Right, so I have never used social media. My reasons for this were strictly due to invasive policies and how much I saw people absorbed into things like Facebook and how it often times caused problems in their social lives. I'm also old fashioned and figure if someone wants to get a hold of me they'll call or text. But when I heard about this outlet I checked it out and thought that it was amazing. People can get on and share everything from creative content, to their thoughts for the day, their experiences, everything from politics to arts and crafts, this platform has space for it. Now I have really started to engage with Steemit in the past couple weeks and I'm learning as I go but I thought I'd share some little things with the newly joined from my experiences in hopes of being helpful.
DON'T WORRY TO MUCH ABOUT NOT GETTING LOADS OF VOTES RIGHT OFF.
I've only just gotten started and one thing I've learned is that there's something for everyone. This means some may take or leave your newly submitted content and that's ok. Don't sweat it when you're only getting comments and no votes. If you're content resonates or people can relate to or like your stuff you'll get to chat with other like minded people on the topics. When that happens you'll find their stuff and usually it's pretty interesting. Basically make your aim sharing and supporting others content. There's loads to learn from a lot of people on this outlet so take it slow and follow the ones you like. I'm doing that now and it's a hoot!
GET RID OF GET RICH QUICK IDEAS.
It is true that a lot of people make silly money on this site. From what I've seen most of them are from backgrounds where they already were established as folks who ran alternative media, prior publications, or brought their projects over to Steemit. In short, you're probably not going to strike it rich on Steemit so don't even worry about it. If someone does up vote you to a massive degree then that's awesome but try to have fun. Time flies and you get to support others. Though your vote starts out quite weak you can still leave comments, ask questions, and have a laugh in general. I love writing so from my own personal experiences I can say it's been awesome and I'm making next to nothing. I'm having a blast in my spare time though.
THERE IS A SORT OF ETIQUETTE.
You do get some users who are a bit beggy. Now some have a good reason and they crowd fund off the site for some really good reasons. But others will just outright get frustrated and start begging for votes. If you're asking the Steemit community for help on a project try not to completely rely on the project funding coming from Steemit. Make sure your projects costs are already covered and when you let the community know about it don't get to stressed by non-responsiveness. Make sure your inviting the community to be involved and have already made space for them to be. Don't expect other Steem folk to just throw money at what you're trying to do by voting. New comers like us don't have a lot of vote influence but someone could give you advice that will streamline what you're working on and that can be far more valuable than an up vote. With up votes I learned that up voting yourself all the time can be seen as bad. Here and there it's understandable but I idiotically up voted everything I did at first not fully understanding how it worked which diminished my votes impact when I wanted to up vote other users awesome content. Basically stay positive and don't get greedy. Again, just have fun and support others.
RESTEEMING, FOLLOWING, UP VOTING.
This is the important part. You get twenty votes a day and after that influence begins to wane a bit. So try to keep that in mind. I found by checking on who is voting for my content I've discovered like minded people as well as some real outside of the box characters with awesome content that's always worth a vote. Everyone you follow isn't going to follow you and that's cool. Take it easy and potter along checking out the things you enjoy. This is where I'm at the moment. If you find stuff you like then resteem it. It appears on your blog when you do this and helps the users who created it.
POST WHAT YOU LIKE:
There are loads of people on here who condemn some users for posting loads of videos that aren't there design. I ignore that. If it interest you and you want to share then share it. Just don't claim it as your own or expect loads of up votes. If you didn't make it why should you? I state the source of the content before or after the post or video to stay on the safe side and be respectful. That way if it's creator does show up on Steemit some day I've given them the props they deserve rather than claimed their stuff as my own. It's just being polite.
Well fellow newbies, I hope you found this write up helpful and informative. I'm still learning as I go but having fun. Best of luck and Steem on!
