Thanks for the article and I can talk for hours about this particular topic because I live it and research it nearly every day. I think you leave out a critical factor in how the social networks are positioned. Facebook, Google and the rest had no intention in decentralizing content. Their only interest is in exploiting content for their own personal benefit. The only way they could do this was to allow as much content as they could get their hands on to be pumped through their platforms. They masquerade as a content dissemination focused platform but they never were and never can be. The content gets them eyeballs and data and that is it. You can ssee now Facebook has begun to pull back on the content it is allowing because of two reasons. 1 it is backfiring and governments are taking them to task for not caring about the quality of the content on its platform. 2. Their numbers have peaked and they will over the mid term go into decline just as Youtube has.
Remember facebook pays billions each year to house and disseminate that content. They will have to jusitfy those costs to investors. The first step is to limit what gets posted and how widely it is disseminated. Youtube is on the same path.
I make this distinction because the real question is "what is the platform designed to do?" Not what a company says it is designed to do. The existing social networks are designed to be data collectors. Anything else is coincidental or supportive of this agenda. They need to distribute the content widely, not to decentralize it but to gain market share.
In terms of Steemit, this will be an interesting ride for sure. The platform has great potential but a lot of challenges are up ahead. can they replace a lot of the low quality content with higher quality content? Will they be able to keep away the competition who is right now looking at its model and planning to launch ones that are more attractive to content creators?
Can it turn the corner and give people more of a reason for being here other than the promise of money which will never be met for the vast majority of people here? These are big questions that passion alone will not answer. it will need business acumen, vision and implementation.
Finally and this is important. Steemit will have many of the same issues as the current large social networks. Is is inevitable. They will have to put in strict rules, censor content and content creators, change many of their operating procedures, etc. The question is can they do what facebook ad google do not do and that is to fully involve the community in decision making. To me that is a critical decision that will partially determine the fate of Steemit.
RE: Social Media Companies Are Not That Evil, *They* Started The Decentralization Of Media, Not Steem!