There's this idea that the only reason people use Hive apps is because there are tokens to be made here. I understand the thought, and I'm not judging those who hold this view, but I wonder if that assumption is actually part of the bigger issue.
To be blunt, most people use the internet to communicate without ever considering the possibility of making a single dime. This isn't to say people shouldn't make money creating content, only that earning money isn't necessarily everyone's expectation.
In the "normal" internet experience, most people aren't content creators at all. They're content consumers. That doesn't diminish their contribution to the network effect, but it does establish a clear distinction between roles.
On Web3, however, we've largely embraced the story that everyone is a creator.
In the beginning, everyone was a blogger because writing was the only meal being served. The medium changed over time, but the dream remained largely the same:
"I'm going to make money making content."
It seems to me that for many people, the effort required to learn Web3 was only worth it if there was compensation waiting at the end of the road.
In other words, it's a bit like leg day at the gym. It may not be your favorite day of the week, but you do it because the overall results justify the effort.
The parallel thought becomes:
"I may not be a content creator, but if I want to be part of Hive, I have to create content. Otherwise, what am I doing here?"
But what about content consumers?
Who are they?
How do they contribute?
Do we have doomscrollers? Article sharers? Meme propagandists?
Are any of those roles assigned to Hiveans?
Self-assigned, of course.
Sadly, I think the answer is mostly no.
Yes, a writer or vlogger can also consume content, and many do. But most see themselves primarily as outputters rather than inputters, and therefore have "no time" for activities that bear no direct fruit.
A confused notion, in my opinion, but one that nonetheless persists.
Once again, I find myself circling back to the idea of friction.
My working theory revolves around effort and the expectation of being rewarded for that effort.
But what happens if interaction itself becomes effortless?
What if consuming content becomes so easy that participation no longer feels like work?
Doesn't that flip the tortilla?
I think it just might.
With that in mind, I've been working on something.
Truthfully, the seed of this idea originated with friends of mine, though it was Matt's actions that helped mature it into something tangible. I won't tag them, though they deserve the credit. The point is that the idea isn't entirely mine.
Less than one minute until the first comment.
Today, I achieved that twice.
I could hardly believe it.
From the moment I showed my cousin and a friend the app—snapie.io, to be exact—to the moment they made their first post, less than a minute had passed.
Less than a minute.
Maybe I'm onto something.
Or maybe I'm simply witnessing what happens when friction finally gets out of the way.
Either way, this is how easy it has to be.
Otherwise, we've learned nothing.
MenO
Creators on Hive keep pumping out posts but without enough real content consumers who actually read, comment and stick around the whole thing feels quiet. We need more fresh people from outside just coming in to enjoy the stuff instead of only the same small circle rewarding each other.
That balance between making good content and pulling in everyday readers is key if we want this place to grow for real.
Keep sharing these thoughts man it really makes us think about who we're actually writing for.
we need to cater more for content consumers. writing comments on platforms such as First Context is more targeted towards content consumers than content creators, and it allows content consumers to be rewarded for actually consuming the content and adding value to it via their comments or their added signal
Posted via First Context
I am bit confused in using First Context and facing some issues,
Is it same for all? Or I need to change some settings?
Posted via First Context
yes, google login doesnt work in internal browsers unfortunately. i wish it did!
I am able to log into the site just fine from Hive Keychain internal browser using my hive account. are you sure you have the keys in hive keychain?
Posted via First Context
Yes! I am using it through Hive Keychain internal Browser, but this should be fixed to login through HiveSinger in future, are you on it?
Posted via First Context
once you connect an email or google account using the keychain internal browser, you dont need keychain or hive signer at all and can just use the app from your normal phone browser directly without having to log in or sign anything.
That's fine. I will do it right now. Thanks for this help.
Posted via First Context
I truly believe things like Snapie are what will bring people here to consume content.
As much as the purists want to argue that long form is what will draw people here, it's just not the case. Sure there is a market for that, and the bulk of my content falls under that category.
But for consumers, they want low barriers of entry. And also, they want to be where their friends are.
Just thankful that you and the 3speak guys get it when it comes to this stuff. Keep pushing man, it's been a joy to use your app.
