I came to Steemit after hearing about it from @the-bitcoin-dood. We were both on Tsu before it crashed and burned, but there was a good community there and one is building here too.
I've now done hundreds of posts and well over a thousand comments. This is a social site and engaging with people is very important to me. I enjoy getting feedback on my posts. The internet brings people together around shared interests, regardless of location. I hope to see this aspect of Steemit enhanced, e.g. with groups/communities or something so we don't just rely on tags to find content of interest.
Of course I was attracted by the chance of earning something here, as I was with Tsu. If the price of Steem had stayed as it was when I joined I'd have a few hundred dollars by now, but as it is the value of my account has not been increasing lately. I earn enough to just about keep it steady. Those earnings come mainly from my posts, but are supplemented nicely by winnings from @steemsports plus a couple of Steem per week from curation, partially automated by Steem Voter. I see I've passed 2 million 'Vests' and am well on the way to 1000 SP.
I'm not that worried about the Steem price. If this site/service has any future then it will recover. It just needs enough people using it to make it viable. What excites me are the potential uses for this whole infrastructure that people will come up with. It's already being used for buying real goods. I would like to see verified charities on Steemit so that people can confidently donate to good causes. That was an important part of Tsu. Verification is an area that still needs some work. It can be manual, as with Steem Verify, who gave me the nice badge below, or automated with a system such as that used by Keybase.
Steemit is still a new site and we cannot expect it to take off overnight. I believe in the people who are working on it and, in time, it will become something that can appeal to a much wider audience. I wish I could be at Steem Fest where there are bound to be a lot of interesting discussions about that future. When it gets more big blogging/vlogging/podcast stars on board then it could go viral and a new economy will emerge. I want to be part of that.
Update: Oh, and I just hit reputation of 60!
Steem on!
