https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://steemitimages.com/0x0/http://i67.tinypic.com/2pp0b3k.png # Your Value How many hours a week do you spend on social media? How much money have you _earned_ for all of the content that you have created, shared, commented on, and liked? Unless you are monetizing your content through sites like YouTube, you are probably doing it all for free. Do you think that all of your content, time and attention are worth something? Facebook certainly does. They earn billions of dollars per year through advertisements. Where does all that value come from? It comes from **you** - their users. # Steemit.com Steemit knows that your content, attention, and time are valuable. That is why they have created a revolutionary new social media platform that actually **pays** it's users for the value that they add. Did you just create the next viral cat meme? Post it on Steemit.com, and you could potentially make hundreds of dollars! Even if your content is not the most amazing thing in the world, every post has the potential to earn rewards. https://youtu.be/XR5wPnePagw _Video Credit:_ @donkeypong, @steemship, @liberosist, @hanshotfirst, @kevinwong and @the-alien # What to post about? Have pictures and a story to share from last week's party? Did you just complete a cool art project and want to show it off? Are you an author writing a short story, and want to share it with the world? All of these are great things to post about! People are sharing all kinds of content on Steemit, just like they do on other social media sites. The main difference with Steemit.com is the potential to get paid! # Commenting and voting pays too! You do not need to create content to earn. If you spend time browsing content and voting on what you like (called "upvoting"), you can earn a small fraction of the rewards that the posts earn. You can also get paid for commenting on other people's posts. Users who browse other people's content and write good comments that add value to the conversation can get upvoted and paid as well! # Steemit is not 'fast easy' money. Although there is the potential to earn, Steemit is not a get rich quick scheme. Most users do need to spend months on the platform building a following and adding value before they start to see a return on their investment. Users should not come expecting to earn tons of fast easy money. Nobody is guaranteed any earnings. Most users who stick with the platform and continue to add value over time though, do get recognized and rewarded by the community for the value that they add. # Global Community Steemit rewards personal expression and empowers individuals to build new, meaningful relationships based on shared ideals. It's no longer just about who you were born with or who you've met around town. Your relationships can be global based on your deepest passions and favorite topics. _Source:_ @lukestokes # Blockchain Technology Steemit.com is powered by blockchain technology similar to bitcoin. Everything that gets posted on Steemit.com is recorded in the Steem blockchain, which means it is permanently recorded in a public database network that is freely accessible and resistant to censorship. Nobody can go and tamper with or delete your content just because they don't like it or disagree with it. The Steem blockchain was built on similar technology to bitcoin, but it is also superior to bitcoin in many ways. It uses a new blockchain technology called Graphene 2.0. Compared to bitcoin which often takes several hours and charges fees to process transactions, the Steem blockchain processes transactions in three seconds and with zero fees. Even though the Steem blockchain is less than two years old, it is already processing more transactions per day than bitcoin! You can read more about that here. # What has value? The content that has value is entirely up to the users. Every user can upvote content they like, and the platform will decide who gets paid based on the amount of upvotes they receive. The more upvotes a post receives, the more it will potentially make. Upvotes from users with more influence in the platform are worth more. https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmZtJqgy2ES8pM7JLr6HdG7DCAPUrYEEqmFR82Wfbn9zgA/tutorial-2.gif _Image credit:_ @voronoi # Getting Paid Users are paid in two forms of digital currency tokens called STEEM, and Steem Dollars. These tokens have real money value in the same way that bitcoin does. Users have the option to cash out the tokens for money, or hold on to them and hope they go up in value. Users can also "power up" coins to get more influence, so their votes are worth more. # Investing Users have the option to purchase STEEM tokens, which may go up or down in value. Today one STEEM token is worth around $1.20 USD. Within the past year they have been worth as little as $0.08 and as much as $4.34. The platform has only been around for a little over a year, and there is a lot of potential for growth. Bitcoin has been around for much longer, and is currently worth over $2,500 per coin. If users think that STEEM coins will be worth as much as bitcoin some day, they may want to stock up now while they still have a chance :) # Want to know more? If you want to find out more information about Steemit.com and how it all works, you can find the answers to commonly asked questions in the FAQ. # Get Started Today! It is 100% free to post, comment, or upvote all content on Steemit.com. Creating an account is free. Click on the "Sign Up" link to get started!