Welcome to Steemit, you have finally made an account and ready to start with your awesome journey in Steemit. You may have been joined Steemit for a variety of reasons like an artist looking for a place to share their art both traditional or digital. Maybe you are a photographer wanting to put up their photos and images so that people can appreciate it, a travel blogger who wants to share their adventures and exotic locales they went to. A writer looking for a platform to share their stories, poems, and writing, a musician wanting to expose more people to their music, or maybe someone who just wants a place to write their thoughts.
Maybe you are one of those housewives or househusbands that went to google and typed home-based income and Steemit came up and then you typed "What is Steemit?" and you are now reading my blog that trended at one point and got a lot of views.
It does not matter what was your reason on why you joined Steemit but I am glad that you did. Your passion led you here and I warmly welcome you! Most likely one of the helpful 
What is Steemit?
If you asked me 6 months ago when I first started my answer would be it is a website that you can put whatever content you want and get paid for it when people like it. This is most of the answers that you will get from people who invite people in the platform.
Some would say it is like Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Youtube and Twitch where you upload content and get paid. Well in a way it is but is more than that because Steemit is just one of the condensers that are built on top of the Steem Blockchain. I know I lost you in condenser right. What language are these people speaking?!!! There are a lot of seemingly technical terms that you will encounter and I had the same feeling months ago when I started reading, listening and discussing with various people and learning, endless learning as there is always something new coming up.
So Condensers are applications or portals that you use to connect to the Steem Blockchain and create posts that focus on your passions.
Here are some of the condensers
- Steemit - this is your blogging platform similar to blogspot or Wordpress
- Busy.org - another blogging platform but with a more Facebook-like interface
- Utopian.io - platform for coders, designers and QAs to be able to submit open source platform bug hunting, creation and how tos. Github interface needed.
- Esteem App - A mobile version of Steem where you can download it in your IOS or Android phone
- Steepshot - An Instagram-like version of Steem for Photographers
- Zappl - A Twitter-like interface for short posts
- Dtube - Youtube-like platform where you can upload your videos
- Dlive - A Twitch or Periscope like platform for live streams and videos
- Dmania - a place where you can upload memes like 9gag
- Dbooks - You can create books here and publish and add chapters later on similar to Wattpad
- Parley.io - A Reddit-like interface where you can start conversations with links to articles
- Steemgigs.org - A Fiverr and Upwork-like interface where people can post their gigs or skills and other people to find these skills and hire them
There are a lot more being developed every day so the possibilities are endless!
I have written a great first-week guide in my 90 days in Steemit and all the things that I learned | Part 1 which has more information on how to do a killer #introduceyourself, formatting and markdown guidelines for beginners, more info on the condensers and the economics of Steem,
Steemit, Steem, and rewards
If you are a person that gets bored with lots of text, you can skip to the video of 
Okay so you have some understanding of what condensers are and for now you go with Steemit as your platform. Steemit is a decentralized blogging and social media platform that runs on the Steem Blockchain. It has the first-mover advantage of being this kind of platform that is decentralized and rewards people with cryptocurrency called Steem and Steem Backed Dollars. These cryptocurrencies can be converted to fiat money which means it has value and use.
So Steem is the blockchain that has the Cryptocurrency model, Content Management System which handles the content, comments, account names and lastly the reward system.
So the process is you create content in the form of posts, stores it in the blockchain that is maintained by 21 nodes called witness nodes which makes it decentralized because no one node controls everything as they work on a consensus model of maintaining the blockchain the same. It is spread to over 127 active witnesses currently that has a copy of the whole blockchain. These witnesses are elected and need to maintain not losing blocks.
For more information on witnesses, you can read my guide This Redfish understanding of Witnesses and why they are important
What are Steem witnesses?
The Steem blockchain requires a set of people to create blocks and uses a consensus mechanism called delegated proof of stake, or DPOS. The community elects 'witnesses' to act as the network's block producers and governance body. There are 20 full-time witnesses, producing a block every 63-second round. A 21st position is shared by the backup witnesses, who are scheduled proportionally to the amount of stake-weighted community approval they have. Witnesses are compensated with Steem Power for each block they create.
