Everybody has their opinion about how the world works, and how they would like the world to work. Typically, our opinions are based on our base of experience and a few other factors. Typically, our experiences are authentic, but our opinions about them are a little more subjective.
Hive and Communities
We can take that very general statement and make it primarily about Hive, rather than about life, in general.
This morning, I was going to write another post about Stamp Collecting, in support of the Hive Collectors Community having "Stamps" as a sort of topic-of-the-month for February.
I thought about that, and thought to myself "It would actually be kind of cool if Hive had a Stamp Collecting community."
Then I muddled that over in my head, and considered that it would also be cool if Hive had a "Psychology" community, a "Spirituality" community and several others.
Yes, I know... there are probably people reading this who's say "You could just create one!"
Absolutely true! Maybe I will. But that's not what I am getting at, here.
How We USE the Social Web
What I actually wanted to talk about is building Hive and building community on Hive, in the broader context of how people use the social web.
Thinking back a really long time — that would be about 30+ years — my primary motivation for getting online in the first place was to pursue connection with like-kind people and ideas.
We tend to look for what we are interested in.
In my case, it was always psychology, gardening, stamp collecting, antiques, writing and a few others.
I was never online purely "for the sake of being online."
Hive's internal perception of itself might be slightly skewed or biased because the "core builders" here were likely disproportionately oriented towards technology, blockchain and crypto — at least in comparison the the greater world — and that definitely shaped what we might describe as "Hive's self-image."
But viewed in a broader sense, that self-image doesn't stand alone, all that well.. at least not within the framework of wanting to truly build a board-based community here.
Blockchain for blockchain's sake? Snore. Who cares, outside a tiny demographic?
Which brings me back to the importance of communities and how the majority of the world actually uses the social web.
Pursuing Our Interests
Consider a set of buzzwords that once might have been relevant but likely have lost much of their importance:
- Being Online
- Having email
- Being on Facebook
- Having a smartphone
- Owning a computer
- Being in Crypto
These still exist, but they are no longer stand-alone things, in their own right. When's the last time you talked to someone who was excited about being "on Facebook?" Or "having a mobile phone?"
It's no longer whether or not the above applies to you, it's about what you do with them.
And that's where interest groups and communities take over as being the more important attribute, than the "framework" itself.
Communities are "Sticky"
Most of us look for what we're interested in, and subsequently tend to gravitate towards groups where people have similar interests.
For example, as I write these words, pretty much my only interaction with Facebook is with psychology, art and collectibles pages and groups I belong to. Other than sharing messages and photos with relatives back in Denmark.
What does this have to do with Hive?
Hive is now in it's 9th year (if you include the legacy chain) and I'm increasingly sensing that it's more more relevant — and certainly easier — to send people I know "on the outside" to a group or community about something they are already interested in than trying to sell the idea of just "Hive," as a thing.
But to circle back to the "sticky" observation, the key takeaway here is that we tend to be far more loyal to our interests than we are to venues.
Which addresses that thing Hive seems to struggle terribly with: User Retention.
Forgetting for a moment that you perhaps live deep down inside your like blockchainiac technology world, it's a lot easier pitch to say "So, I've been part of this online gardening (colleting-psychology-homesteading-gaming-music-artist) community for a while, would you be interested in having a look and perhaps joining us?" than talking about "content creation on a decentralized blockchain with crypto."
Just writing that, I can see people's eyes glaze over...
Anyway, I think it's important to Hive's future wellbeing that we put considerable effort into building and nurturing our interest based communities.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great Friday... and weekend!
Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation! I do my best to answer comments, even if it sometimes takes a few days!
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Created at 2025.02.27 14:15 PST
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I had never thought about it until now....
The interaction I have with other users of the system generates positive stimuli, but it may be a product of suggestion.
Just days after entering the Hive portal, I found this post to be particularly helpful to me, in properly thinking about what I am doing.
Agreed. FWIW, from the outset, upon first learning about the Hive blockchain and reading some of its content, I was left with a similar impression. Which frankly led to my decision to stay out of participating.
Beyond the Hive blockchain, from what I have experienced in the broader world of crypto, they all have a similar challenge to overcome. And the challenge is not a trivial one to solve, given the stake the devs typically have in both the building, maintaining, and smooth operation of them.
Key. Absolutely. It is fascinating to me, to watch the dynamic tension between this and getting paid for it. User retention may reasonably be considered a KPI on how that is working out, so far.
I could say a lot more here, but maybe that will the topic of a future post.
Thanks for putting these thoughts down. I hope it is widely read and has some role to play in future discussions about this blockchain's future. I will bookmark it, for future reference. And follow your account to see what other insights you might have to share.