While upgrading and modernizing hive.io (the current WIP version is available at http://staging.hive.io), I’ve been thinking a lot about our core focus and value propositions. After talking with @crimsonclad and others, it became clear that this is something we need to define - and define well.
Fast. Scalable. Powerful. are important attributes, but they don’t fully capture what makes Hive… Hive. So I kept thinking:
- What value propositions truly define Hive?
- What deserves to be highlighted on the landing page?
- What genuinely sets Hive apart from other cryptocurrency and blockchain projects?
And then it hit me: why not ask the very people who make Hive what it is? Why not tap into the hivemind itself?
What is Hive to you?
Why are you here? Maybe you’ve been part of this ecosystem for years. What keeps you around? Have you been to HiveFests - and if so, what brings you back each time? What is Hive to you?
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Please share your answer in the comments (1-3 sentences is perfect) and help shape the next evolution of our website. And if you can, please share this post so we can reach as many Hivers as possible.
My answer:
For me, Hive is a digital sandbox - a place to build, experiment, and grow. It’s the space in the crypto and blockchain world I genuinely call home, shaped collectively by its people and free from the control of any single stakeholder.
Particularly for me, Hive was a lifeline almost eight years ago. I turned my leisure time into something productive and felt that my dream of being a writer when I was young could finally be fulfilled in my maturity.
It is a place where, beyond the rewards, you can discover yourself as an artist of any kind, building community with people of shared interests who truly value your talents in their proper dimension.
And you can also build a small capital if you strive hard enough, creating value for yourself, your followers, and the entire community, thus generating a virtuous circle. Hive is a lifestyle.
Thanks for the thoughts, @fermionico!
I did an article about the Hive promise and how it has performed well. The main point of Hive is being a social network that doesn't go down and that is immutable and censorship free. I think that although not perfect for everyone, it has been perfect for me. I haven't had any issues with posts missing, or being changed and haven't found myself in positions where people attack my content and want to silence me. That could change anytime, but for now, I have been free to post whatever I want and nobody have been able to prevent me from speaking out my mind. I've been on Steem and Hive since 2016 and since then it hasn't failed me so that is not nothing. Hive has become my most persistent blog I have ever used and still use.
On the economic part, I have never really read that this was a way to live. It was only getting rewards for your ideas. A reward can be anything from a cent to a hundred dollars but I never thought I would get thousands which would be a proper salary. And although the token is volatile and can grow, I don't think it will ever be one of the top tokens on the web. So the Hive economy is something good to have, but not essential to my digital life budget. Bitcoin and other altcoins have been great for that. I am glad that there are more mechanisms to send and receive Hive from different chain-markets.
Thanks for sharing, @jza!
I call Hive my box of Legos....
I’ve been building with it in so many ways for over eight years.
At first, it was where I shared poetry — then my voice and my songs. Over time, it became a tribe, a part of who I am. Later, it grew into the biggest challenge of my life, constantly testing me and pushing me to evolve.
But through all of that, it has always given me something rare: hope
Hence why I'm still around.
Hopium Hive. Thanks for sharing, @meno!
Hive is:
Deep thoughts. Thanks, @starkerz!
Crypto Social Media, how it should be, decentralized, censorship-resistant, and you can even earn crypto for posting and liking. Zero tx fees enabling web3 and gaming.
Thanks, @vikisecrets!
Freedom of expression. There is no censorship, and no state or dictatorship can do anything about it.
For me, Hive is the most valuable thing I know.
Thanks, @condeas!
freedom of expression is everything
Hive, for me, is more than a blockchain. It’s a place to build, to grow, and to connect. It’s where digital friendships turn into real ones, and where ideas become projects that impact people’s lives. It’s a community I believe in deeply — one that’s worth defending and fighting for. In many ways, Hive has become my ikigai: the intersection of what I love, what I’m good at, and where I feel I can contribute something meaningful.
To most, I believe it is a cash register.
Personally I love the technology, the people not as much although there are exceptions.
I'm one of them 🤣
that reminds me what ever happen to justineh?
She left after and is focused on bitcoin
imma have to save a reply for tomorrow but upvoting this for visibility.
Appreciate it, @acidyo!
I wanted to start a YouTube channel but saw dark side of it too. Upon searching alternatives, I stumbled upon DTube & other chains. I am glad that I finally landed here. Instead of staying limited to blogging, I thought of contributing more & more. I kept investing my time, my skills, money & everything which is possible because this is not just a blogging platform. It's a mission "Freedom of Speech". It's a journey & I am glad that I am tagging along with like minded people in this journey.
Perhaps I am a bit romantic in my thinking, but HIVE has given me something I had been searching for a long time: a place where I can be myself, where I can share what I experience, my experiences. In fact, I see it as a site for social experimentation, far from the relentless violence of Web2, from the alienating social media.
