RE: Value Plan Quantitative Review and Q2 2026 Proposal

Thank you for everything you have done, and are doing, to try to help Hive thrive and grow. I really appreciate the work being put into exploring new ways to grow Hive through the efforts of your team. I think those efforts are incredibly valuable. I just wanted to share another perspective that might be worth considering alongside that direction.

It seems that for many years, our community has focused on attracting content producers to Hive by essentially saying “come blog here and earn.” But that seems to have resulted in mainly attracting other creators rather than actual audiences.

Would it be more effective to instead focus on bringing over an active audience by recruiting small to mid-sized content creators (who already have an audience of a couple thousand people but can’t monetize it well on YouTube) and pay them from the DHF, but only on the condition that they actively bring their audience over and get them to power up on Hive? It is important to note, I am not suggesting these creators be paid with upvotes. That does not seem to work. This is a guaranteed payment from the DHF... if they fulfill the requirements of a specific agreement.

In that model, the creator wouldn’t just be paid for posting—they would be paid for performance, specifically:

bringing over a defined number of audience members
getting those users to actively engage on Hive
and getting them to power up Hive (not just sign up)

If the creator doesn’t deliver on those outcomes, they don’t receive the full payment.

This would shift Hive from “paying creators to post” to “paying creators to build active communities,” where the creator is directly responsible for:

attracting users
keeping them engaged
and converting them into participating, powered-up members

Essentially, instead of advertising Hive to creators, we would be paying creators to bring their audience into Hive and activate them.

The Creator-Led Growth Model on Hive

When content creators come to Hive, it’s not just about posting content—it becomes their responsibility to attract their audience, keep them engaged, and actively convert them into powered-up participants. The creator is effectively running a community system where growth depends on how well they consistently guide their audience into participating and powering up.

Powered-up users should feel like they aren’t just “supporters”—they are the creator’s inner community with direct access, influence, recognition, and experiences no one else gets.

Core Psychology of Audience Members (What they want)

Status (I matter here)
Access (I see things others don’t)
Attention (the creator notices me)
Participation (I influence outcomes)
Belonging (I’m part of the inner group)

Examples of Creator Actions To Give The Audience What They Want

Status

shoutouts in videos
featured comments in content
creator remembers and highlights regulars
recognition of top contributions

Access

early content releases
special Hive-only posts
behind-the-scenes updates
exclusive Q&A threads
Attention
priority replies on Hive
responding first to powered-up users
highlighting comments in videos
direct engagement threads

Participation

voting on content
voting on next videos
choosing topics or ideas
community-driven content decisions
prediction games
debate threads
creative challenges

Belonging

recurring Hive “home base” posts
shared inside jokes and references
ongoing storylines or themes shaped by the community
regular community discussions on Hive

Fun & Games

prediction competitions
comment contests (best idea / best take)
meme challenges
weekly themed prompts
community-driven storytelling
“guess what happens next” series
engagement-based mini challenges
t-shirt giveaways
hat and merch giveaways
creator merch drops tied to participation

Financial Incentive (Curation + Engagement Model)

The financial layer is simple and intentional:

Users are encouraged to power up because it increases their ability to earn curation rewards from voting.

The creator can also upvote comments from powered-up users, allowing them to earn from participating in the discussion.

Powering up strengthens participation, because users are now directly rewarded for being active and engaging with the content.

When users vote and engage, they are also effectively rewarding the creator for producing the content, reinforcing a feedback loop where both sides benefit from activity. (They feel good that they are giving a "thank you" to their favorite content creator. They feel important.)

This creates a system where:

engagement is rewarded
participation has upside
and powering up naturally becomes the mechanism that unlocks both influence and earning potential

While there are still some technological and front-end improvements that could make this smoother long-term, the key point is that Hive already has everything needed to start testing this model immediately.

A popular content creator can already post on Hive. The comment section already exists and can function as the core community hub. Users can already power up, vote, and earn curation rewards.

That means this isn’t a future idea dependent on new infrastructure… it’s something that could be implemented and tested tomorrow using what already exists, with the creator-led community layer built directly on top of the current system.