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One of the perks of having a team to lead is you have to be thoroughly informed on diverse topics as quite often you will find yourself having to provide answers to questions they might have. Hence, obtaining knowledge becomes a lifestyle. While this is not something I would normally write about, I find it awfully important to share my findings on this extensive topic in a simple way.

I recently found myself in a position where my mentor was gracious enough to delegate some steem power towards my course. Being a minnow, I find I barely have enough information to scratch the surface on how this platform works, everyday is a learning process. Sometimes it's so overwhelming my head literally starts to hurt.

That being said, I wanted to understand why my mentor kept saying I had to replenish my voting power before I could begin giving upvotes again. I must admit, it feels so damn good when you finally understand an aspect and you can skillfully move on to the next...

We all want to see our upvotes to make a difference don't we? But unfortunately most newbies don't quite understand how voting power and upvoting works. I will do my best to make it as easy as possible to understand.

But before we dive into it, lets understand what the 3 currency units that steemit uses actually mean. If you are as green as I was when I started out, then you must agree that it can be pretty confusing right?

1. STEEM
This are units that are bought and sold on open markets. You will find them on most cryptocurrency exchanges and you can trade them as you would bitcoins.

2.STEEM POWER
This are influence tokens which give you more control over post payouts and allow you to earn on curation rewards.This is one of the reasons why it is very good to own some steem power.
The more powerful your upvotes are, the more curation rewards you receive.They can also be delegated/donated for influence or to help new users perform actions on steemit. This delegated amount can fluctuate.

3.STEEM DOLLARS
This is the last form of currency and basically they never get diluted or lose their value.
They are designed to be a stable currency that you can sell at any time. When you create popular content, 50% of your pay will be in Steem Dollars & 50% in Steem Power.You can exchange your Steem Dollars for Steem Power. If you want to invest in the future of the currency and reap the biggest rewards.
(Got that? Great..)

...How does your Vote Influence?

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The more STEEM POWER you have, the more influence your upvotes will have and the more curation rewards you will garner.

More Steem Power=More Influence=More Curation Rewards

...How does Voting Power Work?

In a nutshell, your voting power is strongest at 100% and decrease with each vote you give at a rate of 2% per vote.

Therefore it goes without a say, at 100%, you get more curation rewards as you have strong influence.

100% = Strongest Vote

Less Voting Power means Weaker Upvotes

As your voting power decreases so does your influence, so does your curation rewards. It is highly advised to keep your voting power above 80%.

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It's Worth to Note;

1. 20% per Day

This is the rate at which your voting power recharges per day. Hence, to fully be charged you need 5 days should you completely run yourself out of Voting Power. Though very highly discouraged.

2. 80%- DO NOT drain your Voting Power below this level

Remember; Your votes will have less effect the lower your Voting Power goes.
Always make sure your VP is above 80% for maximum curation rewards.

Golden Rule;

At above 80% VP give ONLY 11 Upvotes per Day for Maximum Effectiveness..why?

Because like we said earlier, the more your vote influence a post, the more curation you will receive.**

Piece of Advice;

Be Very Diligent in keeping track of your Voting Power, and take note of how much they are worth, and always remember that the less influnce your vote is the less curation rewards you will get...and we don't want that now,do we?

Tip;

To view your voting power visit either;
Www.steemd.com/@username Or
Www.steemnow.com

I know you are probably wondering whether you should spend your upvote on this post after this, and I think you definitely should :). However, I Only hope that was as clear as the light blue sky. If not, I am very sorry. Do feel free to leave your most genuine comment below.

As always,

El

UPVOTE° RESTEEM° FOLLOW