As you have stated in the past patience is essential, and this is a long term game. Trying to create a flood of new users is likely — and I say this based on past experience — to NOT end well.
One of the current developments that seems quite promising is the notion of more communities following in the footsteps of LeoFinance. In terms of selling an idea, it's much easier to pitch to a niche than to the general population. The cool thing about niches is that their followers tend to come with built-in niche loyalty. And so, both attraction and retention is easier.... and we have the beginnings of a number of highly relevant niche communities that could very easily expand on their owe unique identities, as they stand separately from Hive, as a general idea: StemGeeks, Natural Medicine, Sports Talk, Creative Coin, Foodies, etc.
We may all collectively "hate" Facebook, but we must also learn from them. How do people use Facebook? Not that many people are just "on Facebook" as a standalone idea. Most likely, they are part of interest and hobby and "movement" groups they are interested in.
For example, I see how a lot of people a very active in "Pet/Cat" groups (happens to be my area) but don't necessarily post much (if anything) to their general walls. That's just how we humans structure our activities... we have stuff we're interested in."
Think of this, as an analogy: Not many people say they are "on the Internet." That term hasn't really been used much in probably 15-20 years. What we DO, is participate in pretty specific things when we're online... and hence the power of developing Communities as an ongoing and viable pathway to growing the entire Hive infrastructure.
=^..^=
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta