The Ultimate, Illustrated, Steem Users Guide to the FEED! What it all is, and what it all does, step by step!

Ack! So, you're new to steemit and you've never seen a platform with so many options before! Not only are there a lot of moving parts, but the decentralized nature of the project, means that "official" resources are slow to develop, and hard for newcomers to find.

So, before I talk about the "feed" feature, let me share a little tip. In the top right corner of your desktop, you'll see three horizontal bars in a little square patch. Click that. When the drop down menu opens up, check out the "welcome" and "FAQ" tabs for explanations of most things on steemit.

The login page for your account, is a dashboard

It features a nav bar along the top with several options, two hidden controls, behind your avatar, and the three horizontal bars in the upper right corner, and a bank of category links on your right.

In default, "My Feed" is displayed in the center of the page, with a list of posts, with preview images, titles and preview script.

So, what is the FEED and why are we so hungry?

It's probably not that hard to figure out, that the Feed feature on the steemit platform is the basic equivalent to the "news feed" on Facebook, or Twitter. In reality, it is closer in nature to a "blog roll" from platforms like Blogger.

What, or rather who shows up here, is entirely up to you. In the steemit universe, "following" is the equivalent of "friending" someone on Facebook. (If I reference it a lot, it's because it's the #1 social media in the world, and more people are familiar with its functions than any other)

The major difference is, you don't have to accept followers. You can "mute" them if they become troublesome, and they can do the same to you, but otherwise, you are free to follow and be followed by anyone with a login to the steemit platform.

In this feed, you'll find the latest posts from every account you are currently following.

And, it stands to reason, that you're followers will see your latest in their feeds as well.

First, let's take a look at appearance options

In default, your feed, will cover most of the center of your screen, with small preview images on the left, next to article titles, and a short text snippet for each.

Clicking the button to the right of the "My Feed" label, will toggle this view, from the wider one, to a narrower one, with larger preview and a few more characters of the first line of each post.

Let's take a look at the post listings

1. At the top of each post listing, you'll see the post authors avatar and screen name,
2. Next is a two digit number.
3. Then the main category selected for the post
4. Then the time since the post was made
5. Under this is the preview image, (if any) which is the 1st image in the post
6. Then, the title of the post
7. Finally, the text preview snippet

You can click on any of these elements. The avatar or author's name, will take you to the author's blog, the time stamp will take you to the post, as will the image, or the title.

Directly below that is a tool bar with 5 elements

1. On the left is a small up arrow in a circle, for voting
2. Next is a number, representing the possible payout for the post
3. In the center is another arrow with a number, giving the up vote count
4. Next is a dialog balloon, for replying, (commenting)
5. On the right, is a curved arrow, for resteeming the post

One final element is the downvote flag in the top right corner

I didn't mention that, because to me, it's not important. Unless I find content is abusive, or inappropriate, I don't use it.

You may also see a "resteemed" notice on top of the listing

This will appear above the avatar and user name. It indicates that the post is resteemed from another author.

Let's talk about the tool bar elements

The upvote button

Click here if you want to upvote the post. I personally don't upvote any post without reading it. As a writer, I want to ensure that I curate quality content.

If you have enough steem power (I'm not sure what the current level is) you'll see a vote meter, allowing you to select the percentage of your voting power you want to use.

Once you've clicked, it will take a few seconds for the vote to record.

Payout counter

The payout counter will show you the amount that would be paid out, when the post has been published for seven days. Clicking on it, will also show the amount of time remaining, until the payout.

Upvote counter

In preview, the upvote counter only reveals the number of upvotes. If you expand the post, at the bottom, you'll find the same counter. Clicking it will give you a list of users who've voted on the post.

The reply balloon

Clicking on the reply button, will open the post and drop you to the bottom, where comments are listed.

The resteem button

Resteeming, is similar to sharing on Facebook, or Retweeting on Twitter. When you resteem a post, it will be added to your blog list, and your followers will see it as resteemed by you. You will not earn any rewards for resteemed posts, other than any curation rewards you may be due for upvotes, or comments.

When you click the resteem button, a dialog box pops up and asks if your are sure you want to resteem the post. Clicking OK will confirm and complete the resteem.

Let's take a look at the bottom of an open post

Here, you'll find some similar elements and a few others that are unique to the status bar when posts are opened.

1. Tag buttons (each links to a category)
2. A time stamp (this one is not clickable)
3. The author's name and reputation score (links to the author's blog)
4. The upvote button
5. A vote counter (if any votes have been cast) You can click this one to see voters
6. The resteem button
7. The reply button (for making comments)
8. The reply balloon and counter (for seeing comment count and reading other comments)
9. The view counter (Shaped like an eyeball, shows how many users have viewed the post)
10. Social media share buttons for Facebook, Twitter and Linked In
11. A link button, for creating a copy and paste link to the post

Directly above this, you'll find a "promote" box

This button will allow you to promote any post, using SBD. This places the post on the promoted posts page, in order of how much SBD has been spent on promoting it. The more you spend, the higher it goes. The biggest promotion takes the top spot.

So, how do you use your feed?

The feed is where you go to support the users you currently follow. To follow a user, either go to their blog and find the "follow" button in the top navigation bar, or by clicking on the Author's avatar on an opened post and selecting follow.

The strategies behind following and feed use are varied. You can follow any user. Random following can gain you followers, especially from new users. There are other reasons to follow users as well.

• Follow users whose work you admire to gain knowledge on how they post
• Follow accounts that share information you enjoy, or find entertaining
• Follow large accounts, to gain attention for upvotes, resteems or partnering on projects.
• Follow users who are working with, you, or share content in categories you share in

Most users will follow for several of these reasons. If you plan to use your feed for supporting users you like, you'll want to limit your following to those you want to support, or read content from, to prevent your feed from becoming clogged.

The news feed is a great tool for building relationships

Users you upvote, resteem or comment on regularly, will at least have a better chance of interacting with you. By doing this with several people, you can start to create a community. Many times, they will return the favor, bringing you more attention for your content.

Here are some things to keep in mind.

• Up vote the best content. Upvotes are limited, so pay attention to your voting power
• Comments should be positive. Negative comments can come back on you.
• Make sure you read the content before commenting. Relevant comments build relationships
• Don't spam people with constant comments, or links, or requests for upvotes, steem, etc. Just don't.

As you can see, the feed is a powerful tool box of options for interacting on steemit. It's the way to interact with a smaller group of people, filtering your Steem experience to tailor it for the strategies you want to employ.

Play around with it. Try different methods for interaction until you find what works for you.