On HIVE, I am myself: the neurologist woman who loves poetry, plants, and her daughter, and who is also read and rewarded.
Hive is your door into crypto and web3.
A place to learn and earn.
A place to build and experiment.
Crypto for beginners.
Thanks, @niallon11!
I will asking myself the same question. Came for money, stayed for the community, community left, I am still here. No idea why. For sure not for the money. So probably just a habit. Funny enough a wrote a post about this on Tuesday. The question was: My Hive community is gone... So what am I still doing here? Still haven't figured out the answer
What do you mean by community left? O just came back in here and still looking around what is going on
Well most members of the community I was involved in did leave Hive or did stop posting. I do like interaction on my posts even more then upvotes.
So, when you do write about a topic belogging to that community, interaction is almost none.
So the community left, but I am still here.
Oh no, I sm so sorry to hear that 🥹 that is not fun at all! The people I used to interact with are still here mostly, so for me it's like nothing changed really
A place to do what you love, a place to feel free 😃
Thanks, @sofathana! 😃
♦️😉
censorship resistant townhall. at least it can be.
I stand for justice. For decentralization. For the idea. I understand that our community is an example of true decentralization. I want to support the idea. I want us to be able to compete with the monopolists of the market. I want us to store all our data ourselves. I want 3speak to gain its popularity. I want people to be creative and monetize their work through our community.
A place where no one can apply censorship
A place where you can earn with blog and comments without even have followers
A place without gas fees
None of the above require hive to be paid to people who write stuff. :)
@therealwolf,Hive to me is a place of truth and transparency!!! I am certainly re-blogging this 🙏
From my end, Hive serves as a microcosm of capitalism—a transparent environment in which the dynamics of unlimited currency issuance, power laws, scale effects, and path dependence manifest in a manner analogous to the fiat financial system, albeit in a blockchain context and with full visibility. A phenomenon represents a microcosm of digital imperialism, intricately embedded within a blockchain framework. It is particularly compelling as it reflects the same structural dynamics observed in traditional systems. Ultimately, the principle remains: those who act promptly are rewarded, akin to the adage that the early bird secures the worm, or, more aptly, the blocks.
In light of the upcoming European Union regulatory framework set to be implemented in 2026, I'm somewhat surprised by the limited discussion surrounding this issue within our community - okay is basically non-existent. This new regulatory environment will pose significant challenges for all users operating within this chain throughout the EU.
Some discussions and decisions on Hive often lean towards a protective approach. This makes sense in a system where long-term stakeholders want to safeguard their contributions. However, it can unintentionally create hurdles for newcomers and make open experimentation feel less welcoming. Over time, this has contributed to a noticeable gap between the total number of accounts and active participants, with a much smaller group of builders really driving the ecosystem forward. This shift isn't coming from a negative place; it's just part of the structure. If Hive aims to remain vibrant and inviting, it would be great to ensure that a protective mindset doesn’t turn into inertia that may discourage new people from joining in and contributing.
After all, not everyone is a Shakespeare or Goethe.
To me it's a place to post my photography and share it with others and get inspired by other photographers, and learn about their culture.
I help where i can with curating posts warn people if they cross a line and if they ignore it report them to hivewatchers.
Being part of the community and a big part of it is the interacting on Discord, but since 2 weeks i also have a witness running to learn and understand what that is all about.
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It's a place to meet some cool people, on-chain and even better, off-chain in different meetups... People who believe in an "alternative" way of living and those who care about the freedom of choice, speech, etc.
On the other hand, it's also a great experiment to see whether the greater good can win over the short-term greed of certain individuals... This is pretty much tested exactly in these moments... 🙂
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For me, Hive is a place where we can build something cool, whether it's creating content or just interacting and engaging with people. We can make lots of friends here. I've always dreamed of creating content, but on web2 it's hard to break out of the bubble. Meanwhile, on Hive it's easier to start sharing what you like, your passions, and everything else.
I've been on Hive for four years, and I can say that what makes me happiest here are the connections I've made, the friends, the conversations. My network isn't the biggest, but I value every person who interacts with me, not to mention that I always try to have fun in the process!
For me:
Hive was the place where all the theory behind “Web3” finally made sense and came to life. Even as a non-technical person, I was able to do things like permissionlessly use other projects’ assets in my own endeavours, be 100% sure that those efforts would persist through crypto tech.
Hive was a place largely free of all the cryptobro hype circus, instead teeming with a really diverse and wonderful community all using the chain in unique ways.
No gas fees was big big deal back in 2022 or so. It’s a less competitive idea now that we have loads of very low gas chains… but what that did was give Hive a huge head start in attracting a way more interesting userbase.
Thanks to Hive I learn something new every day, I visit corners of anywhere in the world as if I had travelled there, I have a place to express my thoughts and emotions, I make virtual friends who become real, I feel useful helping other users... and I only use their social part!