It only took 7 years of blockchain effort 😜 but I made it to 2k followers. I noticed that I had crossed over 1900 and it seemed bloody ages to get the 100 more followers…but here we are, 2000 people were interested enough in my content to smash that Follow button.
Is that what you say on Hive? 🧐 or is that the social media version of cultural appropriation? I digress. It was @jza that was my exact 2000th follower. Thanks M8, Nice that it was you, ie. someone I have met in real life several times! I also noticed that we exchanged comments way back in 2017! That is like a multi-generational friendship here on Hive 🤣 I often wonder what it is about Hive that made me stick around long enough to hit this Milestone. What made my tick go tock!?!? I like most had a lonely start. I didn’t know anyone. I wrote posts that got little to no attention. I remember getting my first decent rewards on posts .37 cents and .47 cents, woo hooo 🎉
I remember thinking wow I just made nearly a dollar for blabbering online. After years of posting on Facebook and never receiving a dime, a dollar seemed a pretty sweet deal for a few posts.
Slowly but surely over a 90-day stretch of consistently posting, I started making a few connections. There were a few people I related to and felt like I would like this person if I met them in the real world. @raj808 stands out as a first bud.
We both liked poetry, fiction, and goofing around. That helped my journey along too.
@sultnpapper (who I hope to see around again someday, I’d like to know how he is) He was someone I just loved his no-bullshit vibe. We didn’t agree on all things but our back-and-forths worked because there was respect.
I’d call those the good ol’ days, but I’m not sure if that is accurate, I rarely had interactions on my posts and the time I spent writing compared to pennies earned could start to get frustrating.
It’s weird that part of Hive, even though Facebook, Twitter, Insta, and most people on YouTube will never receive a penny, we happily share our content. Yet on Hive, somehow it could be incredibly disheartening when the upvotes didn’t come. At first, any amount of money just felt amazing, but after a bit, that satisfaction of getting pennies faded.
I feel like the switch for me happened after a Curie upvote; it was so cool to get that big upvote that when I went back to pennies, it left a hole. Left me chasing that upvote dragon, lol; I still feel it today to some extent.
Ha, and I know that the Hive purists would say, it shouldn’t be about the money. And I agree, but I also am pragmatic and think we must face it honestly and recognize that the system is built this way and thus it is about the money. Hivians can do things to downplay it, encourage and demonstrate all the better reasons that are very true and proof that is not only about the money. But most who join will see money first, and in my view, I think there are healthy ways to leverage that….but alas, I’m getting off topic, and this wasn’t what I came to write about.
I came to write about my 2000k followers milestone and what got me personally hooked on Hive to stick around for all those followers to find my Butt! In my case, it was the combination of the engagement with people all over the world and that leading to real-world Meet-ups. It’s great meeting people online and making connections, but traveling across the world and meeting people in real life…that was the real game changer.
When I got on a train headed to Liverpool, U.K., to meet a stranger, many would have called me crazy, and those many may be right. Yet I felt I knew @raj808 already, and sure enough, the first Hivian (then Steemian) I ever met was a long weekend over New Year’s. What an amazing dude @raj808 was to take me into his home and show me around Liverpool, meeting his friends and celebrating the New Year. Almost 6 years to the day from today… wishing @raj808 a wonder new year 2025!
Here is the post link if you want to check it… the writing is still there, but the vid no longer plays
https://hive.blog/dtube/@buttcoins/ocfbtrym
My next online-to-the-real-world follower experience was with @lidac (a poet who is no longer active 😢) and @abbak7. Here we had a funny drunken back-and-forth where @abbak7 invited me to come visit him in New Orleans. I remember it being something like: Me - Sure, I’ll come, but not sure when I can. Him- I’ll buy you a ticket to come right now. Me - Are you serious? Him - Are you serious? Next thing I know, I’m boarding a flight to New Orleans. You can check the post and video here… https://hive.blog/meetup/@buttcoins/xh6twfe8 ha, this is when I got smart and posted both to Dtube (fucking Dtube gone 🤦♂️) and YouTube…so this video is still watchable on YouTube.
Had the pleasure of meeting back up with @abbak7 with the entire family at Hivefest Croatia…!! 💖
The other key piece of my Hive puzzle was @ddaily. A community that has unfortunately faded but whose spirit lives strong in my journey. A group of creators dedicated to Daily Decentralized content, mostly video. I met so many amazing folks through that community. @artakush @minigunner @kevinli @camuel @captainbob @bimjer @adetorrent @neopch @greencross @tibfox @myndnow @jongolson @slayerkm @maneki-neko There are surely other names, but these popped into my head as I wrote. Many of the names in that list went to Hivefest in Krakow. And boy was that a major point of stick for me. We rented a big apartment and called it the Ddaily Mansion. What a complete fucking blast that was! I’ve chased that joy dragon to 4 Hivefests!
Now I have had many other meetups over the years (just recently met up with @knowhow92 and will soon have a meet-up post about that experience. But these meetups have been the hook for my time here on Hive.
I encourage all Hivians to take that extra step when possible to go from behind the screen to in front of the screen in real-life existence.
And there we have it, 2000k followers as a product of 7 years of engagement online leading to engagement in real life. I want to thank everyone who chose to follow me. You are appreciated, Hive friends! Hope to see you for real someday 😎
Congrats on the milestone dude. I'm a bit late to the comment party as I was AFK the last 3 days.
