The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club.
The second rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club.
For the past 30 days or so, I have been conducting my own informal "experiment."
That is, I have been posting and interacting with the underlying intention that YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT HIVE.
The Appealing "Storefront Window"
Since we've all become part of creating this community known as "Hive," it would seem logical that we want our new home to grow and thrive.
But what does "Growing and Thriving" LOOK like?
Perhaps the foremost thing to keep firmly in mind is that growing and thriving isn't about us, it's about the appeal to EXTERNAL people who are potential users.
What appeals to people, in general?
Stepping Back, for a Moment
Let's be perfectly honest here: People don't join Facebook because Facebook users are eternally "talking about Facebook." People don't join Instagram because Instagram users are eternally "talking about Instagram."
See what I am getting at, here?
With no disrespect to those who make a habit of talking about Hive and new dApps for Hive and whatever, that's only interesting to people who are already ON Hive.
To anybody on the outside looking in... it plays more like one of those annoying Multi-Level Marketing "Pep Rallies."
Attractive Alternatives of Attraction?
Somewhere in my drafts folder I have a partly written article/post entitled "Dear Facebook, I've Been Cheating on You..."
It was originally started as a promo piece for Steem (more than a year ago) but I let it sit there because I didn't want to promote something that didn't have much to offer to someone who wasn't already into blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
Now I am considering finishing it, and scattering it around, replacing Steem with Hive.
The greater point, however, is that in order to create a serious stream of newcomers, we have to reach out to them where THEY are, not where WE are.
Where THEY Are, not Where WE Are!
Everybody making a "sales pitch" for something is convinced that what they have is amazing. Alas, few other people care.
What other's DO care about is the ways in which what they have is not working for them.
Where THEY are means that a story about why you left Facebook (and found Hive!) is far more relevant than a a bulleted list of the benefits of decentralization, blockchain, cryptos and being a stakeholder on Hive.
See the subtle difference in approach, there?
Similarly, articles/posts about "What is Decentralization, and How it Could Change How the World Works" are relevant to those who fear being censored/blocked/banned/demonetized by YouTube or Google whomever holds the reins.
But Back to the Experiment...
I'm sorry, but PEOPLE DON'T CARE about such things as blockchains, cryptos, building dApps, decentralization, anarchism and such. You may not like to hear it, but you're effectively looking at a niche with about a 1/2% reach. On a good day.
PEOPLE DO CARE about sharing recipes, homesteading, buying local, posting pictures of their cats, music videos, blogging, making friends, their hobbies, gaming, their artistic endeavors, political activism and such. Although it's still "skimming" the top layers of the social content experience, now we're talking about maybe an 8-10% market niche.
Which is plenty big to build a very substantial and thriving Hive community.
Just imagine this place with 100,000 active daily users posting content!
And with those thoughts, I'm going to bid you a good day... and return to the approach of creating content here that has nothing to do with Hive.
Thanks for reading!
What do YOU think? To build Hive, don't we need to meet potential newcomers where THEY are, rather than where WE are? 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!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for this platform.)
Created at 20200624 12:47 PDT
0067/1295
To build Hive yes, if people have those outside accounts then yes that is one method and way to go. As for myself, I do not have any external accounts in social media other than those from and derived from steem block chain. I was out of the social side of the internet for a very very long time.
My wife brought me over to steem, and thus began my foray back into the social side of the internet. I have had people say I should join twitter to promote Hive, sorry not going to happen, I had a twitter account, I used it for less than a week. I did not like it when it was brand new, I still do not like it.
I tried facebook, I did not like it when it was new, and I still do not like it, and will not join it, and when I get that giant we are going to block your view of this business site unless you log in or create an account I exit and travel elsewhere.
I look at random youtube videos, I have not logged into YT and mostly just watch the video, I have no engagement with Any of the videos I watch. No thumbs up, no thumbs down, no comments of either nice or shit, I simply do not care about any of the content providers.
Most of my post are non-hive related, I do advertise on a lot of them for hive on board, just in case someone somewhere miraculously find my post. I also have a tendency every now and then to help a new user, so that is part of my posting. I am not sure I will ever get to the point that I don't make an occasional Hive-centric post, but that's okay, the Hive Post are okay, and the cheer-leading post are okay, they help the new users.
