Census in 2017 showed that Pakistan hosts more than 207 million people. This report based on official statistics highlights the ever growing number of broadband users, including 3g and 4g services. Close to 50 million internet users is not a bad number for any internet based economies. Steemit is one of the best internet based ecosystems. It is the best perhaps, the most inclusive and fairer to a large extent.

Have You Spent Thousands of Unpaid Hours on Social Media Sites?

Pakistanis, as well as rest of the world, have spent millions of hours on websites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google, YouTube and many more. The need of expressing personal opinion takes people to social media platforms. Each of these companies on its own is a multi-billion dollar company. Take any one of them. Take example of Facebook for example. It's market cap today is 519.41 billion dollars!

But has any of the websites paid you any money for thousands of hours you have given to them? Do you know that all the money these companies earn comes from the advertisement business they have. To be pinpoint, you are shown ads for which these companies get billions of dollars. Did Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram pay a penny to you for bringing so much money for them? NO! They didn't and instead they asked for money to promote your posts.

Google and its AdSense program prey on hardworking webmasters to push its digital advertising business. Google is expected to make $73.8 billion dollars in net digital ad sales in 2017. YouTube is no different. All of these websites either do not pay a penny to their users or share a petty percentage of the revenue with them. 

But is there something better? Something different? Something which rewards its users for being its users?

Enter Steemit!

Steemit is a social media and blogging platform but is different from these so-called social media platforms. The closest thing to Steemit is Reddit. You can call Reddit the ugly and far less valuable version of Steemit which doesn't pay anything to its dedicated community. Reddit the is number 7 website in the world and is worth $7 billion. But still, Steemit is better than it and has massive potential.

To understand what Steemit is and how it works, you will have to read each article and watch every video that I'm going to include in this article. Reading thoroughly will help you in the long-term as well and you will be able to get maximum benefit out of this exciting platform. 

Resource # 1: Steemit (Wikipedia)Here are some of the excerpts from this article.

The general concept is similar to other blogging websites or social news websites like Reddit, but the text content is saved in a blockchain. Using a blockchain enables rewarding comments and posts with secure tokens of value.

If you are considered an author worth upvoting, you will get rewards.

User accounts can upvote posts and comments, and the authors who get upvoted can receive a monetary reward...

How Does Steemit Reward Its Users?

Steemit Inc. is a company which primarily is a social media or blogging platform. It is a blockchain based company which has cryptocurrency of its own called Steem. Think of Steem being like the Bitcoin here and Bitcoin blockchain, the technology behind Bitcoin, being similar to Steem blockchain. Steemit is also the first application built on Steem blockchain. More have been out and functional. Read more at Steem blockchain's website.

The company rewards its users via its digital token called Steem. Here's where the Steem tokens come from.

Current rate of Steem rate is 9.5 %, meaning that every year 9.5 % more Steem tokens are added to the available supply. This is called inflation. All the token created through inflation are for the Steemit platform. 75 % of these new Steem tokens are distributed among content creators and curators based on the value they create with their content! 

It may also be noted that Steem inflation decreases every year by a small percentage, until there is no inflation and no new tokens are created. It will happen somewhere in the mid of 2020's and will be a major cause of rise in Steem's monetary value.

Here's a screenshot showing my recent posts and their payouts. There's nothing fixed. You get paid well for some posts and not so well for others. That depends on so many factors which will require a separate post. But you are paid. You can't be on Steemit and not earn anything.

You can see more than $5 earned on just four posts. If Facebook paid me for the posts I do, I would be a millionaire by now!

Disclaimer: These incomes depend on investment in Steemit in form of time and/or money. Do not expect massive rewards in the beginning. There is no easy money! 

How to Join Steemit?

Joining Steemit is a bit different from normal websites. It includes a manual approval for which you have to wait.

1. Go to sign up page and enter your details (and please sign up with your genuine email).
2. You will receive a notice that account is under approval.
3. Once the account is approved, you will get an email.
4. Open that email and complete your sign up.
5. Keep your password safe and write it down somewhere (both digitally and on paper) because once lost, your account and the money in it will not be recoverable.

Once you are a member, next thing you want to do is to set up your profile.

PS:   Also, join the Steemit Boosters Facebook group to learn and get support from fellow Steemians. 

How to Set Up Your Profile?

After logging in, the next thing to do is to update your profile settings. Here's a quick look at everything you need to update. 

As the profile uploading procedure is a bit different to other social media platforms, I'll quickly cover the settings for you. To update profile picture, you will have to upload the image on the web first. Here's the process.

1. Go to Img Safe website. If the site doesn't work, try CTRLQ website or google 'free image hosting' sites.
2. From the Upload tab, click browse files and select your profile picture from the storage.
3. Click upload.
4. After it is uploaded, click the image. A new window or page will open containing your uploaded picture.
5. Copy the URL (website address) from the address bar.
6. Paste it into the Profile Picture URL box in your settings page on Steemit.

