A month ago I saw a post in which the user was asking where is the engagement on Hive those days. It was a good question, however, the answer is not so simple.
Engagement has always been a hot topic on Hive. We all know why engagement is important but not everyone has the same view about it.
The number of active users is changing all the time on the blockchain and the price of HIVE has a huge role in it. When HIVE is on its way to a new ATH, you see old users coming back, then at a retrace they are the first to leave. This is not new and will never change. If you've been on Hive for a few years, you may have seen a few phases of these. Some find it annoying but in fact this is a normal thing because you can't force anyone to be active on Hive for years. It's a free blockchain.
The other aspect that needs to be taken into consideration is that people have a life and don't always have the same amount of free time at their disposal, thus the volume of comments are always fluctuating. I don't see why anyone would mind.
You can measure your engagement rate by dividing the total number of comments made on Hive by the number of posts and get the ratio. The higher the number you get, the better for you but that is just in theory and I'll explain it to you why. (You can check your stats by accessing https://hivebuzz.me by the way.)
The key here in my opinion (and not only my opinion) is quality. If you have something to comment, then do it. Otherwise save your time and energy. There's nothing worse than a bad comment. I am getting a few comments every week from users who have no idea what my post is about as they have never read it. The other mistake you can do is comment on posts just to talk about yourself. We have a few of these on Hive. Well, this is definitely not the way to get people's attention.
There are users who are not commenting almost at all. It is their right to do so. Posting and not commenting is frowned upon on Hive as it is considered milking, so you may not get curated by the curation projects, but again, no one can force you to comment, it's up to you.
So where is the key hidden? There's no hidden key to success. Try to be yourself. Try to find like minded people and connect with them. If you have a common topic, commenting will go smoothly, there will be no need to force yourself to comment.
Focus on quality, not quantity. A well known user once said to a spammer, Hive is to use it, not to abuse it.
You can decide for yourself in which category this nice comment fits in. Also remember, once it is posed, it is there to stay forever. You can edit it, delete it, but will be always retrievable.
Last, but not least, do it for the right reason. Commenting and hoping to get an upvote can lead to disappointment, which can lead to childinsh tantrums, as we've seen so many times, as we live in the era of entitlement.
While I am guilty of not being a big commenter, I've been trying to do so a bit more. One thing I picked up from @enforcer48 is to upvote the people who comment on my posts. Not only does it help them by getting an upvote, but it reminds me to engage more as well. Of course I won't just upvote random "good post" comments, but if there is a bit of effort put into it I will.
Definitely real life things limit the amount of time we can spend here, but many of us are still here making this place one of the premier blockchains/crypto/communities out there.
Wonderful post.
At times I tell people to engage and they are like it's not easy.
I feel why it is hard for them is because they are either trying to chase those who give upvotes or just wanting to do it for doing sake.
I guess they get the message wrong when they say engagement is key.
I know people who have set targets for themselves, to have a number of comments per day, which is not a bad thing as long as those comments are relevant and good quality. But chasing people for upvote is wrong.
Back in the day when I registered, there were a lot of comments like nice post and also people asking for upvotes. This is not happening anymore, or I don't see it happening.
There are now newer ways. Sometimes they just go off-point.
@blindspot's story is so pathetic
I sure do comment a lot, and get a lot of comments too, but some are really aiming at an upvote… But, I get that really, especially as a small account, you want to grow, and are a bit overexcited with the comments.
What I do really hate, is people commenting but not upvoting my post, and some of them are really big accounts, that’s just so egoistic in my opinion.
I also like to comment, but life is unpredictable, sometimes there's no time to read a lot of posts and I comment less.
Well, this has always been a topic on Hive :) I usually upvote every post I comment on, exception from this rule of mine is posts that are already at $50 - $100 or over. In that case I really don't think I have to vote as my vote can go to another post where it is needed.
I used to upvote every comment on my posts with 5%, which means $0.8 now but it has been higher. I suppose that has been an incentive for some. Now I can't do that anymore as I prefer to support those in Ukraine and those who are homeless now due to the war. I still get comments though 😂
Great initiative to save for Ukraine, keep up the good work
I'm not a huge commenter myself. I think it's more beneficial for me and the user I'm commenting to leave comments that matter, not just comment for the sake that I'm giving out random and silly thoughts about a post or photo.
I totally agree with the thoughts you've shared. If you find people you are interested in, engaging with them comes naturally. I'm always in search of people whose contents interest me, spark curiosity, or facilitate learning.
It's not easy for a new user to get accepted in Hive. Maybe that wasn't the case years ago, but it is now. A certain environmental and community involvement seems necessary.
That is already happening. OCD has an incubator program, incubating communities, curating posts, helping them to grow.
I don't know much about these, I've been traveling alone since I joined for almost 4 months.
What is a "Good Ratio" comments/posts according to you?
To be honest, I don't know. There has been a discussion once about this and I remember I was joking with acid, asked him if 12 is good and he said very. Should have bookmarket that post.
If 12 is the optimum then I have to improve it 😂
Lol, I don't know your rate but if you say so, I believe you 😂
Oh, I knew I have to get better on that but I'm way too low on my comments rate, I did the calculations you suggested, and way low than I thought. I try to only comment if I have something to say tho, but it's not good enough if I expect my posts to be commented on, I'm not setting the best example.
I did not think about doing the calculations before, thanks for that, it's not like the number itself is important but our mind is a bit tricky, facts are different than our perception.
That "k" comment, it's not even a full "okay". I haven't seen that lazy of a comment before but a lot of "good posts" sometimes happen because to participate in a challenge or community comments are a requirement so people just comment for the sake of commenting. I'm guilty too, I've done that before I learned to do better, but being here for years and still do so... that's questionable