Esteem, the #1 dapp for steemit minnows

Source

I remember vividly how I got to know about esteem. It was in my fresh days here on steemit. Back then, there was a telegram group called steemitdotcom (airhawk-project) which was dedicated to helping new users on the steemit platform. You see, minnows naturally struggle for upvotes on the platform even if their posts are down-to-earth excellent. So one day, a user in the group dropped the hint about esteem. From what he said I got to learn that esteem was an app - a steemit interface - one could use to make posts and get little upvotes. Well that was all that mattered to me: getting 'little upvotes' on my posts. Of course I wasted no time downloading the app. It has worked just as that friend said. I felt really snug.


Esteem is one of the oldest and one of the most popular steemit interfaces we have at present. It is a decentralized application that rewards it's users for their contributions. As a media platform, esteem works similar to steemit where users get reward for simple activities like blogging, curating, and commenting on posts. The dapp serves as an interface not only to steemit but golos platform as well which is itself a fork of steemit.

Getting Started With Esteem

Apparently, esteem has no web dapp (yet). The only way to access the dapp at present is through their app which you can download on your pc or mobile device from Google play store.

After your download, you'd be required to login with your steemit credentials in order to access features of the dapp. The login page looks like this:

Previously, you could login to the platform simply by entering your steemit username and active key in the fields above. But from my recent experience, this doesn't seem to work anymore. You now have to supply both your active and posting keys in the advanced section before you are given access.
So from the page above, hit the advanced button to open this page

• Supply the needed credentials. (you can find your active and posting keys in your steemit wallet under permissions sub-section.

• Next, click continue at the bottom.
  You'll be directed to steemconnect page where you'll be required to consent for your steemit account to be linked with esteem. Give your consent by supplying your active key here again and click continue.

• A successful operation message should now be displayed to you.

Your steemit account linked, you can now use esteem.

Making posts

The default homepage of esteem is the trending page where you browse, vote, and comment on popular posts by other users.

To view your own blog and create posts, you'd need to navigate a bit through the menu.

• Locate the small arrow at the top right side of the page, just at the foot of your cover photo.
• You'll have a drop down menu like this with options to add account, submit story, view profile, follow, or logout when you click on it.

• Click on profile to view your steemit blog.

To create a post,

• Click on the back arrow to return to the previous menu.

• Select submit a story. This should open your writing space

*Input your message, your caption, and tags in the appropriate fields.

Below the page are tools you can use to format your post if you are not familiar with mark down.

Once you are all set, click on post at the top right corner of the page to publish your post or you can save it as draft to publish at a later time by clicking on the save option.

Getting curated

It wasn't until last month that a friend of mine @ otemzi enlightened me about the esteem discord server. I never knew such existed prior to that time. He made me understand that merely posting with the esteem app was not a guarantee of an upvote, but I had to join their discord server and drop my post link at the specified channel. I can boldly say I've been getting modest upvotes from esteem app account and that of its founder @good-karma since i followed the guideline.

So to have your post curated by the esteem team,

• Make good quality posts using the esteem app.
• Join esteem discord server
• Drop your steemit profile link in the steem-account channel
• 10 minutes after you joined the server, you'd be able to submit your post links in the postpromo-esteem channel for curation.

PLS NOTE:
Curation is not a guarantee in the server especially if your posts is of low quality. You only get curated at the team's own discretion. The vote weight you receive depends in the quality of your post though at times your post might be mistakenly skipped. Only one post link is allowed each user per day.

Noteable Features Of Esteem Dapp

Esteem dapp is unique for its features which set it apart from other media dapps. Some of these include:

• Bookmark: For bookmarking your favorite posts for future reference.
• Schedules: Lets you schedule your posts to have it automatically published at set future time.
• An Exchange: for buying and selling your coins
• A Market place for users to showcase their products.
• The app supports multiple accounts: It makes provision for users to add and manage more than one steemit account.
• Settings: Esteem is also unique and distinct from other media dapps in the nature/components of its setting. Esteem setting offers users options to set private pin codes for added security of their accounts, set notifications for votes, comment, reblog, mentions, etc, as well as configure screen view, their voting weight, etc.
  
  

Why I Love This Dapp

Esteem is one of few media and steemit-based dapps that is genuinely committed to helping minnow on the platform. This gesture has really encouraged minnows like myself and keep us going even in downtimes as we are presently witnessing in crypto. For this reason, it stands out as my favorite; and I bet any steemian who has really gotten to know of this dapp loves it too.

I love the dapp also because it is easily accessible whatever your device. The dapp has versions for Android, PC, and IOS all of which are available for free download on play store.

Downside With Esteem

The only downside I see in Esteem dapp so far is that the app version for android is very slow loading. I do not know of the versions for other devices. The friend who introduced me to esteem initialy was honest enough to warn me that the app was damn too slow and I'd need patience with it. My patience often get tried beyond endurance when I try uploading pictures. And to avoid these ordeals, I normally format out the entire post on the steemit main site complete with images, then I just copy/paste to esteem and post. Perhaps the slowness is only peculiar to old versions of the app. Perhaps it has been fixed in the newer version, I just have no ideaa coz I'm still using the version I downloaded initially nearly two years ago (version 1.5.0). It would be cool the issue gets fixed to give users smooth experience with the app - that is, if the issue stil lingers in recently updated versions.

Another issue with the esteem media dapp is that most of the images I upload especially in recent times do not reflect within the dapp even though they're very visible on the steemit main site. I can't fathom what could be responsible for this either. Perhaps some incompatibility issues. Whatever the case, it would be a relief to have the issue addressed.

Rating</ center>

All in all and from my experiences above, I give esteem dapp a 3.5 star. Till I've updated my app (hopefully soon) and get an improved experience.


Esteem is listed on https://www.stateofthedapps.com/ along other media dapps

Other useful links:

Esteem website

Esteem discord