What is it and how does steemit work?/Steemit's guide/2018
This publication is addressed to all those people who, like me, feel overwhelmed and confused about how the Steemit network works. The intention is that at the end of the reading of this "post" we are able to incorporate ourselves with a good understanding of the functioning of this revolutionary way of conceiving social networks and generating income on the internet.Steemit can be very confusing even for a person like me who for several years is engaged in cryptocurrency mining; and it is that its conception and way of functioning, although it is extremely simple, is really revolutionary.
Steemit is an innovative mix between three fundamental pillars of the current internet that are:
The technological revolution of the cryptocurrencies and the chain block or "blockchain"
Cryptocurrencies can be considered as a form of digital money, although strictly speaking they are not, and their denomination and classification depends on the legal resolutions that each country has taken. Take into account that today there are dozens of different cryptocurrencies and new cryptocurrencies are constantly being created as the specific case of STEEM.
In any case a cryptocurrency can be exchanged for its equivalent in fiat (fiat is any currency of legal tender like the dollar) in the various exchanges (exchange houses) that exist for this type of exchange between all types of cryptocurrencies and fiat.
In short, you can exchange exchanges from one type of cryptocurrency to another, or change from cryptocurrency to dollars, euros, yen, etc. Therefore, when you receive a cryptocurrency, it can be considered that you are receiving liquid money.
The cryptocurrencies are received and sent between wallets (wallets) and the balance of the coins only exist in the wallets. The wallets are identified by a very long string of characters, for example this is a bitcoin wallet address: 1MpVYbq1XkXVpFS9MzxRo1wUqBJxkZFjmC
If you are going to work with the bitcoin cryptocurrency that is the most recognized of all, you will need a bitcoin wallet. If you plan to use the litecoin cryptocurrency you need a litecoin wallet, and so on. That is, each type of cryptocurrency needs a specific wallet for that cryptocurrency.
When a person receives a payment in the form of a cryptocurrency it means that a value has been assigned, for example let's suppose that it is 10 bitcoins, in his bitcoin wallet. That represents a transaction and means that someone from some other bitcoin wallet has sent a bitcoin payment to their bitcoin wallet. These transactions are recorded by computers or servers called miners. The miners are in charge of recording all the transactions that occur between all the wallets at a given moment, creating an encrypted digital record that is called "a block". In this block all the information about the transactions is encrypted and it is built in such a way that it can not be modified by anyone once the block has been produced.
The information in this block is spread throughout the network of miners and from now on all new transactions between wallets must be registered in the next block, which when encrypted contains the information of the previous blocks. That is to say, a chain of blocks is being built where every single cryptocurrency transfer that has occurred since the cryptocurrency was created is recorded. This block of information has a very special feature and is that the encryption has a strong dependence on the previous blocks. This means that if any previous block is modified it is no longer possible to rebuild the chain of blocks and therefore it is known that there has been an alteration.
Yes, I know, it sounds very complicated, but the important thing is that every time that the mineers create a block is when the new cryptocurrencies are created. That is, each time the transactions in the block chain are recorded, they create new cryptocurrencies literally from nothing, and they are the ones that are used to pay the miners and distribute themselves among the general public.
And here is where the most important question of all comes: If you literally create a cryptocurrency out of thin air every time a block is mined why does it have any monetary value in fiat?
And the answer is very simple: because all the members of the community of that cryptocurrency decide to trust and accept that it has an equivalent in fiat (dollars) and they use it as a value interchange system. This is really the important thing, "the strength of a cryptocurrency depends exclusively on the size of the community that supports it and the number of transactions they make with their cryptocurrency." This is exactly what has happened with the bitcoin that enjoys a huge community and the value of the cryptocurrency has been increasing and currently it is trading around the $ 10,800 USD per bitcoin.
-Social networks
-The generation of income working on the internet and,
-The new technological revolution of cryptocurrencies that use the blockchain or "blockchain".
