Steemit cryptoacademy Season 2 Week 5 Homework task for @yousafharoonkhan | Centralised and Decentralised social media platforms

Happy Eid to all my Muslim brothers and much appreciation to Prof. @yousafharoonkhan.

Definition of Decentralized and Centralized Social Media Platforms

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Social media is a virtual community or network platform in which people all around the world can interact to share ideas, exchange information, and build relationships.

Centralized social media, is a social media platform that operates under a singular authority or administrator. User’s data is controlled and managed by the central authority, the authority even has the power to delete or block user’s account without their permission. Examples of such platforms are Facebook and Twitter.

Decentralized social media platforms give their users full control of their accounts. They do not operate under any central authority and are not bound by their rules. Decentralized social media operates on independently run servers, which allows users to control and manage their own data, and users can express themselves freely without the fear of being shut down. Examples of such platforms are, Steemit, Mastodon.

Differences between Decentralised and Centralised social media platforms.

• Users in decentralized social media platforms manage and control their data. They have sole access to the data. The supreme authority in centralized social media owns the accounts, users are only allowed to manage them.
• Decentralised social media platforms are very secure. They can only be hacked when the keys or passwords are compromised.
Centralized social media are very prone to hacking. It runs on a central server and if that server is compromised, the whole system could be affected.
• In centralized social media platforms, there are no regulatory or central units that can interfere with users' interactions. Centralized social media on the other hand have supreme authority that regulates the accounts of users.
• Third parties do not have control or interference in decentralized social media while accounts on centralized social media are sometimes subject to the control of third parties.

Which One is The Future of Social Media? Decentralized or centralized Social media.

Decentralized social media is the future of social media. The reasons are below.

A lot of users especially celebrities are not happy with the control authorities to have on their accounts. Their accounts are mostly blocked or banned for sharing their views on the platform. Moreover, centralized social media requires a long list of protocols and a lengthy and stressful Know Your Customer (KYC) process to join the platform. In decentralized social media, this stressful KYC process is not required and users are free to share their views without any fear of having their accounts blocked.

It is also very uncomfortable to learn that the central authority in centralized social media platforms controls user’s data and can sell the data to third parties for more profit. This is impossible in decentralized social media as users own and control their data.

How steemit decentralization social media is best than Twitter and Facebook.

I personally have accounts on both Facebook, Twitter, and Steemit, so I have a good experience of their activities.
In terms of security, Twitter and Facebook are very poor as compared to Steemit. I have personally experienced on both Facebook and Twitter. This is impossible on Steemit. User’s accounts on Steemit can only be hacked if keys are compromised.

There are other instances on Facebook or Twitter where user’s data or contents are leaked without their permission. Users on decentralized platforms own and manage their own data which can only be accessed by them. This makes leaking of user’s data impossible.

Moreover, accounts on Steemit gain good money by posting, blogging, or engaging in some other activities on the platform. Facebook and Twitter on the other hand only charge fess for adverts and do not reward users.
Users on Steemit have the opportunity to part of communities that offer great knowledge on cryptocurrency such as SteemitCryptoAcademy. Communities like writing and reviews also improve the writing skills of its member's while on Facebook and Twitter, users do not have access to those lectures.

What do you say? How do Steemit social media change the lives of millions of its users?

The following are some ways Steemit impacts the lives of its users.

• Unemployed people with no source of income especially in this covid era some of which are now on Steemit get some support from the curation of their contents on Steemit. I for instance was experiencing tough times in earning some money for my upkeep until I was introduced to Steemit.
• Cryptocurrency lectures from good professors hired by Steemit broadens the knowledge of its members. People who have literally zero knowledge about crypto learn something and can perform trades and gain profits.

How can we make money with Steemit's decentralized social media?

Steemit is a social media platform but it's not only used for communication. One of its other purposes is to make money for creating and sharing information.

Steemit blockchain is based on proof of brain, this means rewards can only be earned through the creation of original contents. Users earn rewards for creating and sharing valuable content on the platform. Participating in contests and doing proper research to produce quality homework in crypto academy generates rewards for users.

How to create communities on Steemit social media.

Before creating a community, you should know the objectives, focus of the community, what category of users would you need and once all these questions are answered, you can proceed to create the community. _{All images are screenshots taken from my account on steemit.}

First, click on Steemit on the top left corner of the page.

Scroll down, find Explore Communities and click on it.

After the page has loaded find and click on Create a community

Fill the spaces with the required information and click on Next to show your key.

Copy and save the key in a secured place then tick the “I have securely saved my owner name and password” box then click on Create community.

To complete the process, 3 steem will be required, therefore you need to have at least 3steem in your wallet to proceed. Select Ok to proceed.

Enter the username and private active key then select Sign in.

Conclusion
Social media helps bridge the gap between people, for entertainment, information sharing, and a lot of others. This post is all about the difference between the two types of social media, decentralized and centralized social media.