So you've just joined Steemit, or you've been around for several months and still have your Steem Power at around 15. I've been here for a little over a week and after a good bit of research and experience, I'd like to share my thoughts with those who may be struggling with the concepts of Steem Power and Voting Power.
Firstly, having a Steem Power of 15 does not mean that your vote is worth 15 Steem or 15 SBD. A Steem Power of 15 will give you a Voting Value of about 0.003 Steem, but only if your Voting Power is at 100%. Yes, this is all very confusing, but if you want to make your vote count, you need to grasp these concepts.
You can begin by monitoring your Voting Power and your Vote Value by using the well known page https://steemworld.org/ followed by @ and your username. Here is a sample of my account.
You will immediately notice that my Voting Power is at 97.43% and the value of my vote is worth $0.00 all the way from 1% to 100%. Further down you can see that my STEEM Power is 15.01 SP (0.10 + 14.91) and my Voting Value at 100% is $0.00 and this is because SteemWorld does not show beyond two decimal places, which I believe it would be more useful if they showed $0.003 instead of zero.
To compare and better understand these values, I am adding here the co-founder of Steemit, Ned Scott's SteemWorld page.
Ned's Voting Power is at 100% and the value of his vote at 100% is $270.20 but you will notice that the lower his Voting Power falls, the less his vote is worth. Notice that I have moved the slider on the Voting Value to 85% to demonstrate that every time your Voting Power drops, the value of your vote goes down. In this case 85% of Ned's vote is worth $229.67 and no longer the same as if he had full Voting Power.
From my research and experience, I have noticed that one vote drops your Voting Power by 2% and that it takes about a little over two hours to regain that 2%.
So if you have a Steem Power of 15, stop wasting your vote, for you will get nothing in return for it. In order to really gain something from your vote, you will have to unite with other Steemians who either have more Steem Power, or with other Steemians who have the same Voting Value but are willing to pool together that value.
Even if your post is showing that you have earned $0.01 does not mean that you will receive a reward because that Steem Cent has to be divided between the Author (75%) and the Curators (25%). This means that the Author could receive (7 millisteem)) $0.007 and the Curators divide up the remaining (3 millisteem) $0.003 which more than likely means you get nothing. Even if you vote on a post that is worth $750.33, your contribution is still only $0.003 and your share will be 25% of that, which is nothing!
So use discernment when you vote and develop a good strategy for making the best of your votes by forming alliances with like-minded and supportive people.