Content creation in steemit is somewhat analogous to mining in bitcoin. It is the means by which the new steem/bitcoin come in to existence.

Early on in steemit (for the first weeks or month) almost any post could earn you a large reward. Early on in bitcoin almost any little laptop doing the mining could earn you a reward in bitcoin.

That soon changed. It now takes a huge investment in equipment to earn any bitcoin at all. And it takes a lot of effort, strategizing, netorking, and, yes, luck, to earn significant steem.

This platform is an experimental hybrid of cryptocurrency and social media. No one knows how it will turn out.