Facebook's dwindling popularity is no secret, as users and organizations alike have criticized its ever-changing algorithms and lodged claims of censorship. In light of the most recent algorithmic changes, which have prioritized users' friends' posts over posts from public pages, even Facebook has acknowledged a decrease in the amount of time people are spending on the site.

Though there is currently no major alternative to Facebook that compares to the way Facebook served as a replacement for Myspace a decade ago, emerging options reflect the new paradigm: decentralized blockchain platforms.

In what is arguably a show of major recognition for these new options, Bloomberg Technology reported Tuesday on Steemit, an increasingly popular blockchain-based social media and blogging platform that allows participants to earn cryptocurrency for posting, commenting, and voting on content.

Steemit is already gaining traction with independent media outlets and journalists who have seen their reach on Facebook and traditional platforms suffocated (journalist Ben Swann recently joined Steemit, as have Anti-Media and many of our reporters, including myself).

Bloomberg's report on Steemit documented the growth of the "financial internet" in general and its potential to disrupt the established internet order:

"The so-called financial internet stands the Facebook business model on its head. With Facebook, users post content on the site and the company collects the money — last year, $41 billion in revenue. On Steemit, the money goes in the other direction. Facebook, with 2.1 billion monthly users, may not even see Steemit, which says 9 million users visit each month, in its rear-view mirror."

Bloomberg notes there are at least 1,000 projects that "record data onto digital ledgers and are called dApps, for decentralized applications, are live or in testing."

Kenny Palurintano, who has established himself as a veritable Steemit expert (full disclosure: he operates my account, as well as accounts for Anti-Media journalist Derrick Broze and Anti-Media, among others), has explained how Steemit works, highlighting its foundation rooted in the blockchain, decentralization, and open source technology. He also discusses how content creation factors into that:

"Everyone on Steemit is either creating and/or curating content. Even if you've never put up a single post, your comments on other peoples' posts are still content, still adding to all-that-is the Steemit platform. The more value other people see in your content, the more upvotes it gets, and the more you get paid out. Curating is the act of up-voting and flagging content on Steemit. As you can see, it's possible to create quite an abundance flow, simply by helping abundance flow to great content creators."