Types of Keys and Examples

Hello to the wonderful Steem Greet community! My name is Justin, and I have only been using Steemit for a couple weeks now. I will explain the different types of Steem keys and show them in use. The order of keys will be from weakest to strongest.

Just from its name, it is very obvious what the Posting Key is used for. Posting, voting, and commenting are all actions in which you use the Posting Key. In addition, you can use the Posting Key to edit and add to your profile. Do not use keys higher (more powerful) than the Posting Key for any of these actions. Here is my first post on Steemit that I made after signing in to my account with the Posting Key:

The next key I will mention is used the second-most after the Posting Key. It is not a coincidence that there is an inverse relationship between how often keys are used and how strong a key is. The Active Key is used for any transaction you make on Steemit, which includes claiming post/curation rewards, transferring funds to other users, increasing/decreasing your Steem Power (powering up/down), or trading Steem on the cryptocurrency market. Also, you use the Active Key to vote for witnesses. Do not use a different key for these tasks. As an example, here is me transferring Steem to @cmp2020:

The next key that I will go over is the Memo Key. It is used to encrypt/decrypt (make private) memos (messages) when transferring funds to another user. You must use the pound sign (#) before a message so that it can be encrypted. Only use the Memo Key for this task. This is me sending a private message to @cmp2020:

The last key I will mention is the Owner Key. It is the most powerful key because it can do the tasks of all other keys and can change what your keys are. Do NOT use the Owner Key unless you want to change a key or you find yourself in a situation where you are unable to use any of the lower tier keys. In addition, to the Owner Key, there is what is called the Master Password. Use this ONLY when you need to recover your account. Your Master Password should be stored offline.

Remember to use keys for their intended tasks. In addition, do not share your keys with anyone and keep an offline (preferably paper) copy of them. No one can recover lost or stolen keys for you, so be careful with your keys and use them wisely.