![DQmUGojp38u9sSMvPhXTqHGC1TqbG9ixDAb6gAKSdRhMuaR (1).png](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmXvKkfq8yfEkhgBL1k9TeqJ8m8ZzooMziFxpMcYGzoExS/DQmUGojp38u9sSMvPhXTqHGC1TqbG9ixDAb6gAKSdRhMuaR%20(1).png)

Introduction to Steemit -
What if you got paid to post on Facebook? What if you could make money by upvoting other
peoples’ posts on Reddit? Imagine a social media site that rewards people and not greedy
shareholders. Welcome to Steemit. This short guide will explain how you can join Steemit.com
for free and start earning money right away. But first, we need to explain what Steemit is and
how it can afford to pay people like us just for posting blogs, voting, and having fun.
Steemit is much more than a money-making opportunity. It is a decentralized social media site,
like Facebook or Reddit, but without a big company at the top that sucks out profits. Steemit uses
a new model for social media, relying on people instead of advertising. Users post content and
help to curate it by upvoting the best content to everyone else’s attention. That puts it beyond the
control of greedy corporations, large media conglomerates, and repressive governments. It is the
first social media site that’s truly free of these controls.
The content is free and the money goes to the people who post and vote on it.
Steemit runs on the blockchain, the same technology that powers Bitcoin and other
cryptocurrencies. The blockchain allows information and transactions to be verified quickly,
securely, and automatically. Because the site can pay you automatically, there is no need for a
big corporate infrastructure, and there is no corporation to run away with your profits. You are
paid in STEEM dollars, a price stable token that is always worth about $1 and can be converted
to Bitcoin or regular money. You are also rewarded with greater voting power and a stake in
Steemit’s growth each time you post and vote on good content.
Who are we, the co-authors of this book? We are four members of the Steemit community who
want to share it with the world. In our first month on Steemit, each of us earned several thousand
dollars for posting content that became popular with the Steemit community. We earned more
money by voting on and replying to other peoples’ posts. We’d like to be your guides for the
next few pages as you learn about this site. And we’re pretty sure we know how to have fun on
Steemit also!
Maybe you want to drop the book at this point and just head over to Steemit. You are welcome to
do so, but we encourage you to invest a little time and energy to understand it first. We promise
to teach you some secrets that will save you time, cut down on your learning curve, and help you
succeed right away on Steemit.
What are we waiting for? Let’s get started.

![Why-Steemit-Matters-to-You.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmW8Yn6J19c5XHbyAmpQDPPJSPquGmDWTSZyyLvm6fusPU/Why-Steemit-Matters-to-You.jpg)

The Trouble with Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, and Other Social Media -
To fully understand Steemit, let us start with one of the problems it was created to address. Wall
Street values Facebook at more than $350 billion. Facebook has great technology, it has built a
successful business, and it has established itself as the face of social media. But most of
Facebook’s valuation comes from its users: one billion of them around the world.
Why are Facebook’s users worth so much? A company with access to one billion people is a
huge market for advertisers. Companies want to reach Facebook’s users to sell them products
and services.
When big companies come calling, Facebook and other social media sites are only too happy to
sell them data they have gathered on their own users. They gladly sell advertising to these
companies. Advertising is content that someone has paid to put in front of you. And Facebook is
happy to let big corporations dictate the content that Facebook’s users see first.
Why would Facebook and other social media sites sell out their users this way? Even if the
Facebooks of the world began as tiny, innocent startups with good intentions, they now are
owned by mega-banks, corporations and rich individuals. These owners and shareholders
demand constant growth and increased profits; truth and privacy are lower priorities.
In their world, people are money. Users are a commodity to be mined for information, so that
these same companies or their clients can turn around and target the site’s users with the right
kind of advertising. Then they can sell lots of products and services, and make more money off
the site’s users. When you post on most social media sites, you are fueling a vicious cycle, and
you certainly do not get paid for posting or voting like you do on Steemit.