How does Steem work?

If you know how Steem works I am genuinely curios on how it works. Like where does the money come from. How do you liquefy your Steem point/money.

Also how long should a story be? Should it have characters?
Okay, so, Once upon a time there was this boy living in the 21t century world, and one day he stumbled upon this social media platform called "Steem" the young boy was curios. He was so curios in fact that he decided to join the platform without any hesitation. Once he joined, he noticed people got paid or rewarded for posting something that other people enjoy consuming. what is this craziness the boy is thinking, he doesn't know what to do so he decided to ask the public what they know about "Steem".

Or is a story more like a news article?

Breaking news!

"Today a young boy discovers a new social media platform, where people get rewarded for posting highly consumed content to its platform. I belive it is called "Steem"? What a strange name for a social media platform. Well enough about this story back to you in the studio."

Seriously I need to know how to post to firkin get some cash.