What I love about Steemit is that it helps people to monetize the work they would never be able to monetize in so called 9-5 jobs. One of the most important thing in life for me is freedom and  Steemit gives you a little bit of it ;)

What an excellent question. When I first saw the title, I immediately thought, oh, of course it's the community, but that's too cliche, so it's gotta be the nice surprises I get here as a newbie when my content all of a sudden does well. I don't see a formula or direct reason for it, and it happened only couple of times, but it always puts a smile on my face.

But then you totally made me think with the actual question you ask in the body.

And that one is simple, yet not really. I have been always passionate about sharing music in one way or the other. I have been and "Internet DJ" for years now, and I stopped for longer or shorter time and I always came back, every single time with new mission and plan of attack, but always with the same core idea behind it all - share good music. What that meant changed over the years and I am proud to say I feel like what I do now (looking for lesser known artists who are hugely talented) makes me feel like it has the biggest impact.

But no matter what it still feels vapid sometimes to put in a huge amount of work into something that at times feels pointless. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate every single comment, follower, conversation and words of encouragement from people who I've touched with music that touched me. But I am also human and I also get tired and sometimes it just feels like what's in it for me, however self-centered that happens to be in those low moments of mental energy.

And that is why Steemit makes me so excited. It's still a huge amount of work, even more so trying to build something again from scratch, pretty much, but at least this community, that, to make it full circle, I have came to love so far, finally gives me a possibility of a tangible reward and encouragement for something that I have been doing for years because *I simply love music*.

What an excellent question, I am glad you made me reflect on that :)

To me is the promise of real financial freedom, and the promise of the way to live in a future of Ai and robots

Steemit is my social life...I have no other.
Before Steemit it was FaceBook...
If steemit didn't pay I'd still be here due to the abhorrent policies that Facebook has recently adopted..

I think people come for the financial aspects but stay due to interesting and engaging articles etc.

Just followed you.. all your post were really good and wow!!. thanks for sharing...
its been a long time with steemit.. but still wondering how others increases their reputation..

if you have any idea share with us..

seems like you are successful on steemit.

if you post something that is relevent to steem would be greatful for us...

thank you..

My main reason is to be rewarded for my content. But also for investment, I love the DPOS of steemit, the concept is very powerful and allows to make dapps like this.

I could have never earned my fist Bitcoins, Ethers and Moneroj without Steem. Used to be a Youtube LPer in my teen years and even after that, I can tell you it's by far the most direct way of earning money for your content!

I mean, yeah, I admit cryptocurrency itself is barely "direct" currently, but I consider it to be "the price" of content creation.

Hey Matt @heymattsokol :) I really enjoy reading you. Still processing that post you've wrote about not hanging on social media all day long and avoiding them in your home. Still working to get on that level, too, but I admire idea. We have all become addicts and tend to live more online then in real life and that definitely is not gonna do good to use.
And now to the positive - I joined seven months ago and I prefer Steemit then other social networks like Facebook or IG for several reasons... So here they are:
1. financial component - of course it is the main interest for most people here, except the people who joined earlier, back in 2016., or have made good investment here (like @steevc) so they are here to help others, smaller fishes, like ourselves. I admire those guys and I hope there will anyhow be less greed and more support in general on this platform because, like I said, financial component is quite important 
2. creating content - I always loved to write. Started with little poems and short stories as a child and continued working as a journalist and a blogger. When I got permanent job in a high-school, I really missed all the writing. So I am here to write again and that is something I just LOVE to do. Now with the extra challenge: to write in English, which is not my native language
3. reading quality posts - on Facebook and Instagram at certain point, things started to look really fake. Yes, there isa LOT faking  on Steemit as well, but you can choose who you pay attention to and there are some really good and interesting posts people make and I learn something new every day of this journey!

**Thank you and keep inspiring us!**

As a new member here, I could say that  I found a lot of understanding, different vision, and good-natured advice. 
So I use the Steemit to express my opinion, thru pictures, blogs, or comments.
Sometimes is hard to explain, but I also see this as an advanced version of forum, and I think that such platform like Steemit (if I can call it so) will find a wider application soon all around us.

I usee Steem mainly as a way to earn money from my writing, with the end goal of earning a living from my writing. 

I also want to help other people learn about Steem and how they can use it to earn a living from their own creative pursuits (so I write about that a lot).

Steemit is just about exploring your thoughts and feelings in a passionate manner.i love this platform for enriching our lives:-)

You look rather intense BUT welcome to Steemit anyway. (Just Kidding).

Basically sticking it to Mark Zuckerberg. I am tired of all the talented people using FB as a medium and not owning thier content. Times are changing and I want to be on this wave!!!!

Great article. I'm here to discover new ways of promoting music, networking  and in the end, hopefully monetizing. I'm still a newby I'll make sure to to engage and learn as much as I can.

I see it as a way to empower a lot of people. I'm really just playing here, but there are lots of creative people who deserve to earn from their work and this could help them. The openness and lack of ads really set it apart.

I'm here for the same reason as you.  I have ideas I want to share, community I want to build and art I want to make and steemit allows me to get paid doing it so I can focus more and more time on these things.  If I grow I'll also be able to support others while enjoying my own success and make their whole process a bit more painless, which is another motivating factor.