Steem is a blockchain based social media platform where you can earn cryptocurrency (Steem) for posting and sharing content, playing games and investing your money in various projects that are being developed.
Steem is a decentralised platform that is pro-free speech and is censorship resistant. Anyone is free to invest money in Steem and make it their home to blog, develop games, build a business, or simply to hang out and share content.
I've been on Steem since August 2017. and have been using it to post on topics that interest me but aren't related to my main job as an A-level sociology teacher. During those two years I've met some great people, from all over the world and made some great connections. I've also earned a lot of 'Steem' simply by posting, interacting, and even playing games.
I can whole heartedly recommend Steem to anyone sick of 'social media as usual' and who might be looking for a more dynamic, much more interesting and much more profitable form of social media to Facebook and Instagram.
Seven reasons to join Steem
ONE: It's a decentralised platform, controlled by the people, not by a Corporation (such as Facebook)
Anyone can set up a server and run a 'Steem Node', thereby taking responsibility for keeping the Steem blockchain running. The people who run the servers are called 'witnesses' and anyone with Steem invested in the platform can vote for a witness. The more votes (stake weighted) a witness earns, the higher up the rankings he or she goes and the more money they earn. The top 20 witnesses also get to decided whether they want to implement code changes to Steem which can change the way the ecosystem functions.
Thus on Steem - its policies are controlled by the witnesses who are voted by the users of Steem. Very different to what happens on Facebook.
TWO: It's censorship resistant
Because this is social media on a blockchain, content can't simply be erased at the whim of a centralised, controlling authority because it's distributed across several servers controlled by dozens of people in different countries, rather than one centralised server controlled by a huge corporation!
Steem is home to several free speech advocates, some of whom have been the victims of Facebook and Twitter censorship.
THREE: It's a great way of making global connections with likeminded people
Steem is truly global - there are communities being built around several interests across the globe and one of the highlights of being part of the Steem blockchain is the annual SteemFest, which brings together hundreds of people from dozens of countries.
FOUR: You can earn from posting content
Steempeak is one of the many front ends of steem - check out this link to see some of the excellent content that's getting rewarded. You can earn by posting any or all of the following:
FIVE: You can use your vested Steem power to reward others
Rewards are determined by upvotes on Steem (like a like on Facebook) - if you like something, upvote it and reward the producer of the content. The more Steempower you have invested, the more weight your vote carries.
You will need to invest quite a lot in Steem to make your vote worth something. F
SIX: There's some great games you can play (and earn while playing!)
One of the biggest success of Steem has been the Splinterlands game - it's trading cards battle game, kind of like Magic the Gathering where you buy cards (with Steem) and battle with other players. It's not only fun, it's an investment: when you buy a card, you are buying a digital asset too.
There are various other games on Steem - in fact many of the top blockchain games are on Steem, as evidenced by the current rankings on State of DApps.
SEVEN: You can invest in businesses without risking your Capital!
Saving the best until last: you can delegate your steem to a person or a business to support them without actually giving it to them. This is one of the most powerful features of Steem IMO!
How to join Steem and find out more
The easiest way to join Steem is to use 'Steem Ninja' - it does cost $2.50 (about £2), but for that you get 15 Steem (worth around $6 at time of writing) delegated to you for 90 days. NB if you sign up and drop your new Steem user name in the comments below, I will delegate a further 15 Steem to you to double your total starting 'Steem Power' up to 30.)
Once you've signed up, the best 'getting started guide' is Steem Onboarding - this will guide you through what Steem is and how to use the platform through 10 introductory videos.
If you have any questions or just want to follow me, my profile on Steem is ReviseSociology (yes, same as on here!)
