Welcome to the third day of the 30 days writing challenge of this year. You can find a list of all the articles I wrote at the end of each article. Please have a look at the end of it to understand how can you participate in this one.
What Does It Mean To Survive On The STEEM Universe?
Well, it means to actually use it regularly with a certain, quantifiable benefit. It sounds way simpler than it is, because the STEEM network has a rather high cognitive weight. Nevertheless, it's not impossible. Here's my list of best practices, derived after more than 2 years of (almost) continuous presence here.
1. Learn How It Works First
You probably came here to make some money and that's perfectly fine. But if you don't know how the "money making machine" actually works, your profits will be marginal, at best. So, here's what you should do:
- study the whitepapers (there are 3 I guess, the initial one, the Bluepaper and the revised Steem white paper)
- understand that there is no central place where the politics are made. It's a decentralized place. Some trends are forming, that is true, but there is no single place from which everything comes. This is not Facebook. Which means you do have a word to say. No matter how small, but you do have a say.
- understand from where the money comes and what is the potential revenue, based on the current market price. Curb your expectations.
2. Pick A Niche And Stick To It
If you came here to "just share bits and pieces from your life", the way you do it on Facebook, this is not going to take you far. It's a much noisier place, so you should pick a certain "tune" and stick to it.
- write at least once a week about your topic of choice
- interact with other writers that write on your topic of choice
- be consistent
3. Contribute. Somehow.
Like I said, this is a decentralized place. Which means it's the sum of all the efforts made by all the members of the community. Since this community is made out of people, hence, we're dealing with flawed human nature, some of these efforts will be on the downside, so it's absolutely necessary to keep contributing somehow, in order to keep the boat afloat.
- write some dApp on top of the Steem blockchain (a very simple one I wrote is steem.supply)
- contribute to the public repository of the Steem ecosystem (there is code written in C++, JavaScript or Python, so you can pick something that suits you)
- promote it - by writing about it or by talking to other people about it
- say your opinion when there is something that bothers you. Likewise, say your word when there is something that pleases you.
4. Vote For Witnesses. Constantly.
In short, without witnesses there will be no Steemit. Period. So:
- keep a list of active witnesses and vote for them
- alternatively, delegate your voting power to a person you trust and let him / her vote for witnesses
5. Be Polite. Avoid Flag Wars
Upvoting has a nasty mirrored action, called "flagging" .It's not something that I resort to, but some actors on the platform are using it extensively. Try to avoid these "flag wars".
- be polite
- if necessary, give them "the victory" - agree to disagree and move on
6. Prepare For Worst, But Expect The Best
Sometimes, things go bananas on this network. Like a full blockchain halt during HF 20. Sometimes, things go incredibly well. Like when STEEM was trading at $8 and everybody was happy-happy, joy-joy. So, take some distance, prepare for worst, but expect the best.
7. Don't Be A Dick
- don't upvote each and every comment you make
- don't use bidbots as the only way of generating revenue
- don't copy & paste content from other places
- don't flag randomly
It's easy. Really.
So, this is my (very short) list of best practices for actually surviving on the STEEM network.
How Do I Participate In This Challenge?
The criteria for 
- post must be at least 300 words long
- post must be original
- post must be on best practices
- post must use the #challenge30days tag
Previous Posts In The Challenge
- January 2019 Challenge 30 Days - Best Practices For Keeping A Successful 30 Days Challenge
- January 2019 Challenge 30 Days - Best Practices For Selecting Relevant Crypto Projects (Day Two)
Steem on!
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me 
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