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Introduction

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The growing attention on altcoins and the current market conditions (bull market, higher price of Steem etc) will bring in a lot of new people who are not familiar with Steem/Steemit and are looking to just find out about it before they dip their proverbial toes in the water.

I thought it might be useful to make a summary for those who just want to know the basics and aren't necessarily used to cryptocurrencies.

I think if we can start with the most important points people will gradually pick up the rest themselves or via the help of others.

If you are one of these new people please let me know if you find this helpful or if you have any suggestions:

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Steem - The Basics

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What is Steem ?

Steem is a form of cryptocurrency network (smart digital money) like Bitcoin. It combines the ability to send/receive money and store information.

What is the main advantage of Steem?

You don't need expensive hardware to mine Steem - you mine it by creating and voting on content on Steem applications like Steemit

What other advantages does it have over Bitcoin?

1. FREE transactions with NO transaction fee
Right now sending bitcoin can cost several dollars at a time and your transaction can end up at the bottom of the list if you don't pay enough.

2. Simple adresses that are easy to remember and type
For example my Steem address is "thecryptofiend" that is a lot easier to remember than a bitcoin address like 1BvBMSEYstWetqTFn5Au4m4GFg7xJaNVN2.

3. Scalablity
Right now Bitcoin is capable of a theoretical maximum of about 7 transactions per second and this matter has been a source of serious conflict in the bitcoin community. Steem is already capable of doing thousands of transactions per second.

4. Speed
In ideal situations a Bitcoin block takes a minimum of 10 minutes to solve but you will often end up waiting a lot longer for a transaction to clear and be confirmed. Sending Steem is virtually instantaneous.

5. Steem Dollar is a low volatility currency for merchants.
The Steem dollar is a special dollar pegged asset based on Steem that is designed to resist the normal volatility you get with most other cryptocurrencies including bitcoin.

What Steem applications are currently available?

1. Steemit - a blogging platform like a combination of Medium and Reddit.
2. Busy- a more Facebook like app with built in personal messaging.
3. Esteem - a mobile app for IOS/Android.
4. Others are in development like Steepshot (a photo sharing app).
5. There are also a variety of tools for Steem available at Steemtools.com.

What is the difference between Steemit and Steem?

In simple terms Steem is the money, Steemit is an app that uses Steem to pay rewards.

OK so I've decided I want to make a Steem account - what do I do?

1. Follow the quick start guide I created here.
2. The guide takes you through the process of registering and creating your first post on Steemit - if you prefer to use Busy you can use the same account (once created) to make a post there.

Where can I get more information?

1. The Welcome Page, Official FAQ and a more comprehensive FAQ here.
2. Steemithelp.net.
3. The Whitepaper - if you like reading - it is quite out of date now though.
4. Ask a human in the help channel of Steemit chat.

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Conclusion

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These are the very basic points that can be used to explain what Steem is to those who are not technically minded or familiar with cryptocurrencies.

We can create further summaries to explain the more advanced concepts in plain language too.

What do you think?

Feel free to share and link to this post if people come to you with questions.

Also let me know if you think there is some other point that absolutely must be added here (but keep in mind the simplicity aspect).

If you spot any errors either factual or otherwise let me know.

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Thank you for reading

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Follow me on Steemit: @thecryptofiend & on Twitter : Soul_Eater_43.

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All uncredited images are taken from my personal Thinkstock Photography account. More information can be provided on request. Thanks to @ocm for providing a free image of the Steemit logo here which I combined with the stock photo.

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Before you go have you filled in the Coinbase form to list STEEM? It only takes a few seconds. THIS POST shows you how.

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Are you new to Steemit and Looking for Answers? - Try:

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