What is the difference between Steem Dollars, SBD, Steem, and Steem Power?
I shot this photograph of my daughter for her senior photos. It was taken at the Hilton Downton Nashville, TN
Before we get into it, I need to point out that I am aware that there are other great posts that already explain this very well. The problem is that older posts are just hard to find. Differentiating old posts from new ones is also difficult for many red fish, minnows and newbies. Here are just a few that I came across in my search for answers:
So those are great resources for everyone. Yet, I still feel the need to cover the same topics. Why? For me, hearing explanations about somewhat complex subjects in several different ways helps me to wrap my brain around it. Even better, is then teaching someone else about it. So here is my attempt at giving yet another perspective to an important subject that usually escapes most minnows...
Steem: Units(tokens) of ownership of a cryptocurrency, much like stock(units of ownership in a company). These units are sellable, buyable and tradable. The value of each unit is determined by the cryptocurrency market(think Stock Exchange). https://www.coingecko.com/en/price_charts/steem/usd I'll make a post in the future about cryptocurrency. By posting quality content and voting for quality content, you get rewarded with Steem. But it comes to you in two ways: in a separate form or denomination called Steem Dollars(1) also referred to as SBD(Steem Backed Dollars). And in Steem Power(2).
Steem Bucks: Steem Dollars, SDB, its all the same. The number at the bottom of every post showing how much money is being accumulated is in these Steem bucks. I'm calling it steem bucks so you understand that it is like Monopoly money. Imagine if you were playing Monopoly for real money as the prize for winning. All of a sudden the Monopoly money is very valuable. Or in Poker! The chips are very important. They represent real money. SBD is the same. It is proprietary currency for the Steem world. If you were selling T-shirts on steemit.com, and you priced it in Steem, you would be constantly gaining and losing profit based on the market fluctuations. Buyers wouldn't know when was the right time to buy your products. The cool thing about our play money, Steem Dollars is that it is valued at roughly the US dollar 1:1. So when you cash out of your play money, it should bring in the same approximate US dollar amount. Cashing out is for another post. But it is quick and easy.
Steem Power: The other form in which Steem units are allocated on steemit.com is in the form of Power. Think influence. Steem Power is the most important asset in building long term profit on steemit.com. Your amount of steem power determines your voting power which equates to how much money your vote is worth(voting does not deplete any of your steem, SBD or steem power). I explained voting power in this post. I will explain curation in another post.
Like Steem, Steem Power can also be cashed out(it’s called “powering down”), but it takes 13 weeks to fully cash out, and if you are just learning this, why would you want to cash out? It's like cashing out your retirement. I see people powering down when they have a few dollars in Steem Power?!? You are among the first 250k steem accounts! You are among around a mere 25k ACTIVE users! The opportunity to build wealth is tremendous. Don't think about a little cash right now. Commit to the long haul. Convert your Steem to Steem Power and start building your influence. See how fast you can get to 500 Steem Power. Make post about it, tag me 
Always look for inspiration and ALWAYS look for ways to inspire others.
Okay! Let's do a quick recap so a 12 yr old can understand this stuff:
Steem: Very volatile. Like stocks. Buy, sell, trade it, value it on exchanges. Steem is the backbone of everything here on steemit.com. No Steem, no money. No nothing. Just Facebook. Blech!!
Steem Dollars(SBDs): The stable steemit.com currency that consumers can depend on to remain close to the USD in value. It's the preferred method of payment on this platform.
Steem Power: The measure of your influence on the allocation of Steem Dollars(Voting, curating). Vote value is derived from it. This is what builds wealth. Somewhat volatile but should be held long term so volatility is less of a factor.
I really hope this helps. I realize after reading back over this that even if you understand these concepts, they are still difficult to explain to people unfamiliar with the platform like our friends and families.
I welcome anyone to weigh in on any mistakes that I’m surely making in my explanations. I will edit this post as I am corrected. Please help all of us to understand further!
Stay tuned for my upcoming posts where I will deal with the following questions:
What is cryptocurrency?
What is curation and how does curation work?
How do I buy more Steem to use on steemit.com using my personal money?
How do I turn value in my steem account into US dollars(or whatever currency I use at the local supermarket)?
And please check out my recent post dealing with the question: Where does the money that's rolling around here come from?
