Steemit is social platform that pays users with digital currency called Steem for posting and upvoting good content, but with
a nice add-on of getting paid for your participation.
In this post, I will try to explain these terms and the platform in general and help you understand how to get
started with Steemit.
A bit of history about Steem:-
Steem (the digital currency, not to be confused with Steemit the website) was first described in a whitepaper in March 2016.
Steem and Steemit were in Beta until July 4th 2016. Once the platform (Steemit) became live and payments were made to the
contributors, the currency saw a 1800% increase in its price from $0.24 to $4.63. However, since then the hype rolled down
and the currency has slowly declined back between (( 2.52$ 9/jan2017) to (1.6$ 2/oct/2017)).
Steem:-
Is the basic cryptocurrency used to power this whole system. It’s like the bricks used to build Steem
Dollars and Steem power (will be explained in a moment). You can buy and sell Steem
speculate on its price or convert it to Steem dollars and Steem power. But if you’re not looking to speculate on the price
or if you’re not cashing out your Steemit earnings, you don’t
need to deal with Steem directly.
Steem dollars:–
This is the currency of the Steemit platform and is also known as SMD. This is what people send
to one another when they upvote posts on Steemit. The reason it’s called Steem Dollar is because
1 Steem dollar represents any amount of Steem
required to reach 1 USD depending on the exchange rate at that time (more or less).
However unlike Steem, you can not use Steem dollars outside of the Steemit platform. You will first have to convert your
Steem dollars into Steem and only then you will be able to convert that Steem into Bitcoin or USD.
The reason Steem dollars were created is because the founders wanted to peg the value of Steem in some way to the US
dollar, so that people will be able to trade inside Steemit but not be afraid of exchange rate fluctuations. This way if you trade,
for example, 100 Steem dollars you know you’re giving away 100 USD worth of Steem.
The Steem dollar is just an IOU, a promise – if and when you decide to cash out of your Steem dollars, you will get however
many Steem it takes to get to that value in USD. There’s also an interest acquired on any Steem dollars left in your account
(currently 10% a year). This is done in order to incentiivize people to leave their Steem dollars in their account.
Steem power:–
Also known as SP in short, is basically a token symbolizing how much influence you have inside the
Steemit platform.If you have a lot of SP your upvotes will count more and will award different authors
SP and Steem dollars as well.
Powering up – means getting more SP either by upvotes or by buying it via Steem.
Powering down – means liquidating your SP into Steem.
SP can be powered down for Steem in a long process that takes 2 whole years. SP is considered as a “long-term investment” in
the Steemit platform. That’s why other than taking a long time to cash out it also bears a very high-interest rate, encouraging
people not to power down.
Even though Steem’s future seemed very bright once it launched, shortly after the price started a steady decline. The question
is, if Steemit is such a great platform how come the price is continuously falling?
One explanation that comes to mind is that price changes reflect the supply and demand for a specific currency.
When the price goes up there are more buyers than sellers when it goes down – there are more sellers than buyers.
People investing money and time to create awesome content. These people were getting paid for their content.
There was a rush of Steem users to cash out their Steem Dollars into Steem, and then cash out Steem into Bitcoin or their local
currency. That’s why in my opinion the price has been up and down.
Combine that with the fact that there’s real investor in Steem other than speculation and you get a larger amount of sellers
and buyer that drive the price down up.
One of the main reasons that Steem didn’t fully collapse in my opinion is due to the fact that not all of your Steem can be
traded at once. Steem power has a limitation of 104 weeks until you can cash it all out,
so this stopped the steep decent of the price and made it a bit more manageable.
Should you start blogging on SteemIt?
One of the good things about Steemit is that you can basically help to write good content. So if you’re already a blogger or
have some good content you’d like to share it may be worth checking it out and seeing how it goes. Just go to Steemit, open
an account and start posting.
Personally, I feel that even though the community has grown immensely there’s a lot of money can be made through writing
on the platform. I think the idea is great – people need a decentralized Reddit where you can get rewarded for your efforts,
Building An Audience on Steem
So how can your rack up views and upvotes on Steem? First, when it comes to publishing online, you have to accept the fact
that it can be hit or miss. This is especially true if you haven’t already built up a large following.
However, there are some things you can do to increase your likelihood of success. Steem is basically a large collection of
smaller communities, or more accurately, streams. Overall, the layout is somewhat similar to Reddit and there are various
“tags and topics”. In order to attract views and upvotes you have to get to know these topics and the types of readers found in
each mini-community.
By and large, the topics are self explanatory. “Libertarian”, “Anarchy”, the general “politics” tag, which seems to have a
progressive left lean. “Life”, “food”, “art”, and “health”, are some other popular topics. When you’re selecting your topics both
consider your own interests, and also take some time to review past articles that were successful and the overall vibe of the
community. By studying past articles, you can see what works. By getting to know the individual community, you’ll have a
better idea of how to appeal to and reach out to readers.
In my research, two types of articles tend to enjoy the most success. Shorter commentaries on current, breaking events, and
longer form intellectual pieces that really dig into a topic or issue. To be clear, however, you shouldn’t take this as a hard rule,
but as more of a general reflection of one writer. You should do your own research and be willing to experiment as you may
uncover your own insights.
If you go the commentary route, you’re going to stand the highest chance of success if you’re the first one to analyze an issue.
The analysis has to be substantive and should make a point or argument. If you just repeat what Reuters is writing on an issue,
you won’t be offering as unique of content, and thus may not get as many upvotes even if you get reads.
With longer form topics you really need to focus on adding value to readers. Write something controversial, or consider an
issue from a different lens. Another option is to offer some really stellar and in-depth research. Many of the articles that get to
the top of Steemit are longer form, and more in-depth. These critical analysis pieces are both engaging, and offer readers a lot
of value.
As for topics, you have to pursue your own interests. The great thing about Steem is that there are so many different topics,
and so many readers interested in these different topics that you can almost certainly find the right topics to write on. Dieting,
personal reflection, creative fiction, politics, there are many different options.
What’s important is carving out your own niche, and pursuing your passions. Also, spend time trying to create catchy, simple
titles that draw readers in. And don’t forget to upload high-quality pics.
Beyond that Be consistent focus on a quality comment on other people’s posts, and follow them. In turn, they might follow
you.
Being active in the community will help you build your own name and help you build an audience. Over time, an extensive
a number of followers will make it easier for you to repeat success.
