If you have been around Odyssey for any amount of time, you have probably read some articles that you may not necessarily agree with.
Due to the company's thousands of creators, viral articles, or the latest, someone catfishing an entire Odyssey community, this website has developed quite the buzz in the past few years.
As someone who has written for this platform for 2 years and counting, I have seen my fair share of hate towards the site.
A couple of these comments being, "Odyssey uses college students and does not pay their creators" (Which, isn't the case, ANY creator does have the ability to get paid if they are making the company money) and then there is my personal favorite, "This is a site a squirrel could write for."
Now, my fellow internet users, it is time to chat.
Odyssey is not some clickbait site aimed at using college kids to rack up billions at their headquarters in New York City.
The site is full of actual human beings who submit content each week and get it out to the public.
To break it down a little further, each Odyssey team consists of both leadership and a team of creators.
In the onboarding process, there is always supposed to be an interview or phone call, or in some cases a writing sample from each creator (Which is why the idea of someone catfishing the site is not the norm)!
Additionally, each article is supposed to be line edited by the Editor of that team.
With that being said, Editors are real-life human beings and so are the creators of each article and therefore, there are going to be some typos here and there, no matter how much work one might put in to avoid it. When you find yourself editing quite a few articles, you might miss a word. Mistakes happen.
Keep in mind, we are all college kids looking to share our voices.
The purpose of Odyssey is to strike up a conversation.
A complaint heard often about this platform is that creators are allowed to write about a topic of their choice each week.
This means that people can write about ABSOLUTELY anything. If someone chooses to write about their love for chocolate milk, they can. If they choose to spill out their story and personal experiences, they are able to, and MANY have. Whether it be the latest Netflix series, a short story, or a summer playlist, this is a website that gives creators freedom, just like the real world that we live in here in the US.
Freedom of speech is a beautiful thing, my friends.
Most of the chatter around this factor of the platform has been negative and quite honestly sharing articles that don't have to fit a specific brand is not a bad thing.
Like many things in life, knowing that absolutely anything could get published on this site has its negatives.
There might be articles trending that are about topics that seem to be insanely random, not super "politically correct", or about a topic you just have zero interest in.
However, believe it or not, there are a variety of articles on this site that are written by people that are passionate about sharing stories. There are articles on this site created to uplift, encourage, and inspire. While not everyone may be doing that with their voice, we all have the option to.
I am very well aware that post-graduation, any company I work for most likely will not let me write something that doesn't fit their brand.
Well, with Odyssey, this is not the case.
Are there some articles I most definitely disagree with? Yes.
Are there many conversations started on this site that I choose to stay out of? Yes.
However, I know that there are MANY passionate young creatives on this site using it for good. So if there are topics that I might not be interested, someone else is and they thought it was worth writing about. Thanks to our rad friend, "Freedom of Speech," they can say what they feel is worth saying and so can I, and so can you!
While we can't control what others say, we can most definitely control how we respond.
If you want to see articles about super important topics, read them, respond to them, and share them. This is how they will end up on the front page of the site anyways!
I am completely uplifted by those who use this site to talk about important things.
Before shaming an entire company, be aware that not every single community is the same as the next. While some may have some typos or be about a topic that you don't care for, know that behind each article is a real human being.
Someone catfishing the site is a one-off thing and a complete fluke.
To anyone reading this, thanks for joining the conversation.