It is amazing to think of all the great things that have happened since steemit was created.
When I first showed up last July, it was because 
THIS STEEMIT THING ROCKS!
Yeah, it really was exciting, and since then I've been doing what I can to produce quality content and encourage others as they learn the ropes and continue to invest in this community! Below are some of the great improvements that have been made since I joined steemit. Many of you newer users may not remember when these features were added, but some of us still do.
1 - THE AVATAR
To be able to represent yourself with an avatar was a huge step forward for steemit. Mine is a little pepper guy. Many users have had a lot of fun creating personalized images to use as their avatars, and I think that it gives you a little taste of who the user is when you can see it.
2 - THE SAVINGS ACCOUNT
There were some pretty big account hacks back in July of last year. The Savings Account was just another way of protecting liquid STEEM a little more. Since it has a three day waiting period, if someone hacked your account, they could not immediately cash out anything that you had in savings. I used to keep about 3000 STEEM in their myself, but no longer use it at the moment.
3 - THE PROMOTION FEATURE
I remember discussing this possibility with another user back before it even was an option. I wasn't sure how many users would actually put their hard earned SBD towards promoting their posts after they already put so much effort into their posts, but many users have used the promotion feature, and I have even done it myself. One thing that I like about it is that you can promote the posts of others as a way to bless them, so that is cool.
4 - THE "CLEAR POST" INTENTION VERIFICATION
This one was huge for me. I know that I can type up my posts in another program and then copy them to the "Submit a Story" page, but far too often I would get excited and just type away. Then, many times by accident, I would accidentally hit the "CLEAR" button and all my hard work would be lost. Time and time again it happened, and I always felt so bad about it. I hoped for a long time that a safety would be put in place to prevent it, and finally it was. Thankfully, no new users will ever have to go through that heartache again! Job well done team!
5 - THE REPUTATION
Back in the day, we had no reputations at all. Then, things changed and we got "single" digit reps that went all the way up to 10, but at the time no one was higher than a 7. Next, things improved and we now have double-digit reps.
6 - PERSONALIZED BLOG HEADER
This was another great feature and opportunity for people to personalize their blog pages even more. SInce you can describe yourself, have a different name than your username, share your geographical location, and a web page address too. Not only can you tweak things yourself, the site automatically shows your join date, post count, number of users followed, and the number of users following you. I really enjoy this feature.
7 - RED NOTIFICATIONS
This was another one that some users were discussing prior to us actually seeing it implemented. Now, if something new happens to your feed, wallet, or replies, you can tell from a little number in a red box, notifying you how many new replies (for instance) have been made on your posts.
8 - THE MARKET
I don't remember this feature existing before, but I'm not sure when it was added. I don't assume that it was always there, but I cannot be sure. To be able to immediately head to market and purchase STEEM for your SBD is so cool. I finally used it for the first time recently, and I appreciate the ease with which this feature functions.
9 - THE RESTEEM
Though some of us are still waiting for a seperate history of our own blog posts and the ones that we have resteemed, it's still a great function to have. When users find posts from others that they want to share, they can simply resteem them and suddenly that post shows up in the feed of everyone following them.
10 - RESTEEM INTENTION VERIFICATION
Yes, another excellent fail-safe that has been added. I remember accidentally resteeming posts from other users with no way to undo it. Especially when I was on my smartphone with tiny images, I would accidentally resteem a post rather than upvote it. I always hoped back in those days that a verifcation that the user intended to resteem the post would be added, and thankfully, now it is.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEEMIT!
Obviously, a lot of things have improved on steemit just in my time here, and I am so looking forward to the future. As you can tell, many people are constantly working together to improve steemit, and for that I am so thankful!
We will see what the next year holds, but I'm impressed with the first year!
As always I'm and here's the proof:
proof-of-a-happy-steemit-birthday
Until next time…
STEEMIT LIKE YOU MEAN IT!
