An introduction to Steemit when you're used to Facebook

If you're reading this from Steemit, post it on Facebook to bring more users

Odds are, if you're reading this, you're already semi-tech savvy when it comes to social networking. Or maybe you've been sent here from Facebook itself, in which case, welcome!

Steemit is a social media platform centered on giving users a motivation to create engaging, intelligent content. It is democratic, decentralized, and it exists on a blockchain, which means that no central authority governs its systems and anyone can create an app utilizing it. In short, you post original content, and when people like it, you get paid for it.

You may have heard of Steemit, where you get paid to post. That is true. You get paid STEEM to post articles. This is currency generated by the blockchain. If you don't know what a blockchain is, or how it works, click here. When people upvote your article, you gain currency that can be traded like real money and sold for real money.

Wait, before you go any further, how do you actually get paid, who's paying you?

Have you heard of bitcoin? Bitcoin is generated every day by people confirming other people's transactions in a process called Mining. The currency is generated by the blockchain itself, like printing more money. Steemit operates similarly, except currency is also generated when people like (called upvoting) articles. If you have a really popular article, it can generate upwards of $500 worth of STEEM for you, and the people who upvoted you (as a 'curator' reward). But 75% of it goes straight to you after your article is out for a week.

So it's like Facebook, but I get paid for likes?

Well, sort of: Here on Steemit, most people value original content. So that's articles, art, photography, and YouTube videos that you created yourself. If people think you're just posting others' work, you likely won't get any upvotes, and if you're stealing others' work as your own, you can get flagged, which will cause your reputation to go down, and you won't make any money. So that post you made last week going on a rant about something that happened to you; you know the one; where people had to click "continue reading"; you might have made some money for that, because it's original content. But the motivation on Steemit is to make the content read like a professional article, and to have the most people not just click it, but like it enough to upvote the post. So that rant you posted might have to be cleaned up to sound more intelligent and professional.

Are there friends?

Again, sort of. Everything you post on Steemit is completely public. This may turn off some of you, and that's fine. Not everything you post on Facebook would be OK to post on here. There are no "friends" but you can follow people you like, and they can follow you. It's more like Twitter in that sense, but there is no character limit.

What are these... "tags"

Tags are the location within Steemit that articles are posted. You can search for articles in a specific category by using the tag. Articles can have up to 5 tags and the first tag is the main one. How this works is more like Reddit than Facebook. On Facebook, all of your friends see what you post regardless. On Steemit, the same goes for followers, but people also like to browse the tags they enjoy for interesting content. Some example tags include: technology, gaming, art, photography, life.

How much do we get paid?

It depends on how many upvotes you get. Most articles don't earn more than $5, but a good amount earn more than $25, and once you gain a lot of followers and lots of people are voting for you, you can make upwards of $1000 in one post. If you put in the effort, and don't mind making less than $10-20 per week for a while, you can get a following and start making more.

How do I get this STEEM currency back out to USD?

In short:

1. Sign up for Coinbase
2. Use Shapeshift to turn your STEEM into Ethereum and transfer it to Coinbase
3. Sell the Ethereum for USD that is deposited into your bank.
   I will be writing an article later on how to do this in more detail.

What should I do now?

You should sign up for Steemit if you aren't already, and then click the little blue up arrow at the bottom of this article once you get your account. Then, make an interesting post with the tag "introduceyourself".

This has been Alavan,

Thanks for reading!