I've grown increasingly more angry over time as I see ignorant comments and postings about Odyssey on social media. A lot of the things I read are flat out ignorant and wrong when it comes who and what Odyssey is. I've been a content creator with Odyssey since January and an Editor in Chief of my own team since May.

Odyssey was created in 2014 by CEO, Evan Burns. According to Odyssey, it was "founded to democratize the media business and elevate engagement, by magnifying broader perspectives and facilitating deeper conversations in and about the world." Odyssey gives millennials ages 16-28 a voice. It allows its content creators to truly democratize their content, tell their opinions and share them with the world.

Originally, Odyssey started on university campuses. During this time period, universities had their own communities, aka teams, with Odyssey where students could apply and join. Each week, content creators on these teams were responsible for submitting one article per week.

Now, things have changed just a bit. Since Odyssey has grown extensively over the years, the company was able to branch out further than just college campuses. In 2016, Odyssey started geographic communities. This meant that geographic regions in the US could start teams. In May, I was granted the opportunity to go from content creator, to Editor in Chief of one of the many first Odyssey geographic teams. As the EIC for Poughkeepsie, NY, I manage a team of around 20 content creators in and around the area. Now, there are geographic locations all over the country. Soon rolling out as well is Interest Based communities. Now, content creators can join teams based on their interests such as beauty, gaming, food, travel, etc. Additionally, Odyssey has branched out to video. It now accepts video creators to submit one video per week, rather than one written article.

The company reaches more than 30 million monthly users and is constantly growing, with more than 14,000 selectively chosen creators contributing to the platform.

There is an Odyssey article that has made waves since it was posted back in May of this year. Titled, "Im A Female And I Am So Over Feminists," the article to date has over 460 thousand shares. I don't agree with this article. The article, in my opinion, is pretty ignorant. But, my issue here isn't about this content creator, her opinions, or this article. My issue is that people are blaming Odyssey for this article. They blame the company as a whole.

This article titled, "PSA to Odyssey: Feminism Isn't About Hating Men," is a perfect example. Do not blame the company, take issue with the author's perspective. Odyssey simply lets its creators create content. The personal opinions of these articles do not reflect the company as a whole or its employee's beliefs. It's about opening up a dialogue. It's about giving people a voice.

Here are some facts that many people don't know before spewing hate on Odyssey:

1. Odyssey is a S O C I A L M E D I A platform. So, yes, Odyssey is categorized in the SAME EXACT category as: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, YouTube, Tumblr, etc. You post your opinions and feelings on Facebook, correct? There is no difference between someone writing an article for Odyssey or positing that exact article as a Facebook status. All Odyssey does is allow millennials to join a team of people like themselves, write an article, have it edited and posted in a nice, uniform article with a link that allows them to then SHARE IT on other social media sites. I could copy and paste the text from one of my articles as a Facebook status, I'm still getting my opinion out there. Odyssey is just giving its creators a bigger and more unique platform to post their opinions on.

2. Odyssey in NO WAY shape or form assigns article topics. As an Editor in Chief, I cannot tell my team what to write. Each week, our team's Managing Editor, working out of Odyssey's NYC office, will send us article ideas for those who are stuck on a topic. These ideas range from politics, current events, entertainment, etc. But, we are not allowed to force or assign any topics on our content creators. We are allowed to coach them and help with their writing, but their article topic, opinions and ideas are all their own.

3. "It seems that anyone can publish an article about anything with no research and no facts." Blame the writer for not doing their research and submitting an ignorant piece. Their choice. Their opinion. Their right. Odyssey posts more than 50,000 pieces of content per month, it is hard to go through and filter what is posted. And again, Odyssey has no right to assign topics. The beauty of it is that content creators write about what THEY want. Mark Zuckerburg doesn't filter out your status if it's ignorant and not researched.

4. "It's a free for all." Well yeah, isn't any social media website? I can't scroll through Facebook right now without seeing people's opinions on Trump, Hillary or clowns. Do I agree with them all? No. But any social media site is considered a free for all because anyone can post what they want, which is what Odyssey allows.

I saw a comment on Facebook that sums it up pretty well, it reads:

"Although some articles are ridiculous, that doesn't mean they all are. Or even most of them are. Some articles are beautifully written by people who need an outlet for their ideas. Some articles are horrendous, but still written by people who need an outlet. Fair is fair."

Do you need a degree in journalism to post your ideas to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter? No. So it's wrong to blame an entire company, a SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITE, for allowing its users to express their thoughts. If the content creator doesn't want to do research, that is on them. Again, I am not allowed to add any text or writing into articles, at all. Their writing is all their own.

As someone who has loved writing for as long as she could remember and confirmed that by getting her Bachelor's in Journalism, I wish I had had a platform like this in high school and early college. Odyssey truly helps strengthen writing skills. Nothing makes me feel better than seeing how much one of my content creator's writing has improved over a few months. And nothing makes me feel better than seeing their article and their ideas get shared hundreds of times via social media.

So, to recap:

Odyssey is a social media platform, so treat it like one. The only difference is someone's thoughts and ideas are posted as an article, that is edited for grammar and formatting. The article is then able to be shared and reach thousands of people, much easier than a simple status would.

If you see an Odyssey article you don't agree with, separate the content creator from the platform. It is unfair to give Odyssey a bad rep for a few bad articles. According to Odyssey, the company is "built to capture the ideas of many and organically amplify those viewpoints to users around the world, using a hybrid model that incorporates the best aspects of social networking and publishing." They give millennials a platform to let their voices be heard. If you don't agree with someone's views, blame that creator, not Odyssey for simply giving them a voice.