Do you know Steemit? Are you part of that site too? Whether you are or not, I will share some of my experience at that site.
What is Steemit?
Steemit is a social network where you also earn cryptocurrency called Steem. It's another Get Paid To Post (GPT) site, a variation of Paid to Click (PTC) sites which I also used to use.
(Photo credit: Steemit via Wikipedia)
According to the Wikipedia article:
Steemit is a blogging and social networking website on top of the Steem circlechain database. The Steem blockchain produces Steem and Steem Dollars (SBD) which are tradeable tokens users obtain for posting, discovering, and commenting on interesting content.
It's like Bitlanders when it started, where the site pays you for quality content using cryptocurrency. We can use the site as another investment platform too.
I am not an expert there yet but I will try my best to share my limited experience. First a video about Steemit, watch the interview with the founders.
(Video credit: TheAnarchast via YouTube)
Navigating the Site
(Image credit via Pixabay)
As a newbie, I read their Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and some older How To articles but I still found the site hard to use. It's not as user friendly as I expected. I joined the site because hey it's another way to earn and I have a lot of time this month, as compared to last year so I went ahead and signed up 61 days ago (as of this writing).
Even after reading the FAQ section I still didn't know what to do. Yeah I can post stuff and resteem (like retweet on Twitter) but to make your post look great you have to find out how to "style"/format your post with bold, italics, center align etc.
The interface is not very user friendly unless you know how to use it already. You'd really have to study what to do there because you might be doing all the wrong things and still getting nowhere for a long period of time. It is important to read older helpful articles to start earning and investing.
(Image credit via Pixabay)
Learning what to do in Steemit was a lot more complicated than learning how to use Bitlanders. I mean Facebook and Twitter are pretty easy to use/navigate. To earn on Bitlanders is not as easy as using those mainstream social media sites I mentioned. Steemit is the hardest to learn so far! Even myLot is super easy to use. C'mon. Lol.
How To Earn on Steemit
(Photo credit via Pixabay)
There are actually several ways to earn there. I will enumerate six which I also learned from a fellow Filipina Steemian. This will be in the order I have already done.
1. Create and post your own quality content.
You can post a lot of things there, provided they are your own and not copied anywhere on the internet. Examples:
- • Blog/Essay/Opinion
- • Short story / Poem
- • Photos / Videos
- • Art / Design
- • Reviews for Books, Games, TV Shows/Movies, Restaurants etc
2. Put quality comment/s on other articles posted.
When you comment on other people's posts within 7 days of them posting it, you will earn a certain amount depending on if people upvote your comment etc. Otherwise if people upvote your comment even after 7 days, you can still earn from it.
3. Upvote and Resteem
If you find a new article useful, educational or worth sharing, go ahead and upvote/resteem Make sure it was created within 7 days so your upvote/resteem will have value.
Upvoting is their equivalent of Like in Facebook or Buzz here in Bitlanders. Feel free to resteem articles/posts like using Share on Facebook.
Now here's where some members cheat the system. All things are created with honest intentions but there will always be those who will tweak any system just to get ahead.
(Video credit: Jerry Banfield via YouTube)
4. Join contests.
There are several contests to join there in different categories. I shall enumerate some here:
- • Art / Design
- • Poetry
- • Photography
- • Short story / anecdote etc
- • Music
5. Invest in Steem Cryptocurrency
Okay, for this one, I haven't been able to invest much because I'm not a big earner there yet. I do have a few I've already put in as a Power Up. Haha. Basically, Powering Up is buying Steem and turning it into Steem Power (SP) and investing it into the system, that way you can't withdraw it as fast as selling your Steem/SBDs.
6. Provide a service and get paid in Steem!
I put this last because out of the six, this one I haven't done yet. There is a market for service providers out there who get paid in Steem, unfortunately I haven't tried it yet because I haven't gone into that service mindset. Will do soon but for now, I will focus on blogging and assisting fellow Pinoys in acquiring midrise resort-type condo communities like Bali Oasis in Pasig.
Once You've Earned Enough, You Can Cash Out
Last Sunday, a day after my birthday, I finally decided to cash out. I even made an article about it in Steemit.
I joined a contest there which I won so that's what I partly cashed out. As for the process, lemme just show you a screenshot.
(My screenshot of my cashout post via Steemit)
As for how much can we potentially earn there, it depends on a lot of factors. The more people upvote and resteem your post, the more people will see it and the more chances of winning if it has value to the reader. Hehe.
If you are planning on signing up there, do more research first so you won't get disappointed when you've gone and joined. There are also cons to every pros so find out what these are.
#1 Steemit (Newbie) Issue
(Photo credit via Pixabay)
Regarding cons, the number 1 issue I have with Steemit is the limit. For the past few days I've been a bit more active there, however unlike here where you can comment and buzz forever, you can't do it there.
As a newbie (or what they call minnow) we are more prone to experience bandwidth limits. This seems to be an ongoing issue at the site and a lot of people aren't happy with it at all. Why? Because you won't be able to do anything.
Goodness me. It is not very pleasant to have to deal with this since I am used to not having any limit on interacting online. Steemit is one weird earning website but that limit is there for a reason. Lol.
Granted you have to increase your voting power so you also earn more and you should power up so you have more bandwidth but really now, you still can't do much with the small earnings you get as a minnow. You can buy more Steem to power up to kind of resolve this issue.
(Mobile screenshot of my acct on steemd.com)
I'm guessing if your bandwidth is already low, when someone comments or interacts with your posts I think it's possible it will go below zero. I just noticed it because I've been watching it since yesterday.
Earlier I noticed my bandwidth was already -26, then a member commented on my post. I refreshed the steemd.com site and found out it became -28!
I should be happy he placed a comment but the bandwidth limit is really annoying me. Then again after a few more hours my bandwidth still kept going down even with no new interaction! I'm thinking maybe it's got to do with my draft comments? But no, upon further research, here's what I found out...
more Steemit transactions/interactions = lower bandwidth
And if charts make sense to you check images below! The red indicator just below this sentence is the current limit. It's the average_block_size earlier when I did the screenshot. Not sure if I'm right but pls check on my link above for more info.
The light green one below are all the Steemit upvotes done at the site.
(Image credit: mobile screen caps via blockchain.steem.pl)
Aside from the above info, correct me if I am wrong but this would mean we would have to do one of two things to avoid this:
- Be patient in increasing our earnings so we can Power Up little by little and create more content everyday and post post post lots of stuff = We have to limit our voting and commenting as a mere minnow!
- Buy Steem using real currency like USD or PHP to Power Up, much like when you buy gems over here in Bitlanders.
My Verdict
(Photo credit via Pixabay)
Overall, Steemit can be another sound investment - earn some extra cash by creating original content online, we just have to grin and bear it at the beginning. Nothing in life is easy you know.
If you're looking for more ways to earn you can try it out and see for yourself. Weigh the pros and cons I mentioned above and do additional research if you decide to join.
As for me, well I will still keep using the site for a few more months maybe. Nothing happens overnight and everything takes time so let's see if I will also make more money there one of these days. For now this site is on my probation list.
© Art x Stephanie Rue
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