INTRODUCTION

Hi everyone, this is my entry for the lectre about centralized and decentralized lecture we received earlier this week. it was a nice taken lectur, and i learnt a lot, but to do this homework, i had to do some personal research and form my own opinions on certain matters. hope you like my entry, let's get right into it shall we?

Question 1

Write the definition of decentralized and centralized social media platforms in my own words

In my own words also, differences between centralized and decentralized social media platforms.

DECENTRALIZED SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

Definition:

Decentralized social media platforms are the type of social media, that are run by a network of customer computers. It is a system that allows the operation to be run by several nodes in a network.

It spreads it's wings amongst a lot of nodes. and is not run by one organization or held up by one institution. On this platform, the users are the top priority, and it gives participants a sense of freedom to make and post content.

so basically, decentralized social media platforms are social media platforms where you as a user have some sort of authority, as the dominance and authority within the platform is spread out amongst it's users.

How does it work?

link
The decentralized social media takes posts and contents from different users around the world so as to maintain a sustained blockchain or a network, the network's success is not dependent on a central node.

advantages

• better privacy is guaranteed
• since there is no single central server in this platforms, it s said to be more reliable, as the system's server can not easily be shut down.

disadvantages

• it needs more computers and resources since it is not based anywhere exactly

EXAMPLES OF DECENTRALIZED SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS:

• Mastodon: It is known for it's familiarity and resemblance to twitter in interface.
• STEEMIT: yes stemit is decentralized, and it is a very typical example, as every user knows the amount of freedom that is in this platform.
• manyverse: this platform is unique in the sense that all data is saved on the computers of it's users, and not on a central node.

CENTRALIZED SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

Definition:

This is the type of social media that has a "god". An authority that overrules all. everything is based on that one huge node, all the information passes through and is crosschecked by the ruling node.

The centralized social media platforms are the most used at the moment, and they are more widespread. here, it could be said that the customers or secondary users are actually the products for the creator of this network.

This could be said because, without the constant activity of secondary users, there will be no means to make money from ads that the centralized social media platforms are almost always dependent on.

How does it work?

Apparently, this network is not always too safe and private for each user, because every information gets to the central HQ node.

This entails data like location, age, name, and other personal information that the user might post on the platform.

The HQ node sets rules and regulations, that each user is bound by, and if these rules and regulations are breached, the user is blocked or restricted from accessing her account on the platform.

advantages

• less technical management dificulties, as all difficulties can be handled from one center.

disadvantages

• less privacy, information goes to a third party, which is the central server, without the prmission of the user most times.
• more risky for business, because if the central server is down, everything is down at that same moent.

EXAMPLES OF CENTRALIZED SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

• Facebook: facebook is arguably the most popular social media platform, and is owned by the one of the richest men in the world, Mark Zuckerberg.
• Twitter: twitter is another centralized social media, that is really inticing to me and to most people. it is owned by billionaire jack dorsey.
• Instagram: instagram is a social media based on users snapping photos and videos mostly and posting. it is also owned by mark zuckerberg.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CENTRALIZED AND DECENTRALIZED SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

Decentralized	Centralized
decentralized hosting	centralized hosting
-----	------
monetization via blockchain	monetization via ads
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more secure and harder to breach	less secure and easier to breach
-----	------
decentralized decision making	owner of the network is the decision maker in the network.
-----	------
To collapse the network, all nodes must be collapsed	to collapse the network, the central server only is collapsed.
-----	------
users can earn money from creating unique content	users can not eaarn money from creating content, except by advertisements of products
user can not be blocked in this network	user can be blocked and account can be deleted.

QUESTION 2:

Future of social media

In my opinion, the future of the world in general is reliant on crypto currency, and that is why i envision a future in decentralized social media because decentralized social media latforms usually imbibe the use of cryptocurrncies and blockchain transactions daily.

In the future, i believe that more decentralized social medias will spring up (steemit being the mother of them all of course) and everyones attention all over the world would be tuned to the great opportunities that lie in stall for them when they participate

I believe that the future for social media is freer and less strict. More private too, only information that is known by a third party is the one allowed by me. as future coins and blockchains rise, i believe that more of these blockchains would also go into the social media enterprise, and in no other way but the decentralized way.

I'm very sure the world would get over the phase it is in right now of centralizing social media and other networks alike. i believe that social medias like steemit that keep users active in the right way, are, and should be the future, the better future.

QUESTION 3:

how is steemit better than the facebook and twitter networks:

things that can be found on twitter and facebook that can not be found or are highly prohibited on steemit

• plagiarism of content:
  on the steemit platform, plagiarism of content, any content at all, is highy prohibited, and if a plagiarised content is found, the content would receive penalty down votes.

• open nudity:
  twitter and facebook have short comings in curbing and controlling nude content, but on steemit, nudity is not supported, and if it is present, there is proper warning about the content.

• unhealthy language:
  steemit does not support unhealthy language, to ensure a healthy environment for young users. this is something that twitter and facebook have overlooked.

things that can be found on steemit but not on twitter and facebook

• curation voting:
  on steemit, likes give you real money!! i find that amazing, so literally anyone could make money from this platform. this is something twitter and facebook do not offer.

