What is Steem? 8 awesome things you did not know about Steem!

After reading this post, your understanding of Steem will never be the same again! Steemit is a blogging platform, but it is only one of the several clients built on Steem.

Steem is a revolutionary Blockchain technology which has the potential to revolutionize the Internet, digital content creation and monetization as well as digital publishing forever.

With Still no official Wikipedia page for Steem, it defines Steemit as;

Steemit is a social news service which runs a blogging and social networking website on top of a blockchain database, known as Steem. The service produces STEEM and Steem Dollars which are tradeable tokens users obtain for posting, discovering, and commenting on interesting content.

However this definition is too minimalist for Steem. In our first post, we will highlight the basic definition and significance of Steem. Enjoy.

1. Steem is a Blockchain network

Blockchain is a common word now and almost everyone know what Blockchain is. Steem is a Blockchain network just like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dash.

Most Blockchain networks were designed for  a specific purpose. Bitcoin was designed to be digital cash and Ethereum was designed to be a digital computer. The main difference between Steem and other networks is that Steem was build to be a content platform.

Steem was desigend as a content management system atop a blockchain networks; think of it as a Blockchain powered BlogSpot, Wordpress, Jumla, Drupal, Tumblr or Medium.com. While sometimes confused for Steem, Steemit is just one of the clients built on the Steem blockchain.

2. Steem is a cryptocurrency

Yes, actually on Steem we have two crypto-currencies:

1. Steem: Steem is the primary crypto-currency of the Steem blockchain and it is mined. Miners keep very little of the Steem they mine and the rest is distributed to witnesses, content authors and curators. Of the thousands of crypto-currencies out there, the Steem crypto-currency is ranked at 22 according to CoinMarketCap.
2. Steem Dollars: sometimes referred to as Steem Backed Dollars(SBD), this is a BitShares based cryptocurrency which is pegged on the the amount of Steem priced at $1. So at every moment, each SBD can be redeemed for $1 worth of Steem or $1 cash.

3. Steem is a blogging platform

You must already have known this but there is more. Steem is a blogging platform built on Blockchain technology. This means that content on the Steem platform are not deletable - not even the content author can delete them!

Sure you can edit them and replace your former content with a blank content, but the original content as well as all its edit history will forever remain on the Steem blockchain!

Technically it is impossible to hide content posted on Steem! Steem is censorship-proof, however you should also make sure you do not post content that you do not want to be forever public on Steem.

4. Steem is a social media platform

By rewarding commentors and curators, Steem acts as a social media where users faithfully follow their favorite authors with the hope of building long lasting and fruitful relationships.

Steem authors are under the pressure to engage and entertain their readers and hopefully turn them into faithful readers. If you write the greatest post an no one reads it, our you have 10,000 followers but they do not read or upvote your content then you loose.

This reason urges content creators to not only to create quality content that satisfies the needs of readers but to also engage them and make them loyal readers.

5. Steem is an award ceremony

Yes, you may not have recognized this yet, but Steem is actually an award ceremony where authors and users are constantly rewarded for their opinions and contributions.

When was the last time you received a notification on Facebook or Twitter that you had been awarded a badge of honor for reaching a milestone? On Steemit, we have the @SteemBoard which does just that!

Then again when was the last time you received a payment for any of the likes you got on your Facebook posts?

6. Steem is the only true Internet archive

There are several projects to index and archive the Internet, however all these systems are based on centralized systems with backups.

Steem is built on Blockchain technology meaning even without a backup, our records are not only immortal - they are also impermutable. Steem is the only truly reputable and incorruptible Internet archive in existence!

7. Steem is a revolution

Every since the launch of Steem we have seen the rise of several blockchain based social blogging platforms. Even Kik messenger announced that they would be launching a blockchain crypto-currency into their platform and reward users.

Despite the outbursts of critics, Steem has succeeded in building s system which actually works. Steem is not a ponzi scheme, Steem is a blockchain powered social media platform that rewards users with its tokens for content.

Steem has proven that its model works and now everyone is racing to build a clone of Steem.

8. Steem is the future!

At a time when most corporate news blogs and sites have to put up a pay wall or ask for donations in the face of shrinking ad revenues, Steem is doing well.

Steemians do not even pay for posting their content on Steemit, not do they have to run ad campaigns to earn from their publications. There are not scripts to paste and no plugin to configure yet Steem works so well.

With the rise of Steem and the rise in Steem blogging clients and tools that allow for third party integrations, it would not be long before most major mainstream blogs turn to Steem.

Steem is the future people!

What else does Steem mean to you? Tell us in the comments below!

Remember to upvote, Steem and follow @SteemRepublic for our daily Steem reports as well as updates on our projects.

Image credits to @steemit, @coinables and @steemit respectively.