Another excellent post. This brings up the question of decentralized and whether it truly makes a difference in the case of steemit.

For a hypothetical example: If Facebook found steemit a threat, they could offer @ned and @dan boatloads of money to be allowed to influence the development. Assuming they refused, could Facebook create an account and become the largest whale/whales in the ocean? If so, what power would that give them over the direction of steemit?