Here's a visual guide if you didn't understand the procedure. This is how I added the banner at the end of this post. First I uploaded it to Imgur and then copied the URL containing *.jpg or *.png etc.

Going quickly through the remaining settings. 

• Display Name: Write your name. It's the name you wish to use as you identity on Steemit.
• About: Write some lines about yourself or your account.
• Location: Write name of your city and/or country
• Website: If you have a website like I have this one, write it down. You can add any social media profile link as well.

Here's how the profile looks on a desktop browser after all the updates.

That's it. You are done with settings. Don't forget to hit Save button. 

How to Start Using Steemit?

Now that your account is set up and your profile is complete, here are a few things you would want to know before starting your Steemit journey. 

• Steemit rewards value creation. To ascertain the value, it has a system which determines how valuable your content is and how valuable you are. It is all done by other users like you.
• Reputation Score: At the beginning, your reputation score is 25. As you contribute more towards the community, your reputation grows. People with less reputation earn fewer rewards and have less influence. Do increase your reputation to earn more. Reputation only increases when you receive monetary reward on your post and comments. 
• Followers: New posts stay in the New section of the website for literally a few seconds before they are taken over by the newest posts. The only way to make your posts visible to people is that they see it in their home feed. It is only possible if you have followers. So followers help your content be visible and thus create more interactions and earn more rewards.
• Posts, Comments & Upvotes: These three activities are at the core of your contribution to the community. The more value you contribute, the more rewards you get.
• Reward Types: Steemit rewards its contributors in three ways. These are Steem, Steem Power, and Steem Dollars. They are briefly explained later.

 Now let's briefly discuss reputation score and reward types. 

How is Reputation Score Calculated?

To get a detailed answer, read the following article by @digitalnotvir. I am leaving the link below and also quoting the important part.

 Resource # 2: How reputation scores are calculated - the details explained with simple math 

Buying Steem or Steem Power does not increase reputation. Only posting, commenting, and curating will increase your rep. So if you'd like to see your reputation increase (and thus your curation power) the secret is to get engaging! Post and comment with some high-quality and original content.

Difference between Steem, Steem Power, and Steem Dollars?

The following information is copied from the official FAQ page which you should go through to find answers to all your questions.

Resource # 3: Steemit FAQs 

• STEEM - STEEM is the base liquid currency token in the platform. STEEM can be powered up into STEEM Power, traded for Steem Dollars, and transferred to other accounts. It is a cryptocurrency token, similar to bitcoin.
• STEEM Power - STEEM Power (abbreviated SP) is a measurement of how much influence a user has in the Steem network. The more STEEM Power a user holds, the more they can influence the value of posts and comments. STEEM Power is less liquid. If a user wishes to “Power Down” SP, they will receive equal distributions of the STEEM weekly, over a 13 week period.
• Steem Dollars - Steem Dollars (commonly abbreviated SBD) are liquid stable-value currency tokens designed to be pegged to $1 USD. They can be traded with STEEM and transferred to other accounts for commerce or exchange. Steem Dollars may also be converted into STEEM in a process that takes 3.5 days. Steem Dollars can be used to buy things in marketplaces, such as PeerHub.com. 

Steemit Rewards Fully Explained

Just go to this post (by a Pakistani Steemian @ilyastarar) and you will never have to worry about reward system again.

Start Using Steemit Now

 By now, you are sufficiently ready to start using this benevolent platform. To assist you further, I am attaching the official Quick Start Guide so that you can have a head start.

Remember one word. Contribute! 

Resource # 4: Quick Start Guide 

Things to Do on Steemit

After following me (@pakistan-trail), the next thing to do is to set up your profile as explained above. Once you are ready, make sure that the first tag (and the main category) of your first post on the blog is 'introduceyourself'. 

Even before posting your introduction, I recommend following good accounts and interacting with others via comments on new, trending, hot etc. tabs. I also recommend upvoting others posts and comments. This way, you will gain some audience and reputation.

Then create your first post and it must be the introduction post. You can find good samples in the introduceyourself category. Do not forget to join our Facebook group which supports fellow Steemit members in many ways.  

Conclusion

Steemit is the golden opportunity for you to contribute to the community and earn handsome rewards. You can build a fortune if you persistently deliver value in form of quality posts, comments, upvotes and new relationships. Join it and reap the benefits of benevolent economy and decentralized currency. 

I would request you not to think of scamming the system (which you can't) and encourage you to work hard and build a name for yourself. Any help that you need, comment below or post your query in the facebook group. With this post, the purpose of this account @pakistan-trail is also outlined; making Steemit popular among Pakistanis and teaching them how to be better at it.

Do not forget to upvote and resteem this post to make Steemit popular in Pakistan and all over the world.