Kind of like your post here, every now and then they are needed for internal and the "oh wow look what I found in this dark corner of the internet" search finders.
Appreciate the thoughtful comment @bashadow, and a bit of background on your own social Internet experience.
My own affinity for Steemit/Hive came as a result of my former favorite web format which I loosely refer to as "social blogging," which was an online mainstay for many writers and creative types between about 1998 and 2005 when MySpace and Facebook pretty much destroyed (at least for my money) what I think of as the thinking web.
When I found Steemit — quite by accident — in 2017, it was so similar to my old (long defunct) venues like Xanga, LiveJournal and Dairy-X that I made an account and got started... the whole decentralization, and blockchain and cryptocurrency angle was pretty much irrelevant to me... BUT I warmed to the idea of decentralized blockchains because it really appealed to me that there was no central company to go bunkrupt and all the time I'd invested in content creation would be lost.
To this day, that remains one of my primary inspirations for wanting to post my stuff here, rather than somewhere else.
Clearly, I DO make Hive-centric posts from time to time, but I have to check myself whenever I want to, and ask myself whether I really am adding anything of value to the discussion, or am I just taking a hot topic and trying to troll for a couple of larger upvotes. If I find myself admitting it's the latter, I generally end up hitting the "delete" button...
I know a lot of people are iffy about the whale fishing expeditions on some post and from some posters, but it is part of the package, people want to be seen and recognized, well most not all. A whale may take note of a shout out, whether that be a good note or a sour note, no one knows until it happens.
I was surprised the first time I was shouted out by an account I had never run into, it still happens but very infrequently for me but still a surprise when it does. I look and in most cases respond, in a very few it was a post or comment that needed no reply. It did lead to one down vote, as the shout out was from a know plagiarist.
I enjoyed some pow-wow interactions, and a lot of various para chat rooms, then I faded away from social side, to many people bugging me with ICQ. email junk, and I forget the other auto shout at and see if they are on-line tools/toys to annoy.
For a while steem had it right as a social sharing site, now I am not to sure about steem, not sure yet if I will sour on Hive, but so far it is doing good at traveling in the right direction steem was on for awhile.
!ENGAGE 25
I do think Hive will probably end up fine as long as those who are out there telling the world do so from a premise of it being a community and a social sharing platform, rather than a "make money scheme."
It's not that the rewards don't matter, but when it's the primary focus, it brings in people with a different objective than community building and creating an interesting venue.
ENGAGEtokens.I was skimming, very tired and reading while yawning after midnight here...
When I missed the cats part, and went back to read this again...
"PEOPLE DO CARE about sharing recipes, homesteading, buying local, posting pictures of their cats,..."
Ahhh... I knew you would not leave that out.!
Now I can call it a night and get some sleep... ZZZzzz,,,....
Hey there!
Nah, I'd never leave out the cats. Pretty much everyone knows that the Internet's true purpose is to post pictures and watch videos of CATS!
I agree with what you are saying, the people that care about decentralization and all the bla bla blas are already here, the rest have no clue what it even means even if you explain it until the cows come home. I always seen Hive or another sites alike more so as a publishing platform to create our content to be shared on other social media as an article, therefore sharing content outsiders would want to consume is how we are going to get eyes on this wonderful eco-system.
I think part of my reflection here also dates back to the time I found and joined Steemit, and HOW that happened. I was on Facebook, and a friend sent me a link to AN ARTICLE, and there was no mention whatsoever about Steemit, or a publishing venue... just the content of the article.
As a content creator (and consumer) I read the article, and then started looking at other content and decided I liked the format I was seeing — reminded me of "social blogging" — so I made an account without ever looking at the whole GET PAID angle!
Which is pretty much a textbook example of how "normal people" become part of web communities.
My next 30 day "experiment" here is going to be 30 days of blogging and article writing exclusively for my old external audiences. In other words, posts written purely to gain outside readership, with pretty much NO attention to whether or not the posts are likely to get rewards here.
