I’m highly delighted to welcome you to the first edition of SteemMag: A weekend digest for Steemians.

https://s31.postimg.org/50ns1ud6j/image.png

I already gave a hint of what you should expect from this digest in yesterday’s [teaser post](https://steemit.com/steemmag/@infovore/hitting-the-reset-button-on-tgif-plus-announcing-the-launch-of-the-first-of-its-kind-steemmag).

Today, I will be kicking off with an interview with an alpha whale @smooth. For many of you whose post has graced the trending Steemit home page, @smooth is likely one of Steemit’s alpha whales that gave your post a huge boost. 
Checking his wallet would make you green with envy, Don’t! ;)

I started following @smooth, one of Steemit’s largest independent stakeholders; during the pre-july 4th discussions on how to ensure that rewards were shared optimally.
Also, you just might have come across his comments, verifying the authenticity of posts. Especially with new users that have huge reputation outside of Steemit like he did [here](https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@jl777/steemit-is-crypto-s-first-mass-market-solution).
Interestingly, he is also a witness. 
Let’s meet @smooth .
<h2>An Exclusive Interview With [Smooth](https://steemit.com/@smooth)<h2>
https://s31.postimg.org/kagr6gomj/An_Exclusive_Interview_with_smooth.jpg


@infovore(SteemMag): **How did you get to know about Steemit? Plus your background?**
Smooth: 
I found Steem as a cryptocurrency launch while looking at the new threads in the Announcements section of bitcointalk. The web component was at that point undisclosed, although someone reviewing the code as I did could infer a lot of it. 
That’s been a regular practice of mine to look for interesting new coins that aren’t simple clones. For example, I found Bytecoin there in 2014, which eventually (a long story) led to Monero, where I am a core team member.
My background is in software development, funding and advising technology startups, and finance.


I.  **Did you have any initial doubt in investing your personal resources on Steemit?**
S: Of course! As I said earlier, I look for interesting new cryptocurrency projects. Most of them fail, either because they are deliberate frauds or just because it is a brutal competitive market. I try to avoid dedicating any resources to projects that won’t succeed, but you never really know, and being too careful means missing out on every success.

I. **What’s a typical day for you and how many hours do you spend on Steemit?**
S: 
I’m currently involved in contributing to many different efforts, so depending on the demands, my typical day is … different from every other day. These days I’m more of a casual user of the Steemit site itself, mostly scanning the trending page and giving some upvotes and occasional down votes, always with an eye toward not only the merits of an individual post but the best way to allocate reward funds for long term success. 
Earlier in Steemit’s history I spent a lot of time on the New page, looking for new themes or talented posters to promote for the same purpose, and downvoting junk so those posting it would have no incentive to continue.

<br/>
I. **I pay special attention to your messages on Steemit's Slack channel. You sound like a calm, nice guy who likes to listen to both sides of a discussion. Any life mantra?**
S:
Assume half of what you think you know is incorrect and that you don’t know which half.

I: **What are some qualities you look out for before voting on contents?**
S:
I look for balance between topics, between styles of posts, and content of interest in different verticals. The most important goal of Steemit is to attack a large audience. Without that, none of the rest matters. 
So I want to open as many doors as possible by promoting variety. Of course I always appreciate (and vote for) good writing and insightful analysis but I’m not sure that Steemit has to be exclusively a ’serious’ blogging platform. 
I’m very willing to upvote memes if they are good, or even edgy stuff like girlsgonesteem or the cannabis posts. We just don’t know where our next million users will come from. 

I: **What are your favorite tags on Steemit?**
S:
Because of how I’ve tried to surf the whole site, I don’t really pay attention to tags. That will probably change in the future when the site is even larger than it is now and surfing all of it becomes completely impractical.

I: **Funniest moment on Steemit?**
S:
I don’t remember a specific one, but I know that tuck-fheman has offered some very funny comments and posts. That is one of my favorite posters on the site. Also great to chat with on Slack.
I: **Favorite hobbies?**
S:
New people, places, and activities. I’m a natural explorer. 

<br/>
I: **Where do you see Steemit in the next 12 months?**
S:
I think Steemit may continue to rapidly attract a wider and wider audience, in which case in a year it may have enough users that even many people who don’t use it are aware of it. 
Alternately, we may find that the current explosion of usage is not sustainable, either because the content isn’t good enough, the rewards too small, the user experience not ‘fun’ enough, or some other reason, in which case many will lose interest and it will start to stagnate and potentially fail. I hope that doesn’t happen, of course.

I. **Your personal message to all Steemians?**
S:
Sign up your friends.

<br/>

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Thanks @smooth for taking the time to have an interview with SteemMag.
I hope you enjoyed the interview. I had fun having a chat with him. If you have any other questions you would like him to answer, you can drop in your comments and I would see if I can get him to give you a reply.

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N.B Do you have any suggestions or features you would like to see on SteemMag? Please leave a comment also.  

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https://s32.postimg.org/orvbxlaad/This_Week_On_Steemit.png

<h2>This Week On Steemit: 13 Important Things That Happened On Steemit This Week</h2>

This week has been a very eventful one. And in case, you missed some. I've got your back. Here are some of the most important events that have happened on steemit.
 
~ **A unit of Steem exchanged for more than a dollar**

~ **Steemit’s Co-founder, @dan released Steemit’s evil plan for taking over the world:** https://steemit.com/steem/@dan/steemit-s-evil-plan-for-cryptocurrency-world-domination

~ **Steem shot through the rankings to no 3 on the cryptocurrencies market list.**

~ **Steemit goes mainstream. Missed the news?**
[New York Biz Journal]( http://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/news/2016/07/13/steemit-cypto-currency-sees-huge-boost-in-market.html)  ; [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/12/steem-digital-currency-steemit-value-soars) ; [Daily Mail](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3687170/Digital-currency-Steemit-soars-150-mln-value-2-weeks.html)

~ **Steem get its first grandma as a user:**
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@sarameinecke/hi-steemit-grandma-meinecke-checking-in

~ **Users signups crossed the 1000 daily mark...**
 
~ **Steemit’s Slack members crossed the thousand mark. Currently at 1131. The fastest growing workplace software meets the fastest growing blockchain app. Wow!**

Hint: Check the number of people online to see when best to post on Steemit. Thank me later ;)

~ **Steemit got hacked and recovered brilliantly.** Thumbs up to @dan , @ned, the dev team and all Steemians. We can only grow stronger.


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