You once again will only get the average or beginner crypto users.
Not if they buy in at the application level - for example to play Splinterlands.
BTW, @rishi556 added a link to his tool here: https://giftgiver.site
The cost depends on what is being offered. For example, people will put down 80 dollars for a game they might not like or clock in a week - and be okay with that - or 50 dollars for 2 movie tickets for a 2 hr movie. People consume weirdly and evaluate worth weirdly too. I think a lot of it is conditioning and we have been led to believe that social media is "free" even though the profits of gaming and cinema pale in comparison to what the platforms generate.
They accept credit card payment for cards. Currently, as far as I know there is no method for a non crypto person to use a credit card to buy in to Hive Block Chain. One of the reasons I have not invested any money is because there simply is not an easy method to do so.
I watched with interest the Sequoir AMA and their credit card service, unfortunately I live in one of the states they are not available in.
If and when it is as easy to buy Hive as it is to buy Splinterlands cards I am sure more people will be buying. And as you mentioned, Social Media Sites have for the most part always been free, and that is a stumbling block for a site that does not offer the convenience of the free sites.
So we approach the point of pay to play, and expect non crypto people to be knocking on our door filling the coffers with content, yet are not capable of providing a simple "Pay to Play" interface. Being a decentralized entity there is not even an easy place for new people to go and find where to get help from.
I had a new user this morning ask me if I knew whether or not Hive had a discord chat room to get some help in. He could not find a link to it. When you look at the #help tag it is a complete waste of time for a new user as a means of finding help. #peakdhelp,and #hivehelp also the same. If a new user goes to the @hiveio the main account for hive, finding a help post not easy, same with going to @peakd main account page.
So how do new people find help? Where do they turn? and how do they find resources such as : @rishi556 tool https://giftgiver.site?
It is pretty easy to simply say people should buy in, I would like to buy in more. We need as a community of decentralized people a centralized place for people to go and find the answers they need. I know peakd is working on their FAQ for peakd, where is the FAQ/Help page for Hive Block Chain.
A lot of people are waiting on the first and final splitting away from steem fork. It will be happening soon, maybe then we will all have a better idea of the direction Hive is going, and be able to come to some sort of consensus for a location that will be the FAQ/Help page for Hive Block Chain. If there is already one I do not know where it is.
Yep, I understand the frustrations people have with the gateways into crypto of pretty much any kind. It is only recently I think that Binance and Bittrex started taking credit card transfers.
And yes, part of the issue is the decentralized nature of it all. People like convenient and easy, but they also like to earn - something the other platforms don't really offer the casual user, ever.
The "help desk" is defiitely a challenge and the FAQs should be introduced by default at signup, as well as a checkbox of "guidelines" a user that comes through at least the main gateways will have to read.