I think you're spot on with the analysis of how social networks could be the masses' entry into the blockchain space. Whether that's a good thing or not is a different question. The content on Facebook for example is already mostly useless crap, so imagine what would happen if you could directly get paid for your activity there. I think it would lead to even worse content, as the system would incentivize spamming even more.
Another problem I see is the inherent centralization that comes with platforms such as steemit or EOS. The 'janitors' of these platforms in the case of EOS, or the whales on steemit just have too much power over the distribution of rewards, which leads to cartels and a plutocracy.
It is extremely important that the social networking platform that eventually wins the current race to mass adoption is sufficiently decentralized.
Really interested to know where the EOS 'janitors' role comes from.
"The 'janitors' of these platforms in the case of EOS"
Are these the block producers which can be voted in and out of power? Their power is slowly being limited by the community imho. EOS still has a ways to go to be truly successful but at least the community is trying instead of committing resources and effort trying to scale smart contract platforms that will never manage the tps rate required to support a very small network of users.
It will be interesting to see what other platforms provide the community at large. For now I'm happy to not have 3 large mining farms controlling the security of the entire network.
EOS BP view: https://glass.cypherglass.com/map/main/top50
Yes, I meant the block producers.
If it is not a permissionless network you will always need to delegate some entities that at the very least process transactions (in EOS's case, these are the BPs). The problem with this is that it leads to a rule of the rich. Sure, they can be voted in and out of power in theory, but in effect the network is not decentralized enough for this to work. Average Joes buying 10/100/1k EOS each cannot compete with organizations that own a considerable percentage of the total supply. In such a system there always will be whales, so we need to build systems where the system itself prevents the centralization of power.
Currently, there is a huge trade-off because the more decentralized the network is, the harder it is to scale to millions and billions of users. We'll get there though.