Hi again, I've just posted this again to give it more exposure to new starters like myself, if they didn't see first time. Please just ignore or flag if you have seen it before or don't like it.
I joined Steemit 5 days ago, and I'd just like to share with you my experience and thoughts so far and why I believe in Steem and why even a novice should see why.
How did I hear about Steem?
I was one of those guys that saw the media coverage: 1500% rise!!! Now as a math grad and someone with interest in financials, figures like 1500% are very aesthetically pleasing, so after following the clickbait and reading an article or two, I plunged straight in!
Background
When it comes to cryptocurrency, despite the math background, I knew nothing. Sure, I'd heard of Bitcoin, I don't live under a rock, but the finer intricacies - I was clueless! And computing or coding - also knowledge-less, but has this hindered my experience of steemit? Absolutely not - IT DOESN'T MATTER.
Slack
I've joined the slack and have chatted to other users for the last couple of nights and despite my lack of knowledge; people are friendly, willing to help, and you really feel that you are a part of a community that wants to see success - which is probably the most important thing for a community to prosper. Even on my second night chatting, I was asking simple questions and Ned wrote back with answers and pointing me in the direction of the whitepaper, which EVERY noob should try to wrap their head around - even if you don't understand it all (which I don't), it is very useful! When you see the CEO be so interactive, you know they believe in their product, and that matters so much to the user.
Why do I believe in cryptocurrency?
Even with my limited understanding, it is easy to understand the concepts and see the opportunity. The decentralisation, security (it's in the name), the omission of third party transactions, giving more choice to people, cutting out the greedy middle man - the bank. Crypto is the way forward, and for other noobs, I implore you to read on the subject and any doubts you have will be quashed!
And, most importantly:
Why do I believe in Steem?
For so many reasons.
Steem merges the community feeling with cryptocurrency, it gives that extra layer of stability to the currency - it gives the user a vested interest, the user who doesn't even need to invest - something we have never had before on any social media platforms.
It gives everyone who wants to interact and be a part of the community the opportunity to, and importantly, it makes you want to see Steem succeed, if Steem succeeds, you succeed, we succeed. It is an amazingly novel concept, and I am so glad to be a part of it.
Opportunities
When you think of Steem and the future, it is like a lightbulb keeps going off in your head, the opportunities are endless, all of the platforms you know of, where the user gains nothing, you can see potential for Steem.
Personally I would love to see a SteemitAnswers or something equivalent, a model such as Quora or Yahoo answers, it would give people more reason to give great answers to great questions.
Steem is the future, looking forward to seeing the revolution. I'm just happy to be here!