• no block zone:
  on steemit, you can't get blocked!, you can't be kicked out, you can still post content, whether or not you broke any rules.

• greeters comunity:
  steemit has a greeters community, that specializes in welcoming new members, and making them feel like they are part of the family, this is obviously not the same with twitter and facebook.

QUESTION 4:

ways steemit change the lives of it's users?

source of income/ Revenue for individuals and even homes:

Steemit has helped a ot of idle, but creative minds to make money and become financially stable, even rich at that, in my country nigeria, steemit is quickly spreading, and more creative nigerian minds are being put to use, this is helping them to put their energy into more gratifying activities. i personally have been blessed by this platform and I don't ever regret opening a steemit account.

building mind creativity via contests:

The steemit platform always has very beautiful contest topics to participate in. contests like, taking photos and talking about them, or even poetry contests, writing and reviews too, you name it!, steemit is an absolute boredom killer for it's users i'm sure, because there's so much to do on the platform. The fact that it encourages original content is even more beautiful because now the true creativity from it's users is brought to light.

proper education and enlightenment:

Under this point, i just want to mention how grateful i am for joining this academy. As a girl in nigeria, learning crypto doesn't really come easy or cheap, even when you've seen a tutor, they might take you less seriously than with the other male students. But through this platform and academy, i've been able to amass so much, even in vocabulary too. I have a little more confidence from the knowledge i have gained in the academy to actually start crypto transactions, be it hodling of coins, or trading it, whatever it is. I am pretty sure i am not te only one positively uplifted in this aspect.

better mental health:

yes, i know this might sound funny at first, but i beliieve that steemit has created a space where there is no competition to show off whatever riches or wealth one has, everyone on this platform makes posts that consists of mostly write-ups. this is a huge depression waver, to those who detested social media because they didn't like the opression they felt from posts. Also, steemit is actually more united than any other social media i am aware of. with the use of it's several comunities, new friends can be made quickly, and this is a very good ting for users around the world in my opinion.

QUESTION 5:

how can you make money on steemit? My personal experience.

TALKING ABOUT YOUR DAY!

I've personally made some dollars from just talking about all i did that day! the contest is called Diary post or diary game, where you can tallk about how your day truly went, with the aid of some pictures if you'd like, though that is more preferrable to show your audience pictoral representations of what you are talking about. you have to post it on specific communities, the community i usually post my diarygame posts on is the steemalive community. I enjoy remembering every single thing that happened that day and talking cheesy about it, and what's more? i get paid for that!

MAKING ACHIEVEMENT POSTS

Achievement posts are tasks given to newcommers to ensure that they know their way around the platform. so fulfilling those tasks is really enlightening, especially learning how to make your work and posts look professional. When you make these posts, you get curated if done properly, and that's money! there are 5 general achievement tasks, and when i was done with three achievement posts, i was voted with about $11.00 in total.

PARTICIPATING IN CONTESTS

Contests are everywhere on this platform and i participated in one or two writing and reviw contests. participating in steemit contests is another way to make good money, just be active and diligent with your posts because some days would be bad, and you might not get voted for some of your best works, or get undervoted in your own opinion, but you just have to keep pushing.

by doing all these, backed up with participatng in home work tasks from the steemitcryptoacademy, i have been mining coins that i'm storing up as steem power. this is because i believe in steem, and i believe that it has higher heights to attain.

QUESTION 6

How to create a community on steemit

step 1

when you log in to your steemit account, click on the "steemit" log oat the top left of the screen. this will take you to your home page, where you can see all that is trending currently in communities that you're participating in.

step 2

Now, browse down and search for "explore communities" it is usually last on the list of menus at the far left of the interface. click on this option, and it will take you to select from amongst the top communities on steemit at the moment. But that is not what we're looking for.

step 3

click on create a community, as that is what we are trying to achieve, but below are the lists of top communities by ranking as i said before.

step 4

clicking on "create community" takes you to the dialogue above, where you are to fill in the name of the community you wish to create, and what you want the community to be about. As an example, i have chosen to create a community of hair lovers, where we will discuss hairtips and go on hair research. Hair is lovely!
when you're done filling that up, a code and key will be given to you, of which you should keep safe in order to enter the community as the creator. After you are done saving the key and username, click the dialog box to confirm your recent action and go unto clicking next.

step 5

some steem are required to start up a community, so you have to pay that by clicking "ok" and going on to filling in your details. And that is all!! your community has been created.

conclusion

writing about decentralized and centralized social media platforms has been really enlightening, i have made research on profitable social medias, and have found out during the course of my research, that my details and data were not completely safe on centralized networks but that is not the same with decentralized networks like steemit.

Thank you for going through my entry, i hope it was very useful to you because this is days of research and hardwork here, i hope this post encourages everyone to go into steemit content creation. Thank you @yousafharoonkhan for the awesome lecture, it was really beneficial