At the Hive Summit Aachen, we also heard from a fresh voice: Kristin @dandegrischdine, shared her very first steps into the Hive ecosystem. Coming from a background in marketing and sales, she was used to platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. But she described how those spaces had grown frustrating with constant ads, negativity, and data concerns. This was the moment she became curious about alternatives — and Hive kept coming up in conversations with colleagues until one day, an account was simply set up for her.
Her start was bumpy. After posting once, she stayed inactive for over a year, unsure of what Hive was about. When she returned a few months ago, she had to learn quickly. She spoke openly about her early mistakes, like missing rules in competitions or experiencing her first downvote, which felt discouraging. But she also highlighted what stood out most: the warmth of the Hive community. Unlike traditional social media, Hive felt welcoming, rewarding, and supportive.
Kristin now blogs regularly, sharing stories about travel, beer, and her Leonberger dog, Ella. She sees Hive as a place where positivity and community come first. Still, she raised important questions about onboarding. Without friends to guide her, she admitted she would have been lost. She suggested better mentorship for new users, easier manuals, and even gamified learning steps to help beginners feel at home.
Her talk was a reminder that Hive’s greatest strength is its people — and that making the first steps easier could bring many more into the community.
Kristin @dandegrischdine – The journey to Hive as a newbie
Speaker Images
All Images / Photography by @louis88
I think more should been done to reduce the barrier to entry. I don’t think it’s too high but my background is in this kind of thing, so I’ve an advantage over people who’ve never used anything like Hive.
Making the first steps easier ... if we can just get past that, and also if people who have been here can remember how hard it is, and be gracious. She is still here because she met warm, caring people. That is so important!
Cool to see Kristin share her Hive journey! Marketing background will be a great asset for everyone 🐎
Thanks for this presentation! The entry hurdle is huge here on Hive sadly. I had a bunch of ideas with video tutorials like on Udemy, manuals, better marketing, etc.
We need an onboarding platforms with video courses that are structured in different lessons, etc. So one can learn the basics and also every little detail about Dapps, Tokens and whatever they want to learn.
But it´s very hard to make this succesful on Hive. Who is gonna pay for hundreds of hours of creating professional video tutorials? The DHF won´t help us. People are just not gonna vote for this...
Also many many of the users here who have a heavy tech background don´t understand the need for userfriendly media to lower the hurdle.
This is kind of a dead end here on Hive right now...