I have been using Steemit now for a week and have learned a lot fast! One of the big things I have noticed is that every time your Voting Power decreases, you seriously effect your available bandwidth. Investing into Steem Power directly helps boost your over all effect when voting, but also helps your available bandwidth limit.
Why Bandwidth Matters?
Bandwidth is how much "data" you are able to store in the blockchain. Everytime you post, comment or do almost anything with Steemit you are consuming bandwidth. Many new users are even running into the issue of not having enough bandwidth to even create a single post! Bandwidth is just as important to conserve as your voting power!
Voting Power vs. Steem Power
We all know Steem Power directly increases the value our voting has. What is less clear is how each time you place a vote, your voting power decreases, causing each subsequent vote to be worth less and less. Steemit recharges your voting power by 20% a day, but if you are at 20% or less right now you might want to take a week off! Voting when you have less than 20% Voting Power causes your votes to be worth less than someone with 1/5th the Steem Power who has 100% Voting Power! You are in some effect throwing your votes away by over voting past your Voting Power, regardless of your Steem Power.
Steem Power? Should I Power Up?
Every STEEM you invest into Powering Up increases your effect here on Steemit. Your votes matter more, your bandwidth increases and your reputation score increases far faster than if you just want to get all your STEEM out asap! I personally take 100% of my rewards in the form of Power Ups since they help boost my overall reach and effect on the social platform, which is far more valuable long term than a few extra STEEMs!
Hope this helps a few people! If so please feel free to follow me, join my facebook group, comment below, up vote and best of all resteem!