Should you invest in a centralized social media platform or a decentralized social media platform?

I am a blogger or writer on the Steemit social media platform, which is a decentralized application hosted on the Steem blockchain. Other examples of social media platforms are Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
These last three are called “centralized” social media instead of a “decentralized” social media like Steemit.

Both centralized and decentralized social media platforms are similar in that you can have an account on any of them, and you add content to your account in the form of words you write, pictures you take and videos you create. These items are called content.

However in “centralized” platforms the “owner” of the platform decides if the words you write, the pictures you take or the movies you create are “okay”. Therefore they decide if your “content” you put on “your” account is “okay”.

If the owner decides that “your” “content” is not “okay” the owner can remove it from “your” account. If the “owner” of the social media platform your using decides you post to much content which is not “okay” they can “erase” your account or “block” access to it. The end result of erasing your account or blocking access to it is that your account and all your content can no longer be seen. The words you wrote, the pictures you took and the movies you created can no longer be seen and you no longer have access to them.

This is called responsible ownership, but it is also called censorship. Did you see what I did there? I said it that way to make a point. The point is that in a “centralized” platform there is an “owner” who decides if your “content” the words you write, the pictures you take and the movies you create, are “okay”. This is because in a centralized social media platform the “owner” of the “accounts” and the “producers” of the “content” in the accounts are not the same people. The people who write words, take pictures and make movies are called “content producers” and the people who “own” the social media platform like Facebook, Instagram or YouTube actually own the accounts and all the content that the “content producers” post on those social media platforms. This ownership is explained in the Terms of Service, which is often called the TOS.

The owners of these social media platforms, who also own the “content” and the “accounts” are responsible for deciding if the content is “okay”. If the owner decides that “your” “content” is not “okay” the owner can remove it from “your” account. If the “owner” of the social media platform your using decides you post to much content which is not “okay” they can “erase” your account or “block” access to it. The end result of erasing your account or blocking access to it is that your account and all your content can no longer be seen. The words you wrote, the pictures you took and the movies you created can no longer be seen and you no longer have access to them. I don’t wish to imply that this is bad or good. I just want to point out that these are the rules.

On a decentralized platform, you own your account so it can’t be blocked or erased. Additionally you are responsible for determining if the words you write, the pictures you take and the movies you create are “okay”. There are no rules to determine what is okay, so you have to decide. A decentralized platform does have what are known as “community standards”, but these don’t determine if you can put the words you write, the pictures you take or the movies you create in or on your account. These standards determine if these things can be seen when someone first goes to your webpage or account page. This usually means that if you or someone wants to access your account it will be hidden by a blank page which says this content doesn’t meet community standards, so it is hidden. But if you still wish to view this content, click the box and the content shall be revealed to you. This means that a decentralized platform is not censorship free, but censorship resistant.

You must decide which type of platform you invest in based on those rules and your return on your investment of time and effort, plus what you deem acceptable in terms of access to and control of your content.

Written by ✍️ Shortsegments.

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Shortsegments is a blogger or writer on the Steemit social media platform, which is an decentralized application hosted on the Steem blockchain.

Other Applications on the Steem blockchain include popular games like Splinterlands and Next Colony, fitness application Actifit and open world game SteemCity.

Steemit a decentralized platform, so there isn’t a central authority or owner to take your account away from you and your account can’t be deleted. You are the owner of your account

Examples of centralized platforms include Facebook or YouTube.

Curious? Want to learn more about Steemit??

Find out more at this Steem onboarding helps new members! Link

Plus there’s Steem Onboarding to help, and the information is available in Six Languages!

Steem Onboarding helps you apply for an account and is a series of videos which explains how Steemit works. You don’t need to understand everything about the blockchain to post content and our Onboarding help is available in six different languages.

Posted via Steemleo