Support engagement with a delegation to topcomment:
50HP - 100HP - 250HP - 500HP - 750HP - 1000HP - 1500HP
I'm more a consumer that a long post writer. It would be good some idea to reward consumers, though 1st context is kind for it I think. Are you cooking something else? Thanks for all your hard work to make hive better and more accessible.
Posted via First Context
From the moment I joined Hive, I soon realised that it felt different than typical social media.
I felt like comments matter here, as opposed to other places online, commenting feels like more of a commitment, and it feels like it holds more weight here.
I've posted on TikTok and received comments on videos, but the odd comment on my content here feels much more important. Social media and content creating is something I have never really been into, until I joined here.
One thing I do think though, is that we don't necessarily need more people. We need to focus on creating a way to put the right content in front of the people who are here.
It is much easier to read and engage, when you are presented with the stuff you are interested in reading.
To me, that is the main downside of Hives blogging element. It very much feels like the reader has to work to find stuff they want to read, while every other social media platform presents the person with what they want - or at least presents the person with what they might want.
That would be a big thing we need to address before bringing in a wave of consumers.
I agree and on the flip, do enough create content that people want to read in the first place? I say they don't.
I would be inclined to agree; I love Hive, and find plenty of interesting stuff to read, but an eye opener for me was when I onboarded a friend of mine and he came on had a scroll, found nothing of interest to him and left. When I asked why, he just bluntly said there was nothing that interested him.
That's why there has to be a way to make it easier to find what they might be interested in, to keep then engaged. The search function doesn't really work either, so that's another thing to be sorted out.
Also, new posts are highlighted first, and posts older than 7 days are buried, which is a shame, because there is years worth of fantastic content here that rarely gets looked at after the 7 days are up.
Also, in your post you mentioned earning and how people say it isn't important. But, I would disagree, earnings are important when it comes to exposure. The tabs on Ecency 'Hot' and 'Trending' directly correlate to how much a post has earned, so visibility on Hive is directly linked to earnings, even if on an individual level we believe earnings don't matter, it doesn't excuse the fact that earnings are tied to visibility.
I find almost nothing of interest and yes, I look way too hard for it. Does that mean I just didn't find it or that it's not there? After years of being on Hive on and off I can honestly say that it's simply not here. The curators aren't rewarding what's actually useful, so what's useful isn't being produced. The big curators determine what's being created by rewarding content. Once people figure out what meets their criteria they rarely go above and beyond that requirement.
What do I mean plainly? Originality here looks like family photo albums with little to no information contained within the blog that those outside of their circles find useful. Hive creates tons of Travel blogs, so why aren't we a go to for travel information on the destinations throughout the world? The beginning of this paragraph explains that clearly. Why is that the case? The 1st paragraph explains that just as clearly.
We need to create content that contains information people search for when trying to inform themselves and we are not producing that. Pretty pictures of pretty places without actually information is simply not interesting to outside parties.
For whatever it's worth, I seem to be earning more via curation than irregular posts. My policy is to only upvote things I read. No bots, trails, or the like.
In other words, I consume and curate more than I create.
In my ideal feed, I'd weight autovotes less. That is not curation of the content.
My posts get autovotes, but curating on autopilot isn't really good for the system even if I do benefit. I want real interaction, and not just comments from a few troll accounts spamming copy/pasted rants and A.I. slop.
A decade back, reading a newspaper, writing a letter, searching for information or joining a discussion required effort (social circles mostly). Effort acted as a filter. People participated because they genuinely found value in the activity. But, today, thanks to the enormous content, attention iss becoming fragmented. Personally, the curation do make me happy a lot; but, when someone comment in a genuine and meaningful manner, I love it the most. A single comment from a consumer can open up to infinite thoughts, also highlighting those pretty much missed points. So, maybe, most undervalued contribution online today is not speaking, but listening.
Btw, leg-day is my favorite day. Perhaps because I have been playing football for over a decade :)
I've been a content consumer for the longest time. I filled the role of "the lurker" and occasionally commented. I used hive like it was twitter and was horrified when I had to stop a conversation thread because of the cryptic message, "Not enough power," -- no link to fix it or explain. This kept popping up to thwart natural expression until someone sent me some hive and I could power up.
ive been thinking i need to add a "request more resources" option on Snapie. I mean, in case someone gets precisely this msg and gets confused about it. I think your experience basically tells me this is the right move.
