What's a noob to do on steem?

[andrewagostini]

Hi all. I'm Andrew.

Here's my loading screen:

What's cool to do here?

I'm new in town and was hoping to get a local's tour of steemcity. What do y'all do for fun here? What's your favorite whole in the wall blog? Where can I get some delicious, greasy (but not soo greasy) late night snack videos? Would love to hear about some of your favorite content creators on Steem :)

My first video

Also want to share a little about myself... just uploaded my first video on how digital images work and the surprising math that explains how to see everything in the universe. That's kind of a click baity title but I assure you it's no false claim. If you like the video let me know to make more like it - I plan on covering all sorts of geeky/technical goodness in videos to come.

Comments

[dhimmel]

Welcome @andrewagostini. Having watched your video, I can definitively say that you'll be a great addition and contributor to the Steem community.

As an early adopter, things can get a bit frustrating as you're ahead of the curve and the network effect has yet to really take off. However, by being early, you put yourself in an opportune position both financially and socially if Steem displaces the major centralized social networks of our childhood.

So here are some recommendations I have:

• See if there are any local Steem meetups in your area and check them out. While I don't really use Steem to socialize (I'm more in it for discussion and information), it's still a social network and the more connections you have to other users the better.
• Try to identify interesting accounts/authors to follow. You're not likely to find many quality posts by just browsing trending and new, so it's essential that you follow the accounts that post high quality original content (which can be few and far between).
• Comment on posts. This will help grow your followers and could get you upvotes.
• Grow your influence. Your experience on the platform will improve with more STEEM Power (technically vests since Power is an illusion). Currently, you have an insignificant, puny amount of power. You can either work your way up or make an investment. I recommend doing both.
• Make sure to convert SBD to STEEM (since SBD are currently worth more than a dollar, which is likely a temporary anomaly). You can do this with the built-in exchange (i.e. trustlessly on the blockchain). Also I recommend powering up your STEEM into vests, which is what gives you influence. The only reason to hold STEEM versus Power is if you plan on spending it. Power takes 13 weeks to fully convert into the liquid STEEM.

So hopefully this contains some advice to get you off the ground running!

[dhimmel]

Other things I forgot to mention are:

• notification services: I recommend @ginabot or @busy. Ginabot sends you messages on Discord. Busy, which is an alternative explorer to steemit.com, has built-in support for notifications.
• security: Make sure to only log in with your posting key (for posting and voting) or your active key for financial transactions. Keep your owner key and password (seed for all the keys) offline and secure.

One advantage of the 13 week power down stage is security. If your active key is compromised, you have one week to remedy the situation before any financial loss occurs (assuming you're only holding Power).

[introbot]

Welcome to Steemit @andrewagostini!

I wish you much success and hope you find Steemit to be as rewarding and informative as I have.

Here are some links you might find useful.
Your stats on SteemNow
Your stats on SteemWorld
Your stats on SteemD
How does Steemit actually work?

Introbot is hosted and managed with donations from @byColeman to help make your journey on Steemit be truly rewarding. Your feedback is always welcome so that we may improve this welcome message.
Oh yea, I have upvoted you and followed you. Many blessings from @introbot & @bycoleman

[steemitboard]

Congratulations @andrewagostini! You received a personal award!

Happy Birthday! - You are on the Steem blockchain for 1 year!

_{You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking}

Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!