In order to understand what Steemit is and how it works, at least basic notions of each of these pillars must be taken into account. Therefore, I will highlight below the most important aspects that we have to be clear about each of these pillars. Above all, I will try to explain in more detail, in a clear and concise way, what refers to cryptocurrencies, which are ultimately the means used to monetize our work in this social network and is precisely what people are normally not familiar with. .
Social networks:
Social networks are large communities that bring together people who have many common interests, which can be as infinitely varied as: kitten videos, cake recipes, nuclear physics, film, music, games, obsession with the hind legs of the flies of the fruit, etc., etc., etc. ... Social networks, by their way of functioning, create one of the essential elements for the creation of large markets, and therefore for the generation of enormous revenues, which are their huge captive audience, where they are all potential customers or consumers.
The larger the community or social network, the greater the income that can be generated from that network. For example, the social network Facebook takes advantage of the millions of people who are registered in its platform to display advertising, which generates billions of dollars over the years.
The main feature that we should focus on is that social networks are created around groups that have the same consumption interests, that consumption on the internet means content, ie videos, recipes, photos, games, etc. Normally people enter their social networks to read news, search for recipes and all kinds of content that is usually being created by the other members of that community. If people liked the video, the game, or just the thoughts, reflections or comments made by a member of the community, you let them know with a simple "like" or with a vote. Every time you do that, it is a demonstration that you reviewed that person's work and considered it good enough for the community to review and read, because you think it was funny, interesting or fulfilling the role for the which was generated that content. The detail is that all that content and the work involved is done altruistically, it simply "works" without receiving any kind of economic benefit.
The social network steemit is not different from any other social network, that is to say, communities must be created around a great variety of particular interests. In this network people create their content, which can be videos, photos, articles, etc., and publish it with a label or within a particular topic so that the rest of the community can read it as it is done in any other community. or social network. The difference is that when a person who has read or consumed the content, and it has seemed to have been of quality or very good, this person issues a vote equivalent to a "like". For each vote that receives the content its author will begin to earn some cryptocurrencies called STEEM. In the same way, the person who took the time to review the content and announce to the rest of the community that this topic is good, also receives a remuneration in the form of the STEEM cryptocurrency. Later on I will describe how those STEAM cryptocurrencies work and are converted to normal dollars or as it is known in the fiat financial jargon.
The revolutionary proposal of Steemit.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this "post", Steemit is a mixture of a social network with an internet income generation system that has created its own cryptocurrency to pay for the work of all participants within that community. The key question is: Will it work?
Social networks have proven to be extremely successful in generating wealth and knowledge; the production of high quality or at least high consumption content has proven to be an effective means to achieve economic growth and knowledge generation; the cryptocurrencies that have broken into the financial world in the last five years, especially the chain of blocks that very soon the big banks will end up adopting, have been very successful and have generated a system of exchange and preservation of monetary value. Therefore, it is logical to think that if all these systems are successfully integrated, they should generate a whole new way of conceiving the exchange of information, work and wealth on the internet. That's Steemit's big bet.
Steemit is definitely something totally new in the world of social networks, in the generation of income through the internet and the application of new emerging technologies.
Personally, this experiment called Steemit I consider the first working prototype that points out at least one of the possible paths for the future of a true web 3.0.
Conclusions:
To join Steemit you just have to register. Then you start generating income, either because you write and generate knowledge, or because you like to read and review the articles that interest you most and you give a simple vote. In both cases you will earn money (cryptocurrencies), when people give you a vote because they think your publication is very good, or when you give a vote when evaluating a publication.
All this experiment will only result if real communities start to be created around topics and specialized topics of any nature, there must be a community around, that is me, for example, specialized makeup methods for weddings, ants, desserts, wigs, semiconductors, computers, etc. Above all, the most important thing is that participating members of these communities begin to vote consciously for the articles and publications that generate knowledge and that truly strengthen the community.
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