Crypto academy Homework Task Week 3 for @yohan2on: Compare and contrast between a Centralized and a Decentralized application under social media

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Hey everyone, hope you are all doing great? I want to thank @yohan2on for this incredible lecture this week. You took time to give a well detailed lecture and I really appreciate that. So in this post, I will be answering the homework task which is "Compare and contrast between a Centralized and a Decentralized application under any of these categories - social media, browsers, gaming, finance, gambling, file storage, trading, charity, Internet of Things (IOT) etc."

CENTRALIZATION.

First of all, I am gonna be giving a short explanation of centralization. its a network that virtually revolves around us and these platforms are quite popular and we use them everyday. So let's go into what centralization means:
Centralization means that there is a a central authority thats in control of your information and the functions of the said platform. For example, if you are using Facebook platform, Facebook is in control of every action that takes place in the platform including deciding who joins and who doesn't with your consent . In other words, centralized system requires a third-party or intermediaries to verify information.

DECENTRALIZATION.

Decentralization is actually new and It came to light with the release of bitcoin in 2009 and introduced what is called a blockchain technology. Ie if a user sends bitcoin to another user, it doesn’t have to go through a centralized authority. However, this doesn’t mean that the transaction is not verified. The transactions are verified with the use of consensus algorithms and the network used by bitcoin is connectable by anyone. It exhibits features like transparency and when a person connects to this network, they are regarded as 'node'. You don't need to pay any intermediary rather you can buy enegry directly from other independent entries.

The following are the various categories and examples of Decentralized and Centralized applications.

• Social media: Steemit VS Facebook
• Video platforms: Dlive VS Youtube
• Browsers: Brave browser Vs Google chrome.
• Gaming: Splinterland VS Supermario
• Storage/Filesharing: Blockbase VS OneDrive.

STEEMIT

Steem is a source blockchain protocol and social media website that reward users for posting, blogging and curating contents with crypto currency - Steem. This platform is owned by Steem Inc which is a privately owned company based in New York City with headquarters at Virginia. Steem was created by Daniel Larimer and was launched in 2016. It has about 1,238,717 registered users. However, Steem is a designed decentralized application that allows the the users decide the payout of their contents by voting on the contents and commenting, and also rewarding them. Users also get curation rewards for up voting other contents.

Advantages.

• Full Control
  Steemit decentralized app is one that the users are in full control of their transactions ie users can start a transaction when they want without been verified by a third party network.

• Data cannot be altered or deleted
  Steemit's data structure is append-only which means there is no chance for an external user to alter or delete or modify an information stored in the network.

• Secure
  Decentralized network like Steemit is very secure because of how they handle data and transactions. They give some special and unique keys to users to help secure their data which they advised to be stored where no other user can get access to.

• Censorship
  Steemit decentralized network is less prone to censorship, because there is no central authority that controls the data. Here peers can interact directly without any censorship.

Disadvantages.

• Crime: Steemit can be a big crime Avenue because users use names that are not theirs and can use it to hack into other users or commit any crime without been known.

• Volatility: Steemit decentralized cryptocurrency shows volatile behavior ie the price of steem fluctuate a lot.

FACEBOOK.

Facebook Inc. is an American online application that was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his fellow students at Harvard College which is based at Menlo Park, California. It was founded in 2004 and it has over 2.80million users. It is one of the well downloaded apps with subsidies like WhatsApp, Onavo, Oculus VR, Hot Studio Inc., LiveRail, PrivateCore, Little Eye Software Labs Pvt Ltd., CTRL-labs, Masquerade Technologies, Inc., and more. However, Facebook is a centralized system that allows a third party verification.

Advantages.

• Command chain
  On Facebook centralized system, the command chain is clearly defined, this means that users know each other by their real names and information.

• Quick Decision Implementation
  This centralizated networks enable quick decision implementation in the sense that if a centralized network decides to implement a change, it can be done in a matter of minutes and it goes live almost instantly after proper testing.

Disadvantages

• Trust
  Even though Facebook claims to be secure and trustable, it is not 100% secure or trustable. The trust is an agreement that is set by the service provider and the user.
  However, this agreement can break easily. It happens when there is a lapse of security in the system, people tend to ignore the service for some time before the service provider mends the trust by offering solutions and remuneration to those affected.

• Single point of failure
  Facebook network is dependent on a single point of failure. That is they have a chance of failure.

• Scalability Limitation
  As a single server is used in most cases, it leads to scalability limitations.

Conclusion.

Both Facebook and Steemit have their own benefits. There is no doubt that organizations and companies want control over their assets, even when they have to give up efficiency for the sake of it. Steemit decentralized network is here to stay! And, with time, it will grow as more companies will realize the benefit of it. You can also implement Steemit network with a sustainable close environment and with the help of hybrid or federated blockchain solutions.

Thanks to @yohan2on for the lecture and to @steemcurator01 and @steemcurator02 for your support.