Welcome to steemit! Steemit is a centralized web frontend condenser run off the decentralized STEEM blockchain with a decentralized voting system run by witness nodes. Witness nodes get paid if they are top voted witnesses. They keep the network running . We get paid every week for posting and voting, however the more STEEM you collect, the more of the reward pool you will have claim to. Not get rich overnight, but little bits add up, and you get um fir free. I upvoted your post so get a tiny but for free as long a no monsters downvote it away before the 7 day claim period! Joking about the monster part, but same thing! lol