I remember that issue even when I started on
Steemitand couldn't edit my post for a typo because power was too low. Now, I am trying to check the intro posts every few days to delegate RC to new users who post with the #introduceyourself tag. That doesn't help lurkers, though.Hive is pretty much the reverse of a lot of the web when it comes to creators Vs consumers, but I consume and create a lot here. I won't generally do more than one post per day and I don't kid myself about the real value of those. There are people creating quality music, video, art and writing here. Not all of it gets the attention it deserves. I think we have to reward quality if we want to attract more talent. It can be hard to earn elsewhere, but anyone can make something here.
We need to break out of our tiny Hive clique and be welcoming. There should still be the possibility for anyone to earn of course. Hive can be social and but just a content platform.
I want to be able to open Ecency or Snapie on my phone or peakd on the computer and find something to enjoy and engage with.
To be honest, if it wasn't for @strava2hive I would post less and that app may have some challenges with Strava policy.
Can we promote more posts with reblogging, and perhaps add a post feed of community curation posts to frontends? It would require some algorithmic complexity to filter our mass-reblogging by low-reputation posts trying to game the system, of course, but I might prefer it. I basically never look at "trending" or "hot" posts these days because there is so much chaff to find the grain.
peakd has a Discovery feed now. I'm still seeing what it can do for me. I gather it is based on what people you follow vote on.
it always was, is and may always be...
i've never been in it for the 'money', which made me an outsider. most folks with different point of views in real life and only 'looking' for the social part (or else), are not really suitable for hive and will be bullied out in time, somehow!
i came here because i was looking for a way to learn to write what i was experiencing, leaving imposed obligations of society behind me. One point i was never really accepted on steem and later on hive, because i do not what this blockchain does impose onto all, to be 'accepted/respected' as a good hiver.
when i started to give away my 'earnings' to sponsor humans in need, it even started becoming worse. One reason i find stuff like the KE index ridiculous and actually hurting the chain.
But no, it's that bad that if you do something that counts as 'not accepted' as 'written' in the rules of hive, the (also) imposed guardians and self-proclaimed kings are activating their brainwashed lackeys to get rid of you. And i'm not talking about the spammers, abusers (or worse) of this systems. It just needs to be another (for some, unacceptable) point of view, even when expressed in a world that cries for free speech, while actually killing it.
all this works much to good. so many really good hearten humans left this 'building', and i can really understand why. If you're not strong enough to be one of the folks not in it for the money, you'll will leave this chain behind. Sad, so much potential lost...
Personally, my only concern is, that when the price will be zero, there will be no more folks left to keep the blockchain alive. Like in real life... folks tend to leave a project, if it's not bringing in some good money.
Just doing their best for the 'people' to actually make a change with a tool that really could do it is not enough in most capitalistic brainwashed brains, if they even have one.
💎
You are into something with this... But, I have to say that a lot has changed in the last few years, especially with the "extinction" of people from the chain... 😃 Honestly, I have noticed in myself that what before looked like work, now is more like having fun, and checking on friends... Also, as those who stayed on the chain are mostly hardcore Hivians, the image looks like we are having more consumers than creators... Or has that happened because of the price, too? Could be... 😃
I like the ideas coming from your side of the Hive! They are usually goooood!
Good luck with the newest one! 💪
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I’m not sure that distinction really holds. The terms “produsers” and “produsage” have been around for about two decades, and they describe pretty well what the “normal” internet experience actually looks like. See [here]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Produsage) for further details.
And yes, we do struggle to attract active consumers (or rather consuming-oriented produsers). But for that, we need good content. Not content that is obsessively Hive-centered, not cheap generic copywriting, and definitely not AI slop.
Content is what brings people to niche Web2 social platforms in the first place.
And since I’m trying to practice what I preach, I’m doing my part. @dead-pets seems to be doing well outside our beloved chain. And my English content hare a voice, too. It may not be perfect, but it’s anything but generic ;)
I must consuuuuum
Snapie is cool! I've tried it for short form text.
It seems to me that lots of hiver are just consumers. sure, they curate, but that is just on auto.. it's cool.. great for hive, yes? buy HIVE>power up>sit back and collect curation rewards.. all good.