If you have been on Steemit for more than 2 days, you know that community and networking are HUGE here. If order to be successful, you must be ready to form friendships and meet new people from all over the world.

Perhaps the best way you can foster these relationships is with Discord.

What in the World is Discord?

On their homepage, Discord says they are an:

“All-in-one voice and text chat for gamers that's free, secure, and works on both your desktop and phone.”

So basically, it’s a chat app that was created for gamers but has become very popular with Steemians to connect and chat with one another.

Discord Logo || Source: DiscordApp.com

Joining Discord

Before you start to get involved with Steemit communities, you will need to sign up for Discord. This is free, and it takes just a few quick minutes of your time.

You will set up a username that you will use across all the Discord servers you join (each community will have their own Discord server). I recommend that you sign up with the same username on Discord as you use on Steemit. This helps everyone connect you to your Steemit blog and to avoid confusion on who you are.

Discord Signin Screen || Source: DiscordApp.com

Finding Steemit Communities to Join

Once you are logged into Discord with your new account, it’s time to get connecting with other Steemians! You can’t just search Discord for the communities though. You will have to be active on Steemit, looking for new communities that you can join.

One great way to find new places to network is through the footers of your favorite Steemians. You’ll notice at the bottom of blog posts, there are sometimes banners and buttons advertising communities. 95% of the time, these communities are using Discord to engage with one another.

The footer banner may be clickable, so you can get right to the community and introduce yourself. In my footer here, you can see that my own community, STEEMmamas, is clickable. How can I tell? That arrow shooting from a box beside the image. That little symbol denotes a clickable image!

If you find a banner for a community you'd like to check out that isn't clickable in a blog post footer, then you will have to do a little more digging.

Use the Steemit search bar at the top of the website to search for more information for the community you are interested in. It’s likely that the group has made at least one introduction post about the community, which will help you find the link you need to join their server on Discord.

Searching Steemit for Communities

As an example, I’ll research @SteemUSA and their Discord community.

Using the search feature the very first result that comes up is the Steemit blog for the community. Clicking through, I found the link to their Discord server at the bottom of the latest post.

Private Steemit Communities

Some communities you may be interested in joining are private or invite-only. If you can’t find a way to access their server, simply become more active with the members that advertise the community within their post footers.

This is actually how I became a member of @SteemitBloggers! I started noticing their large green banners around the platform, so I interacted. It wasn’t long before the wonderful @jaynie reached out and invited me to the server.

Source: goodfreephotos.com

Also, you’ll want to note that some communities close to new members from time to time. This may be permanently, to keep the member count low, or temporary while they figure out new rules or restructure the community.

Never feel that you are entitled to join any Steemit community that you wish. Sometimes, community leaders like to see your engagement and networking on Steemit before they open their Discord server “door” for you. Just keep working hard at growing your Steemit profile by posting, commenting, and resteeming quality blog posts and you’re sure to get into many great communities!

That's enough about Discord and Steemit communities to digest for today!

In Part 2, I’ll share some of the biggest Steemit communities on Discord as well as the proper etiquette for being active in Discord servers.

READ PART 2

More Helpful Steemit Information:

• Beginner’s Guide to Commenting on Steemit: How to GROW your Account with FANTASTIC Comments!
• 6 AMAZING Resources for FREE Images to Use in your Steemit Posts
• How to NEVER Run Out of Steemit Post Ideas or Fight that Dreaded Writer's Block!
• One Month on Steemit - 10 Tips for Beginners to Crush It!

_{Animated Banner Created By @zord189}