A post is active for 7 days and can receive value by being upvoted by people with accounts and the value is dependent on how much Steem Power they have. The bigger the SP, the higher the value which is in line with Delegated Proof of Stake model that Steem runs on.
On the 7th day, all posts for that period will be computed all together in the reward pool. So all upvotes, downvotes and the value of posts will be checked and computed by an algorithm used by the Steem Blockchain and automatically rewards individual users a piece of the entire pool according to they earned for that post.
Also on the 7th day of a post it will not be made editable so a copy of that post is saved forever in the blockchain. This makes people accountable, transparent and responsible for their content.
Speaking of content you need to make sure you don't have copyrighted or plagiarized content. That is something that is frowned on here and may get you downvoted. You can read more about that in this great post Let's talk about: Copyright
Great so I hope you have a better understanding of how Steem works and well at least you have compared to me 6 months ago and so now you are making kick-ass content and maybe have received an upvote from Curie or OCD and been featured in their author spotlight! Wow I am impressed. It took me 2 months before I got my first OCD vote as well as a Curie vote.
Exceptional Content
You might be wondering who they are. They are both major curation guilds that look for exceptional content in Steem. So they check and vote for posts that are about art, photography, literature, games, psychology, self help, motivation, dance, music and even videos or films.
They feature some of the most awesome content out there and just some of the things they found blew me away. Just like this film by 
When Lynn and I decided to make this documentary of his life, we wanted it to be a story of courage and hope for anyone suffering from Post Traumatic Stress, not only those in the military and veteran community. PTSD does not discriminate and it can affect anyone who has suffered through a traumatic experience and the symptoms can be identical. If you are a family member of someone who has PTSD, this film can help you to understand what your loved one is going through by giving you insight on what they are feeling on the inside but are too scared to tell you. Many with PTSD do not want to burden others with their problems, so we bottle it in until it has reached a point where we can no longer do that and then suicide seems like our only option. Lynn and I want to prevent it from reaching that point with this film.
My first feature film is now LIVE!! War-torn: The Story of "Dobie" Gillies
The film is 56 minutes but worth each minute!
How about photography well just take a look at some of the shots done by 
The Safari Adventure Continues - African Stories entry #5
Interested in Travel how about 
How about visiting the happiest place in the world by 
Music your thing Steemit's got you covered with these awesome artists:
Steemit Open Mic Week 77 - Silence (Waves of Life) - naTHAN Kaye (Original Song)
Friends - Original Music by @darrenclaxton- Exclusively for @Dsound & @Steemit
You might be thinking they are traveling all over the world, creating music and films that only long content is appreciated well its not the length that matters it is how you use it and when you imbibe it with passion and emotions it get supercharged and you touch other people's lives.
"Have you eaten?"
"What do you want to eat?"
"Let's take a nap. I know you are tired."
"You can do it. I am always proud of you."
"I ate something good. You might like it, so I bought one for you."
"I trust you."
"Please stop over thinking."
"Will you please sing a song for me?"
"I miss your voice."
"I just want to see you."
As you can see Steemit is a place of myriad interested and people from all over the world that share their hopes, their dreams, their travels, their music, their art, and words. In this place, they can be the most awesome version of themselves.
You might be thinking that you are not good enough. That you are no writer, nor singer, or have interesting lives like the people I featured but that is where you are wrong. For Steemit is a place where you can be You.
In the words of 
With ULOGS, we took "removing barriers to entry" especially with regards to content-creation, to newer heights. Note that ULOG also applies the un(dis)talented paradigm; "flaws allowed" but in this case, more like "flaws from being humans"; moreso, than "flaws with regards to talent".
Everyone has something to offer is what he always says and this is most apparent in #ulog as we present ourselves as celebrities and fellow uloggers our fans.
Write about things that happened to you today, something that you learned, your dreams and hopes. Tell us about what you intend to do as a resolution to something. Hold contests and build communities and your advocacy. We will be here to listen and be your fans.
