2016 will be remembered forever as the year Steemit began! And why our thumbnail pics are so important.

2016

It has been a life-changing year for those of us who have fully adopted this platform and used it on a regular basis to take a giant leap into the future of social media & start using Steem as our primary crypto-currency, in order that we may finally earn through our creativity whilst benefiting from the collective knowledge of the community that so clearly exists here.

Many of us were already posting on platforms from which there was little more to gain than the short term satisfaction of a few thumbs up.

I am most grateful to those who had the foresight and know-how to create this platform for us.

Could someone please tell me which accounts represent the founders? I feel a little ashamed that I don't yet know the answer to this question.

My personal experience with Steemit in 2016

I have thoroughly enjoyed my ride over the last five months and now that I have a rating of 65, almost 3000 Steem Power and an estimated account value of $820 I am feeling pretty damn good about the future. This is especially the case because I posted tirelessly on YouTube for two years, feeding the hit count through my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram posts. I hated that I had to put advertising on my films and I could only laugh at the average monthly return of $5.

So, I hereby bid you farewell, social media platforms of old. From now on you are nothing more than a tool to advertise one thing and one thing only: my Steemit account.

My first month on Steemit

In truth the first month was a tricky one, coming to understand how to best use this platform and other Steemit related sites. But I persisted and now that I have this knowledge I enjoy each and every post, and based on the words of various crypro-currency experts I have much hope for the long-term future of this platform.

Why is the thumbnail image so important?

Basic photoshop skills permit you to turn your average looking picture into something more professional. That being said, I don't even have photoshop in my list of applications and prefer instead to use Adobe After Effects which is basically photoshop for films. An interface I am much more familiar with due to my consistent work as a film-maker. I have been creating Steemit images (composites) on a daily basis to feed my posts with colour and professionally.

The more of us that can adopt this basic skill and send professionally produced images incorporating the Steemit branding out onto our old social media platforms, the more lost souls we can liberate.... and the higher the value of Steem will rise.

And let's face it, everyone here on Steemit loves to see that you have genuinely put the time it. My experience is that having an image like this really benefits the potential payout of the post.

The thumbnail and title are the first thing people see, so naturally they base their decision to upvote (and hopefully read!) your post on these two things. Not forgetting the first few words of your post, visible under the title.

That and perhaps the number after your username. Higher = Better right? Actually not always.

Many rise quickly from 25 to 60, earning decent rewards on their early posts and it only through our support that they are able to do this. Especially in the introducemyself category.

Should we choose to curate and push their work, we will benefit just as they do.

And that is because quality posts are rewarded here, so it is quality we must produce & support.

How to make awesome thumbnails that will boost your post

The Steemit PNG can be downloaded with ease if you just google Steemit PNG and look for the highest quality

The image I have used at the top of this page in which you can see my other half and I holding up the Steemit logo is a simple composite of the Steemit PNG and the original picture of me and my us half holding thin air.

I have used the rotoscope tool of After Effects to cut out our hands only, placing these hands over the top of the original image and the Steemit PNG. This is a process that takes no more than a few seconds and instantly adds an element of professionally to the shot, making it appear as if we are actually holding the logo.

I shot the picture exactly two years ago when we were celebrating Christmas and the new life of my son Esteban.

And as you can see below I added my cat (which was still back in the UK at that time, while we were living in the South of France) and the cropped & colour corrected scan of our baby, producing this as my final image.

There is no harm in re-working these old images to better fit the requirements of Steemit.

It's just a question of putting the work in.

In conclusion

I don't want to take up any more of your precious holiday period so I leave you with a smile and much excitement for the year ahead.

Hope you have enjoyed the post.

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart and I wish you the best for a most exciting 2017.

Many thanks @creatr for making this colourful Christmas gift for me.

That's why we call this place a community :)