Google, facebook, twitter, reddit, linkedin, youtube, and all the other "free" services out there aren't actually free, as we all know now. They are harvesting our data and using it to profit off of us majority. They sell our data to thousands of online advertisers or other potentially malicious actors around the web.

With the data gathering age making the creators of these website rich off of the backs of user created content, it only is fair that a small portion of that be kicked back to the actual content creators on the platform. After all, Amazon, facebook, google, and many other websites have destroyed jobs by creating enormously efficient market places. That is a good thing. Just like smart phones with cameras destroyed Kodak. If there is room for improvement the free market will improve on it.

But amazon alone has likely destroyed millions of book stores all over the world and even more jobs. This is compounded as the middle class of America is shrinking and eventually our data won't be worth anything because the middle class isn't spending as much, a slow self-fulfilling cycle.

This is partly why I have moved over from posting on reddit, facebook, and twitter to Steemit. I like being paid for the content I create, even if it's only a few cents. And my data is slightly more than a few cents. If these companies can make millions from harvesting our data we should get a small cut, 1/4th or 1/2 of the amount advertisers pay to the companies should be given to the users.

But, if you are interested in how much your data sells for follow this link.



picture is from the Guardian and represents Facebook’s average revenue per user for Q4 2015.