Speaking of Community and Fans that is an excellent next thing to talk about
Communities
No other platform I have been in has been able to be on par with the community spirit that I have seen in Steemit. In here I have truly become a global citizen where I am able to connect and build relationships with different people all over the world.
A place where I talk to Portuguese, Venezuelans, Americans, Spanish, Nigerians, Chinese, Malaysians, Mexicans, French, and other races that I would never have the capacity to talk in other platforms.
So choosing a community is not just a way for you to connect to people all over the world but also a great way to understand and build relationships with them.
Most people start with local communities and groups. Then move to bigger international communities run by witnesses and other community-minded people.
I have listed some communities in a guide that I did 3 months ago where I gave my thoughts in joining communities. You can read my post The Importance of Communities | Part of the 90 Day Learnings in Steemit
I want to stress a couple of communities that I am active with and which you can directly contact me for any help that you need.
Promo-mentors
This is my home. I function as a Team Communicator here which means I welcome people, answer people's questions, look over profiles and provide whatever is needed to be done.
We are a community that aims to get Steem to the masses by mentoring new Steemians, support projects, and initiatives that add value to the platform. Our discord server is a place where enthusiastic Steemians can connect with each other and collaborate on projects. Essentially, we are individual dreamers who come together to create something awesome using the Steem blockchain!
What sets us apart are mentors from OCD and Curie that provides one on one mentoring per post during the times that they open their workshop. They will provide you with the necessary feedback to level up your post and support projects. They can also submit your post to Curie and OCD!
If you want to know more about the 
There are other awesome communities like 
Steemit is part of a social network and being social means that you would want to be a part of like-minded people in communities so look for one that fits you.
Speaking of You Are H.O.P.E., this thing is just amazing and this is why I like being in Steemit. Here you are with Steem Power that you have 100% each day and that you can upvote a post and make a difference in someone's life half a world away.
I immediately love the idea of You Are H.O.P.E as it stands for Help, Opportunity, Purpose, Empowerment.
Look at its latest project I collected 50 pair of shoes to be given to people in need who was made by 
The people who brought me shoes were rewarded with 200 thousand bsf for each pair (1 $ at that time). At that time the minimum monthly salary was 800 thousand bsf. So this really was a very good monetary help for them; this has bailed out more than one person. Some people brought me up to 5 and 8 pairs. (WIN WIN SCENARIO)
Doing this, I managed to collect 50 pairs of shoes! and I'm waiting for 10 more to be given!
With the rewards from the post and donations from You Are H.O.P.E. it was possible to provide 50 shoes and give money to those that sold their shoes. Like Malos10 said it is Win-Win!
You might say that this because it is an organization so its easy for them to make a difference well let me give you another example of a life- changing thing that can be done in Steemit.
Want To Help? Donate To Free A Man From His Pain, Help Love Story End Without Pain by
I don't want him to wait
So here is what I plan on doing. And if any of you want to help, then I'm sure Brian and Lynn would also appreciate it.
I am going to write this post and see how much we can raise from steemit in either upvotes or outright donations of steem/sbds. Whatever I receive from the post and donations will be converted by me into usd's (up to the US$150) and be sent to him via paypal tonight. Anything over the $150 will be send directly to Brian in the form it is received.
I want him to have the medicines he needs now. To me every day is important!
This was one person, who sent a help post and because he is someone that is trusted by the platform people responded to it.
That is the power of Steemit. When passion, technical skills, and talent, plus being able to engage and network all come together then something awesome can happen.
Before I get you so excited and start thinking of Lambos and mooning let me tell you it is not easy. There will be times that you will feel that you are not getting anywhere or that you don't have an audience and it happens but you just have to be persistent and keep Steeming.
Most importantly you have to be you. Unlock the talents that you have long hidden away, learn new ones as you get better at your craft, connect with like-minded people and be the most awesome version of you. It can happen, just look at me and I am untalented, I just engage really well with people.
Build your dreams and help the people around you. We are better together.
Once again welcome to Steemit.
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