Steemit pays both the content creators when their work gets upvoted, as well as the people who curate the best content on the site by upvoting others work.
This is possible because the Steemit platform is built on top of a new kind of digital currency called Steem. (Think Bitcoin, which is another kind of digital currency that has been around for a while.)
How does Steemit work?
In some ways, Steemit is similar to other digital currencies. For example, Steemit currency units can be traded, bought, and sold on the open market just like all of the other digital currencies.
With other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, the actual currency units that are created each day are distributed to the people who run a special bitcoin software program on their computers that perform a process called Bitcoin Mining. The amount of computing power you have dictates how much money you get.
Steemit allows for currency mining as well, but it’s not the primary way to earn money. Every day, new Steemit currency units that are created by the network and distributed to the people who engage with the site. The more you engage, the more you get.