A lot of fuss has been going around SteemIt in the past few months. Steemit is kind of a social news platform that pays users with digital currency called Steem for posting and upvoting good content. Think of Reddit, but with a nice add-on of getting paid for your participation.

The problem as I see it with Steemit, is that the concept is just too hard to grasp. There are too many confusing concepts. For example, you have Steemit which is the platform, Steem – the digital currency, Steem power, Steem dollars and it all becomes one big mish mash of unexplained terms. In the end the average user who wants to get started with Steemit is left confused and leaves the platform.

In this post I will try to make some sense out of these terms and the platform in general, and help you understand how to get started with Steemit if this is something you’d like to pursue.
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 dulled down and the currency has slowly declined back to $0.28.

This explosive growth and fast demise of the currency made people suspect Steem was perhaps just another Pump and Dump scheme. In such a scheme the founders and early adopters drive up the currency value through media hype and then sell off their coins at a huge profit. The people who get hurt by this are the late joiners who are stuck with a lot of coins that lost their value.

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.

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.

#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 it’s 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.

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. There’s no surefire formula that I know of to ensure that every article is going to be a smashing success.

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 experience (and 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, and are generally more “ever green”. 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. To be honest, Steem is a bit of a hassle when it comes to uploading photos, so some try to skip this step. Big mistake. The extra minute or two you spend uploading a pic can go a long way towards drawing in readers.

Beyond that? Be consistent. Focus on 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 number of followers will make it easier for you to repeat success.