Yesterday I tried to do my job as a curator which I have abandoned for a few weeks now. Things have been a little overwhelming for me and curating content hasn't been a priority for me. But this shouldn't be a problem--finding content to upvote? But it is and it gets getting more difficult by the day.
*People aren't putting enough effort.
I spoke about complacency the other day and it is really a thing on the blockchain especially within the blogging sphere. The Hive blockchain is actually doing pretty well in the development and gaming department but blogging has been subpar.
Asides the crypto and blockchain-related content(s), other forms of content and communities aren't thriving. Over 80% of the content creators I follow have either stopped posting content or posting subpar content. I know because I have followed most of them for a while and I know they can do a better job at creating content but the verve isn't there. There is this redundant feeling you get when you've been doing this for a while and it hasn't necessarily impacted you as a content creator (and I am. Not talking financially). I also spend some time in other communities to discover DIY content or any creative content at all but I end up finding uninspiring photos of plants and silly things of that sort.
I am complaining about the current set of things because it never used to be this bad and it is becoming a major concern for me. If we are indeed concerned about onboarding people then we should have something interesting to show them if their curiosity pushes them to explore our pages and communities. I put it to you this way: the same reason why you won't join countless of decentralised or crypto-related social media platform out there is the same reason why many won't join hive. An immutable blockchain with social media features is not a selling point to anyone! Most people joined this hive because they wanted to earn or have a creative space where they can thrive--let's give them that. Let's not win on the technical side and lose on the social front. We have the resources to win on both ends, we can do.
Don't let plant photographers and selfie-takers take over our platform! It makes a mockery of every hard-working content creator here and I am talking expressly to curators. Don't get me wrong I like beautiful pictures, however, selfies aren't ideal for a blogging platform which hive. You might want to argue with me on this one but the reality is if everyone starts posting plant pictures and selfies and earning huge upvotes on them it is only a matter of time before the guy who writes well-detailed posts to follow suit because it is easy money with little or no effort, think about it. People/content creators are becoming complacent -- I have become complacent. No one is pushing their content out of this space or genuinely trying to build a brand on here. It's all about making a quick buck. I want to make quick money too. Heck! I have a family that depends on that, but what I try not to do is this place for granted by putting in some effort in what I do.
DIRECT PEOPLE'S CREATIVE POWER.
If you're a curator for any community at this point, chances are you are frustrated and unenthusiastic about what you do--i feel that way most times, which shouldn't be the case because there are a lot of people posting content on a daily basis. All that needs to be done is directing the creative energy. Themed weekly or daily topics will help. @theycallmedan used to host some of those weekly contests and I hope he gives it a second thought again. There are a lot of communities with a huge stake that can do the same. Get people motivated; get people talking about relent things happening in the world; let there be a robust discussion about these things and let people share these posts with their friends, family, followers, etc on different social platforms.
Save our blockchain.
Get people blogging again. Deepen and diversify the discussions we have here. I strongly believe engagement level will increase if people start talking about the things they care about and things they can relate with. I personally will never comment on something I don't care about. I spend hours on this platform daily and it doesn't reflect in my level of engagement. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people who want to talk about crypto all day, life is bigger than that. There are a lot of things happening in the world right and it seems we are obvious to it all. Twitter is a go-to app because of its relativity, even though I spend most times talking to myself but chances are that I will come across something that resonates with me is very high. I want that to be my hive experience. We can do it. We've done it before
Yes, it's been disappointing. When we had the last hardfork over on Steem which was followed by taking the bots out of the equation, posts finally starting earning and content quality soared. Since moving to Hive we've just not been getting as much effort going in. Some of it could be down to the chains splitting the users and us having less active members, but things did pick up a bit after the dust settled, but now I'm struggling to find much worthwhile again.
I wonder if it's also down to the current climate as well. Some pretty depressing times.
I take is that a lot of effort is put to improve the technical aspect of the chain and little or no effort is put into improving the social aspect of the blockchain. Communities aren't doing too well in helping to improve post quality. It is my belief that if people being to post more about real thinks and important social and economical discussions (even creative content) engagement will happen naturally.
I think it's really left up to the content creators and communities to improve the social aspect. For those that do put in that effort, like you, it can be a lot of work for little response. The @naturalmedicine community works hard on interaction with a group of us working on it. It's working, but without those that regularly put in the effort I could see it going just as quiet as other communities.
One thing I've noticed is there is no interaction on post. Sometimes I think most post don't even get read. Curation trails could be a factor to this, I'll admit I'm part of a trail. Sometimes I'll post to get some hp which is not much, but hey every little bit counts. The times I do take the time and put together a well thought out post. Yeah I might get some votes from the trail, but I feel as it anyone is reading the post at all. This can be frustrating, hence the reason why it might be a lack of quality post. People are realizing their hardwork is being overlooked. Why waste the time and effort? It seems as if its becoming like typical social media sites where just a like is sufficient, and no other interaction is needed. This is the result of morphing blogging with social media. People like simple and easy. Why do the work when you can get to same benefits for less. Hope my rambling makes some sense.
I think you are dead-right.
Seems like most social media is trending to the comments section. Users post mostly links or short ideas and the engagement is in long chains of comments on the topic presented. I think there is a lot of value in that, but the STEEM/HIVE community is very much focused on the idea of all the value being in the content of the post and less perceived value in the conversations in the comments.
If you look at reddit, twitter,FB, the engagement and best content is in the comments.
All that said, I have no idea what the solution to the problem is, so I'm just throwing out thoughts/ideas to contribute to the subject... I'm in the comments :-)
From what I be seeing people tend to flock to the post of the whales. With the Hope's of getting valuable upvotes. I also see that most of those guys don't reciprocate the love. They could get up to 50+ Hive and give no upvotes in the comments. The system needs work, and it's been like that since Steem.
I can relate man. I understand and no one who is active here will denial these points raised. I want to make money and have a better social experience. I don't think that's too to ask.
Hopefully being that Hive is fairly new and most people aren't using the site yet, things will change. You always write some good blogs since Steem. Are you still on Cent?
Congratulations @nonsowrites! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your board And compare to others on the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPSupport the HiveBuzz project. Vote for our proposal!