In the past few years, there has been an explosion of popularity around social media. Initially, people thought this was a good thing for humanity. Sadly this did hold true and today social media has shifted towards being increasingly echo chambered, censored, and divisive. Making people more aware of the social problems caused by the websites under control of centralized entities.
One example is how Facebook and Cambridge Analytica worked together to attempt control over the US population. The politically charged hack on 50+ million accounts may have even swayed voters in the 2016 Presidential election with specially targeted and engineered content. This problem is not unique to sites like Facebook. A majority of sites using centralized control systems end up falling into a path of abusing the user's data and sometimes even their minds.
Even if I didn't like what someone said, they should be allowed to have a voice online. When you buy or earn Steem on the platform, it is similar to owning a piece of the infrastructure. With up voting and down voting you are essentially dictating the content you want to see on the network. But even if the content was downvoted, it is still viewable unlike Facebook or YouTube
This power can be distrubuted to the people who hold a stake in the network. With Facebook, it doesn't matter if you hold stock or not. They will censor your thoughts if it doesn't fit in with the moderation team's personal bias. Blockchain technology can help insulate users away from online exile and censorship. Even people with unpopular views will still be allowed to post on the platform with little or no ability for anyone else to remove the posts.
The better option for websites like Facebook if they want to stay around, is for them to stay open-minded and encourage people to be able to express themselves freely. I do have my doubts this will ever happen with most sites. With Steem however, the immutable nature provides some peace of mind knowing that one's content is always secure and cannot be deleted. I'm very optimistic blockchain technology can improve the social media experience. What do you think? Can blockchain make a positive impact on social media? Let me know in the comments.
I think all opinions, thought, and ideas have value. We can all learn from one another. Even if someone is offended by a certain idea, as a wise man once said "Facts don't care about your feelings". Which is why I believe in the blockchain. It is a permanent record of everyone's ideas. And puts the power into the hands of the viewers. Content of value and quality is determined based on the person watching. It was the censorship of YouTube that sent me to Steemit. Had they not have done so I may have never found D.Tube, so for that I am thankful. Also content that may be of no value to one person, may be a gold mine to another. All content, covering a vast array of topics should be available to those who come looking. One may want to learn about crypto, another may want life advice, someone may want enjoy a great vlog.. and variety is the spice of life!
I wouldn't say social media is a bad thing, I'd say how people have chosen to use it is bad. They create an entire following and feed that only solidifies their views and they block everything that doesn't agree. This defeats the number one tool of social media: being exposed to different view points and information. For me, living in a small town was toxic. We had the same race, religion, feelings, etc. Using social media helped me learn more about the world and how other people interact. I think steemit will help with this, but im also worried about steemits upvote bot manipulation and other ways to play the system.
I think Steemit already has had a positive impact, It's a game changer for me also on a personal level the community has convinced me, an anti social media person who has had major problems in the past with it, to retry and participate in the platform.
The censorship aspect is the real game changer tho, the amount of information that can't be edited, buried or controlled by the people that control every other information source one way or another.
To the question in your title, my Magic 8-Ball says:
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