At first glance, it looks a lot like Reddit but also to Twitter. The difference is that unlike other platforms, here users are paid to write content, but also to filter the content they consider to be of quality.
It looks nice but in practice, how does it work?
It's quite simple, each user can post articles. It is also possible to follow other users, in this case, we retrieve the articles they publish in his feed but also those they share.
At the level of content creation, the text editor is fairly basic, but it still allows to add links, lists and images in the articles. To my knowledge there is no size limit for items (if it is high enough).
Before posting, the user is invited to add tags in the manner of Twitter hashtags. It's important to choose your labels because it's a good way to get visibility. Tags with the most articles are listed on the right of the screen.
As on other social networks, there are three possible interactions in articles: comment, vote and share.
This article explains the implication of these actions.
I gave you a summary below:
Vote
Vote is a quick thank you, like the like Facebook. It is possible to vote for the articles, but also on the comments.
As a result, a vote results in remuneration of the author of the article or comment. It is therefore possible to earn money on Steemit simply by giving his opinion.
Comment
To interact with the author of the article, it is possible to leave comments. This allows to thank the author for his work or to debate with other of certain points of the article.
Leave a comment increases the compensation of the author by the platform.
Share
When an article is shared, or remains in the terminology of the platform, it is placed in the stream of users who follow you. This allows giving visibility to the content to consider you to be of quality.
But where does the money come from?
At the bottom of each article is the current value of an article. A priori, it only goes up, unless users remove their votes. This can be the case if one realizes that the content contains errors or that it is a plagiarism.
You understand that it is the users who decide what content should be paid via votes and comments, but they are not the ones who pay for it, it's the platform. To do this, she uses SteemDollars (SBD) and SteemPower (SP).
There is a period of 7 days after the creation of the article that serves to evaluate the quality of it. Then, the displayed amount is separated into SBD / SP according to the option chosen at its creation (see below).
At any time, a SBD can be exchanged at its Steem Cryptocurrency equivalent (STEEM) . The number of STEEM will depend on the price of this cryptocurrency.
The SteemDollars is special in the sense that it is bound to stay at a market value of 1 US dollars (USD). This is possible because the amount of Steem in circulation is not limited as it is the case of numerous cryptocurrency (which are then called deflationary).
What's interesting about steemit is that content creators are guaranteed to receive the amount listed on the item no matter when they decide to pick them up, since they have SteemDollars and its exchange rate is always from:
1 SBD = X STEEM = 1 USD
If you are a content creator and simply want to convert your SDBs to Dollars (or Euros), the exchange rate of the STEEM crypto-currency does not matter so much and will have little influence on your remunerations.
What does the platform do to prevent abuse?
By default, the pay distribution is 50/50 between SBD and SP. But it is also possible to be paid 100% in MS or not paid at all.
These SP's serve to increase your influence and give weight to your actions on the platform. Indeed, the more you have, the more the platform paid the authors of articles and comments for which you vote. It is a guardrail implemented in the system to ensure the smooth running of the platform.
The exact operation is more complex than that and can be found in the documentation of steemit .
Specifically, what you need to know that you have a called Voting Power, which starts at 100% and decreases by 5% for every vote you place. Every 24h it is restored to 100%. The more you vote, the more your influence is dilluée.
Your influence on pay is calculated as follows:
Voting Power x Steem Power (SP)
When you create your account, you will automatically receive a PS unit. SPs increase organically when you produce content, but you can also buy some (in exchange for STEEM).
To see how many SP's you have, go to Settings> Wallet .
To optimize your remuneration steemit recommends that you follow these four tips:
Vote only for items that will be voted on by others.
Vote as soon as possible after creating the content.
Do not vote for already popular content.
Accumulate as much as possible of Steem Power.
I am interested, how to register?
Registration is fairly simple, but requires a little patience (24 to 48 hours) and a valid phone number. It's happening on https://steemit.com/ .
You will first need to choose a username and then validate your email and phone number. At the end of the process, a password will be sent to you. It is with him that you will be able to connect. As always in the world of cryptocurrencies, passwords are not recoverable. So be careful not to lose it!
Then you are ready to write your first article.
The tradition is that new users appear in their first article by adding a photo of them with their username and the date of registration to the platform. Do not forget to add the tag introduceyourself . This serves as a verification of your account.
Go take a look before posting to see what it looks like.
For your first article, I suggest you add the steemit tag and other tags related to your future content creation.
There is still a lot to say about steemit, I'll probably talk about it soon.