Given what I know about where I still have some pull... that'll be on the order of 20,000 pairs of eyeballs over the next month... or about twice our entire community of active posters...
20, 000 pair of eyes is pretty good! That's quite the audience. I'm with you that most people will discover it like you did, reading articles on other social media and will have nothing to do with the earning potential, it will just be a bonus. I do the same thing, I just share the articles with my peeps and say noting about hive and let the work do the talking. I joined in a similar way, read a few articles and thought this place was wholesome and I decided to join, I never had any intentions on actually blogging myself or knew anything about cryptos, I just liked the content and the idea that anybody could create rather than just a select few and now here I am making my way and learning how to build my own self-sustained path for the future and getting my photography out there with no social media experience or audience before steemit...As you said "Which is pretty much a textbook example of how "normal people" become part of web communities."
I can't say I have the same audience you do yet hehe. I do share my recipes on my personal facebook and drop links to random related pages and I do get questions about the site when they see how professional it looks, I'm sure out of those some will eventually join as they learn to grow out of their shells and seen the name "hive" over and over again attached to great wholesome content, that's what hive needs to focus on to get new users.
The way I see it, I live far away from most of my friends and relatives and it's a good way for those who want to keep updated with what I'm up to can with something more than just pictures. If many knew, hive can be so simply used, more will come for that aspect as well. Hopefully your next experiment works out and maybe you can get a few more to join our little eco-system along the way. Early adopters will be the ones to benefit the most.
Boy ... do I agree. We do need to hear about new developments and not hear so much about the petty grievances that some of themselves in a tizzy over and create rich and interesting content. I for one really appreciated opening up my following feed today to be greeted by your photo. It was beautiful and immediately made be feel just little bit better.
The artistic community on here is strong and it is time to hi-light it:)
Thank you @prydefoltz!
I think part of the deal is that I just try to keep what I do interesting, without trying to cater to the maximum rewards potential.
Let's face it, I am pretty much nothing and nobody around here; I'm very unlikely to every become a "Whale," so I'm just going to use what little bits I have to create MY impression of a web venue and community that might be attractive to a broad spectrum of readers.
The people who are already HERE don't need to read more about what's already here.
Everything is relative and so to me ... you are a big fish. That said ... I think I would die of boredom if I posted about the same thing every day or just regurgitated what umpteenth people had already covered.
Hive certainly has the potential to be a marvelous and unique community, as long as a significant number of community members continue to just stay true to themselves and engage with each other.
Funny reading this is that I never post about Hive etc... Until today. I see Steemit / Hive as not dead but as a failure. I just can't figure out why. Perhaps it is many reasons.
Interesting that I often feel something similar: a "failure."
For me, I think the fail came because the primary pitch to the greater world was that this was a place to make money, rather than a place to create content and community. That distinction draws two very different sets of people...
Couldn't agree more. Even mentioning what's going ON on Hive shouldn't be shared on other medias.. yawn.
Just so much energy goes into small groups' and "factions'" petty squabbles...
One of the things I never liked about Steemit was that it had that "Reddit-like" feel to it; a clique-ish and smallmindedness. Hive is a little better, and I just hope more effort goes into building community.
I do hope the small mindedness that was on STeem doesn't take hold here - or I'll leave. I'm done with nastiness, factions, downvotes, pollitics and bullshit.
Very good post and perspective @denmarkguy, and I agree. I've shared some of those posts about dapps and decentralized blah blah meaning to come back to see if I could understand all the blah blah better, and either never came back or certainly I still don't understand those things at all.
This to me seems pertinent to this post, based on your statement about cheating on FB
I stole this image from Tsū in about 2015
At one point I changed the Tsū to steemit, have that somewhere.
I do like that meme... remember seeing it somewhere, a long time ago.
I think blockchain developers and crypto maniacs have a tendency to become a little myopic about what they are doing and get all wrapped up in (important as they may be!) details that actually are only relevant to a handful of people in the "real" world. I say "important," because those may matter, but they are just not relevant to anyone outside a tiny core...
I really like that flower. looks very beautiful
Thank you!
Hi there @cuddlekitten, I'm so glad to see you are active again!