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Am happy to be part of this week's engagement contest, I must say it has been awesome all the way. I went through the contest topic and then deemed it fit to join to this contest. Let's explore the topic,shall we? Let's go....smiles.

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^{Discuss the consensus protocol used in Steem, Proof of Delegated Participation?}

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The consensus algorithm used by steem blockchain is the proof of delegated participation. In this model, users on the network vote for witnesses who are actually a set of users on the network that secure the blockchain, they are usually 20 top witness and 1 additional witness who didn't make it to the top.10% of the steems validated are used as rewarded to witnesses.
From findings, 75% of staking rewards are sent to the reward pool from where content creators and curators are rewarded while the remaining 15% is for those holding Steem power (SP).

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^{What are the differences between DPoS and PoW}

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Delegated proof of stake

The DPoS evolved from the PoS consensus model that enables speedy processing and creation of block. In this model, users in the network vote in delegates who then validates blocks, these delegates are also referred to as block producers or witnesses just as seen on steemit a typical network that uses the DPoS model.

The number of these witnesses are also minimized in this consensus model in order to allow for quick and speedy processing of transaction. It is also important to note that these witnesses can be changed at intervals as it all depends on the number of votes received to keep them at the top or remove them.

Proof of work

Proof of work is a consensus model popularized by Bitcoin in 2009. The way it works is that Miners solve complex mathematical problem to create new blocks in the Bitcoin network, this process is called mining. It is very secured but slow compared to DPoS and requires a lot of sophisticated computer for the mining process to be possible.

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^{How often does a block occur in Steem and how many tokens does it use? Discuss this topic.}

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It has been established that steem blockchain uses the DPOS model and in this model, witness are saddled with the responsibility of producing blocks. Now a new block is produced every 3 seconds by these witness. 21 full-time witness are elected by communinties on steemit and users on the platform are entitled to vote up to 30 witness.

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Token used.

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Steem Coin: this is the native token of the platform steemit. You earn this normally my carrying out blogging activities such as posting, commenting and even upvoting content.

Steem Dollar (SBD): this is designed to be equivalent or pegged to a dollar, meaning 1SBD = 1USD.

Steem Power (SP): I think it's also important to highlight this as well, this can be referred to as steems that has been staked. It helps increase one's level of influence on the platform. You also get this as a reward when your post pay out.

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TRX: This is another incentive token that content creators get on the platform for creating content on the platform. This token was integrated into steemit in the early days after it was launched. The distribution ratio is 1 steem : 1 Trx but presently there is a new development which seem to have modified it to 1 steem : 0.5 Trx

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^{Do you know what was the first application to run on the Steem Blockchain? Discuss this application.}

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^source

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The first app or better put DApp to built on the steem blockchain is Steemit. Steemit is a decentralized social platform created by two outstanding individual by name Ned Scott and Dan Larima. It was launched in 2016 and ever since it has remained the most popular app on the steem blockchain as it had been embraced by users of over one million users around the world.

The goal of this steemit is to reward or compensate users (using cryptocurrency; steem) who are usually content creators, curator or investors generally even as they carry out blogging activities by creating quality and original contents, free of plagiarism.

It's is also very transparent in the sense that your reward is glaring for all to see and can also be vetted. Interactions and feedbacks are also enabled via the comment space provided.

Reward system

The incentives given here is in cryptocurrency,first with it native token called steem, followed by steem backed dollar (SBD) and then lastly Trx, which was integrated into steemit. Rewards pay out in seven days after every upvote.
I think it's also important for me to mention that contents can also be downvoted when is it proven to be of low/no quality or even plagiarized.

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^{What is Proof of Brain (PoB)?}

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^source

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Proof of brain is another unique model employed by decentralized social platform which steemit falls into. Since platforms like steemit encourages or rewards content creators for their blogging activities, there is now a need to check out the originality and quality of the content.

This is where PoB comes in, content creators are expected to use their brain in creating quality and original content. When users like this are spotted in a community or their personal blogs, they are rewarded for the effort put into creating the content.

This is done by means of upvote. The higher the stake (SP) of the curator, the weightier the vote on the content. The percentage of upvote on a post can also be given based on the level of importance or value perceived by the curator(s).

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Conclusion

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The steemit platform is indeed an awesome platform that has not only been a blessing to content creators but to curator as well. We can not get rewarded for every of our valuable content which would have been given just a thumbs up or mere reaction on other centralized platform.
Steemit is definately going to be the leading decentralized social platform in years to come.

Thanks you so much for coming this far with me. Your time is much appreciated. I will love to invite @ruthjoe @josepha and @olabillions to come participate.

Regards:
@lhorgic♥️