Hello Steemit Community, I think you're amazing!

Hello everyone,

For my first post I would like to introduce myself. My name is Ryan and I am an advocate for free speech. I feel the Steemit Community will be a welcome addition to the transfer of information about ourselves, hobbies and the thing going on in the world. Without providing a gateway for all the big corporations to take our personal info and use it to sell us the products they want us to buy. However I'm sure if this gains more support we may see more and more companies on here, however I don't think they will be as invasive as they are now.

Personally I do not use facebook. I feel rather than being a place where people can connect it is a place that lets companies buy your information and spy on you. I think of it like a company that buys your email or phone number so they can cold call you or spam your email with bogus offers, scams and in some cases virus's or malware. I might be old fashioned when it comes to my personal information and I understand as we move forward our privacy will be a thing of the past if we continue to use the platforms we currently have. This is where I think Steemit has some real potential. Rather than rewarding the company that owns the platform for the people that use the site, Steemit offers its rewards directly to the content creator and the person viewing the content.

This puts the power back into the creator's hand. I'm sure many of you watch youtube and are aware of the mass demonetization that is taking place as advertisers can now dictate what they deem worthy. Don't get me wrong I think a certain degree of censorship is needed since many young people are using youtube and being exposed to new words and new ways of thinking that could influence their actions down the road. However I think it is just as important to allow people to express themselves and be rewarded for the traffic they bring to the site and how they affect the community.

Anyway, I'll end the rant there.
Here's to free speech! Cheers!