In the last two weeks the market price of Steem has risen more than 50%... TWICE! It was one of the top gainers of all cryptocurrencies, and unlike previous bull runs, it seems to be holding its price a bit more reassuringly. The bulls are back in town for Steem, and I'd like to share with you why I think this is happening. There are several reasons, and the effect of them all happening in unison is very powerful because we are talking about some of the biggest companies in the world who are right now facing an existential threat because they are not only too big, but are also too centralised.

As we all know, one of blockchain's great features is that it can allow a far greater decentralised distribution of power, with anyone being able to rise up or influence things at any time. Steem in particular is very interesting because it is not only decentralised in the real sense of the word, but it is also possible for people with no money to gain influence and even rise to the top. It may not happen every day, but it can and does happen. I realise that some people feel that Steem IS centralised, but I disagree. I would say it is hierarchical, but is very far from centralised! Steem is also fascinating from a commercial sense because it really does turn things on its head! Take for example advertising! Steem Inc allows advertising within its ecosystem in the form of voting bots, but doesn't take any cut of the profits. It also doesn't need any advertising money to operate and thrive. Not only that but those who do advertise not only receive exposure and a potential listing on the hot or trending page, but also receive their advertising payment straight back in the form of an up-vote .. and sometimes even a profit!

Now let us look at what has happened this month with Facebook and how it relates to the sudden and huge rise in the price of Steem. Facebook has been in the limelight like never before this past few weeks. The recent focus has been its inability to control it's billions of users private data from being captured by Cambridge Analytica. This data breach is one of the worst kinds of breaches because it can be used in very manipulative ways, and includes data from a Very large percentage of the entire worlds population!

Did any of you watch Mark Zuckerberg's testimony on Capitol Hill? That was an eye opener folks! I have to say that the the US Senate should be embarrassed at how little their leading senators know about technology, or how Facebook, or even the Internet works! One or two of them knew absolutely nothing, and few seemed to have a very loose grip on the basics. It was clear that the Senate has NO interest, desire, or I should say competency to regulate Facebook, because they don't understand the basics of what Facebook are doing, or the implications of any regulations. They are all from a generation that simply don't understand technology.

The problems for Facebook go far beyond user privacy. We have to be aware of the platforms ability to influence and manipulate the mood, opinions, and even voting behaviour of an entire country. In January 2012, Facebook conducted an experiment on 689,003 randomly selected users that altered the quantity of positive or negative posts in their news feeds. That is very disturbing! In the recent USA elections it has been determined that Russian Influence Reached 126 Million Through Facebook Alone.

Now lets put Facebook aside for one moment. Let us now look at You Tube, another great behemoth who have grown so big that they can complete with age old television itself! You Tube are facing huge problems with their entire business model and are starting to see a significant number of its users depart. We are starting to see some of them come to the Steem blockchain now, like @furiouspete123, who has 5 Million Subscribers on You Tube, and is in the process of migrating his user base to Steem. The You Tube business model is based on advertising. Is there anything good to be said for advertising? Not really. Bill Hicks the GREAT enlightened comedian used to say..

"By the way, if anyone here is in advertising or marketing...kill yourself...you're the ruiner of all things good...you are Satan's spawn, filling the world with bile and garbage...kill yourself"

He was a smart guy that Bill. You Tube IS killing itself, because it has grown too big, too powerful, and is too centralized. People have lost free speech, and can be demonetised (lose their income) at the flick of a switch. People no longer feel safe on You Tube, and are having to censor themselves and every word they say due to advertising compliance. New users are no longer even eligible for monetization until they reach 10,000 subscribers and so there is very little incentive for people to start creating content for the platform.

If we look at the biggest problems corporations are facing today we can see that Blockchain technology really does have the answer to most of them. We can eliminate nearly all of the worst effects of Free Market Capitalism by using Blockchain technology, namely corruption, inequality of wealth, inequality of power, profiting from users private data. Steem, Dtube, Dlive, Dsound etc are leading the way out of the rabbit hole and into the garden of eden. When you consider the effects of even a few people like Casey Neistat moving to the Steem blockchain, it's easy to see how the Steem price could be soaring this year. On top of all of this we also have the expected Smart Media Token releases happening mid 2018, and let us not forget the long awaited Hard Fork 20 that we will being some great new features like communities to Steem. Now take all that, and combine it with the very real possibility of another SBD pump, and you have a recipe for a very prosperous 2018 and beyond. If you look at the charts of SBD you can still see real signs of bullish behavior rather than a pull back to $1.

So is it any surprise that Steem is on the rise? Right now it doesn't even have much if any competition! Anyone looking to try out a blockchain based, decentralized, social network system has to try Steem! Ethical advertising is something that is unheard of in the Free Market! On Steem there are many initiatives to improve the quality of posts and bot voting. @roelandp has just posted about a fantastic tool and website to allow delegators to find the best projects and ethical voting bots here on Steem.

Introducing: SolicitingPower.com - a gallery of Steem projects worth supporting
https://steemit.com/steem/@roelandp/introducing-solicitingpower-com-a-gallery-of-steem-projects-worth-supporting-with-your-delegations

Steem is still very new and evolving. We may not know exactly how it will look in a few years time, BUT it is US who will decide through community consensus, and not one invisible, untouchable fat cat. So how long will we have to wait for another 60% rise on the price of Steem? I don't think long, so you had better get buying some fast! And that IS financial advice! lol!

Thanks for listening. I'd be interested to hear your comments on this hot topic. Do you think Facebook has had it's time? Will the world still be using it in two years time?

Whilst you're here, I have just launched the @ecoTrain Sustainability Voting Bot. We are supporting high value posts, and initiating real world eco-building workshops.

How to bid and up-vote a post:

Send any amount of SBD or STEEM between 0.05 - 1 to the @ecoTrain account with the URL of your post as the memo.
1.Go to your wallet: https://steemit.com/@USERNAME/transfers.
2. Click the small arrow beside STEEM OR STEEM DOLLARS and choose TRANSFER
3. Transfer 0.05 -1 SBD/STEEM to ecotrain, put the URL of the post as the memo. i.e https://steemit.com/ecotrain/@eco-alex/a-.....
4. You will receive an up-vote within around 2 hours.
5. Advanced users can use @yabapmatt 's bidding tool at https://www.steembottracker.com. Just move the 'vote value' slider to $0 to see all the bots.

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