Finally made it to 64!!! Thank You everyone, it has been quite the journey.

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How I Made It to 64

The first 6 months was a lot of writing blog posts-especially on topics of success and achievement. Those of you who have followed me know we have covered a lot of that.
Steemit in the beginning was all about connecting with all of you and writing - as much as possible. Once you have been on steemit for a bit you realize a lot of what you do is trying to attract followers, esp ones with voting power. In the beginning I did not know this, and must have had some big people following me. 😊

That changed after about 6 months. All of a sudden a had new followers, many who were new, thus not a lot of voting power. I decided then, that I would make connections as much as possible, and not worry anymore about what I was getting, but rather what I would give. I began doing some contests and finding content to upvote when time permitted. @steevc was gracious enough to do some delegations to some of us in the community, so we could help others, and that is what it's all about. If there were more things like that going on, many newbies with great content would get noticed, instead of frustrated after putting so much hard work into writing.

My advice?

• Contests
  There are many of these here on Steemit. Find as many as you can, and connect with people.
  This is big especially when you are just starting. Getting upvotes is really just connecting with people.
• Blogging
  Of course Steemit is a blogging platform, so you want to develop a good blog. The great news is that the Steem blockchain
  plays host to other great apps, for those who do not have the time, or care to run a blog.

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New Apps On The Steem Blockchain

As 2018 began, I became way more busy. We were expanding my music school, lots of fatherly duties 😊, I started working on a record (finally) and student recitals.

I began using @steepshot - the Instagram alternative on the steem blockchain. It is a godsend. As time had to be used for other things, I was still able to post which was great. Now, there are several other ways to earn that do not require you to be a writer.

• Zappl - alternative to twitter @zappl
• DLive - Live Streaming Video @dlive
• DTube - Decentralized Video/Vlogging site @dtube
• Dsound - Blockchain alternative to Soundcloud @dlive

It seems like a lot is happening on this blockchain ...A LOT

Which Brings me to my next question...

Why Isn't Steemit Trying to Grab Some of Facebooks' Market Share?

Facebook:

• Banning ICO ads
• Allegedly gathering/selling personal data from it's users
• Phishing scams
• Facebook Messenger Account Hacking

... AND PEOPLE ARE MAD!!!
I was thinking I would see some ads, maybe some attempts by Steemit to promote itself and attract these disgruntled Facebook users to the Steemit platform.

That did not happen.

So now I'm curious, is Steemit here as just a platform mainly for app developers to build on?
Is Steemit REALLY trying to be the next big thing in social media?

I guess time will tell. Until then, thank you so much everyone and Steem on!!

Let me know what you guys think in the comments! 😊

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