Are you tired of centralized blogging platforms controlling your content? Look no further than Mirror, the revolutionary decentralized blogging site taking the internet by storm. With thousands of users and hundreds of posts daily, Mirror is leading the charge in fair and open content creation.

I enjoy creating and collecting work on Mirror for 3 reasons:

1. Own a digital asset that represents the author's work - When I collect a blog post on Mirror, I own a digital asset that represents the work by the author. This allows me to prove my appreciation of the writer and the work, and my support is immutable.

2. Financially support my favorite creators - By financially supporting my favorite creators on Mirror, I can say thank you for their work by compensating them for it. I can help them continue to write and create content.

3. Engage and reward your audience - Mirror's collecting feature allows me to reward my readers and followers who collect my work. I can give them airdrops, currency gifts and special gated access to me and my work.

Mirror's benefits are undeniable, but for new users, collecting posts can be a hurdle. Don't worry, I'll guide you through it with this tutorial:

Step 1: Bridge Eth to your Optimism network

To collect blog posts on Mirror, you need to use a technology called Optimism. This technology creates digital collectibles of the posts and makes transactions faster and cheaper than traditional Ethereum transactions. But even if the post you want to collect is free, you still will need Ethereum (Eth) bridged to Optimism (OP) to cover the small gas fees. Here’s how:

First, you need to find a website that bridges Eth to Op. There are several sites to choose from:

1. Optimism Bridge

2. Across.to

3. cBridge

Let’s take a closer look at using Optimism Bridge to bridge your Eth to OP. Follow these steps and photos to complete your transaction and get ready to collect!

1. Make your settings look like the photo below.

2. Deposit “From” Eth.

3. “To” Optimism.

4. Then connect wallet. (I’ll be using metamask for this tutorial).

Once connected, choose the amount of Eth you’d like to bridge from the Ethereum Mainnet to the Optimism network. If you’re interested in collecting a free post, you can bridge a small amount. In this example, I’m bridging .01E (about $14 at the time of this writing).

Please note: The gas fee and time to transfer are both estimates and I’ve not yet experiences high gas fees or much time to bridge (2-3 minutes).

Click “Review Deposit” and confirm the transaction in your wallet.

You can check the status of the transaction on Etherscan. You can also check out if the funds have bridged by changing the network on your Metamask wallet. See here:

Congratulations, you’ve bridged Eth to your Optimism network! Now the fun begins.

Step 2: Collect Work On Mirror

Go to the Mirror blog post you wish to mint. In the upper right hand corner, click “Collect”. A pop-up window will appear. Connect your wallet.

You may be asked to switch to the Optimism Network. That’s OK, remember, Optimism is the network Mirror uses to mint NFTs. See here:

Once you’ve switched networks, go ahead and click “Collect Entry”. Your wallet will ask to confirm the transaction.

Congratulations! You’ve collect a post on Mirror & officially joined the decentralized writing revolution! Feel free to subscribe to your favorite creator and collect more entries. You’re now supporting the decentralized creators that will drive web3 adoption.

If you’re more a visual learner, I took a video of bridging Eth using the Across.to tool. The steps are essentially the same as described above. You can check out the video here.

Platforms like Mirror are constantly changing. As soon as I hit publish, I’m sure Mirror will make changes. Feel free to contact me through Twitter if you have any issues or questions. Happy Collecting!

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