content or to curate quality posts, by doing so you'll help yourself and the Steem ecosystem.
Where does this money come from? When mining steem 90% of the block rewards are allocated to a vest fund (Steem Power) that pays content creators, curators and miners. The other 10% are kept as Steem, which can be sold and bought at any time, and are used to reward content creators in Steem Backed Dollars.
Read the Steem Whitepaper
Check out CryptoCompare's Steemit blog!
Part 1 - Signup for Steemit
The first thing you'll need is a Steemit account. When you Signup a new Steemit account you'll receive $10 worth of Steem Power, so in order to prevent fake accounts from being created, you'll need to prove your identity by signing up to your facebook or Reddit account.
Step 1: Go to Steemit.com and click "Signup"
Step 2: Choose Facebook or Reddit to login with your account on one of the social media platforms.
Step 3: Choose your username and fill in the randomly generated passowrd
Part 2 - Create a New Story
Step 1: Click "Submit New Story" and you'll be taken to the Steemit text editor
Step 2: Enter the title (1), content (2) and tags (3). You can also use Markdown to format and add images to your post
Step 3: Scroll down to Preview your post. Once you're happy with it click "Submit"
Part 3 - Curate Content
Step 1: In order to curate content you must have Steem Power, which is the "fuel" to your upvotes. Get some Steem Power
You can get Steem Power by:
Writing Content: half of your reward will be paid in Steem Power and the other half will be paid in Steem Backed Dollars. You can turn Steem Dollars into Steem (see part 4), which can be turned into Steem Power.
Buy Steem: You can buy steem, transfer it to your account and use "Power Up" to turn it into Steem Power (see part 5).
Step 2: Browse for Stories. You can use the search tool (1) or filter by statistics (2), tags and topics (3)
Step 3: Find a Story you like and upvote it by clicking the arrow (1). You can also downvote content by Flagging it (2).
Part 4 - Turn Steem Dollars into Steem
When you receive Steem Dollars you have the option to turn it into Steem automatically, which will take 5 days. You can also use the Steem exchange to convert your SBD into Steem (see part 6)
Step 1: Click your avatar and choose "Wallet"
Step 2: Click the arrow next to your Steem Dollar balance and click "Convert to STEEM"
Step 3: Choose the amount (1) and click "Convert" (2)
Step 4: Click "OK" to confirm amount and sign into your account to authorize the withdrawal.
You are done. Just wait 5 days and your Steem will be credited according to your Steem Dollar. In this case, $0.01 worth of Steem will be credited to our account.
Part 5 - Turn Steem into Steem Power
When you receive Steem Dollars you have the option to turn it into Steem automatically, which will take 5 days. You can also use the Steem exchange to convert your SBD into Steem (see part 7)
Step 1: Click your avatar and choose "Wallet"
Step 2: Click the arrow next to your Steem balance and click "Power Up"
Step 3: Choose the amount (1) and click "Convert" (2)
Part 6 - Turn Steem Power into Steem
When you receive curation rewards from upvoting content, you can keep the Steem Power to earn bigger curation rewards and interest or you can also choose to withdraw. When you withdraw or "Power Down" Steem, you will recieve the full ammount of what you powered down in the course of 104 weeks.
When you convert your Steem Power into Steem, you'll still gather balance and curation rewards.
Step 1: Click your avatar and choose "Wallet"
Step 2: Click the arrow next to your Steem Power balance and click "Power Down"
Step 3: Sign into your account to confirm the Power down and that's it. Your first 1% payment will be made in 7 days.
Part 6 - How to use the Steemit Exchange
Step 1: Click the menu (1) and choose "Market" (2).
Step 2: You will be taken to Steemit's decentralized exchange. Fill in the price and ammount of steem/steem dollars you want to buy or sell.