Ha ha, it was great meeting you too m8, both here in Liverpool that first time and at SF in Krakow.
It has been a wild hive ride from the olden days of 'the chain that none shall mention'... ooops 🤣 and many have dropped off the map for sure. But ya know, it has always been about the quality of content on here for me - and I don't mean just my own content 😂 - and that is the biggest sadness that I see in many of the content creator who have left, many of them created quality content. Which kinda ties into the subject of rewards you have mentioned on this post. I think that many of those people left because they often didn't/couldn't earn even a fraction of what their posts were worth, even if you nail it down to a dollar/hour value model. But, well... these types of discussion have flogged the proverbial dead horse.
As someone has mentioned already in the comment thread, perhaps with an alt season that includes a meaningful increase of value in the hive token (which might happen soon if the continuous down trend in hive/btc value flips) then many might return, along with a whole host of new creative people turning up to add content (which is the real value of this network IMO) to the hive 🙂
I still see plenty of decent content on hive though, and many use it more like a social network (commenting more than posting) than a blog site, which is fine. @buttcoins you're among those people who bring value with your content m8ty, hence the milestone of 2000 followers.
Keep on keeping on buddy 👍
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Congratulations man - 2000 followers that is one heck of a milestone for sure! I'm surprised you didn't hit it sooner actually given how interesting your content is and the positive efforts you make around the Hive community.
It's certainly a time for reflection as you have done. I too sometimes reflect on the people from the legacy chain who are now sadly absent on Hive, there is such a history to this place.
As you know I was very pleased to see you were still around when I joined Hive back in September because there weren't that many people I knew. I found old accounts from people I knew back in the Steemit days but I soon discovered they were not active.
Hopefully if we get that alt season more former users will return and you might be able to reconnect with some of those peeps you mention in the post and have a catch up with them.
It's weird isn't it, I know this is just the internet but when it comes to a platform like Hive you really can build long lasting relationships, such is the unique combination of the social and the financial you find on Hive.
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Cheers m8! Yeah, after the hardfork I was generally frustrated and I missed out on 2 years where I really wasn’t voting or posting… so I think that slowed my follower tally.
Appreciate the kind words about my content though… I try to share posts that are real and meaningful to me, so I’m always hopeful that these posts translate to proof of brain for others.
As to old users drifting back in… yeah, I think there is a real chance to win back 10-20% of the steemians if there was a coordinated campaign. #hivewelcomeback
I keep toying with trying to find a catchy name, then maybe seeing if any support for idea could be garnered.
And for sure, Hive is unique utility in the crypto space. While so many chains just seem void of any real purpose. Hive really is a vehicle to cut the CEO middle man out from the social media equation. That we are all mini CEO is so powerful but simultaneously perhaps what can at times hold us back… as when the big boys get to downvoting it can leave a bad taste in the small hp accounts. I have witnessed people getting chased away because of the opinion they hold, and that kinda negates the freedom of speech and nobody can take your account from you argument.
The argument is true… your account will always be there, but when your rep gets blasted to oblivion for your opinions…. Gets kinda icky.
I’m all for scammers, plagerizers and abusers of the reward pool getting DV blasted. But if I don’t agree with somebody’s ideas, I just don’t engage or upvote their posts, I don’t need or want them chased off of Hive. Flat earthers are dipshits, but they should be able to post without having their rep destroyed.
Haha, rant tangent!
I’m in complete agreement that the relationships formed here on hive are often special and long lasting, and it having the financial tie in is certainly a sticky factor that binds.
👍
Next milestone 5k...😎
I remember waiting to read @sultnpapper 's next post, now that you tagged him, maybe he will comeback...
Thanks for the mention, that was unexpected & Stay You!!!
Yeah, followers seem harder to come by these days. The follow for follow days are done 😅
Yeah, I hope @sultnpapper does a check in at some point! Would be good to hear from that dude!
And of course I’m gonna shout you out my man. You are a genuine soul, a true sweetheart.
From my view, many in this life will say things, but you’re the guy that follows through.
Glad you took the plunge and came to Hivefest!
You are just pushing it too much, I'm just a good piece of shit...😎🤪
I can't really change even if I try...
You can hide behind the grumpy external, but I know you got a squishy sensitive center! 🤓
👍
Congratulations my man! It was great reading about your journey and remembering the ddaily days :) Unfortunately I was not able to attend this year's Hivefest but I am sure we will meet some day and then we can look back on more than 7 years ;)
Hell ya. It was far too short in krakow for sure.
You have always been an impressive human to me.
I look up to your skills in so many areas. But it is your spirit toward the collective that you have always stood out in my eyes. A true team player and Hive is damn lucky to have you on the Team!
Big love my friend! I look forward to that next meet-up!
Congratulations!!! 2K followers is a huge number and it indeed takes time to add another 100 on top... Especially in bear markets...
It was great to meet you in HiveFest, and I hope we will meet again at the next Hive meetup!
All the best to you and your cool family!!
I’m so glad we had that chat at billiards! 🎱 It’s been so good to continue the journey after Hivefest in the humpday chats.
It’s been really good getting to know you more and more!
When we learn more about our online friends, we will have more topics to talk about at the next RL meetup!!! 💜
My brother…congrats!!! No one deserves more than you. Still love those ddaily days and hope we can all get together again soon.
Kind words…Thanks Capt!
Was recently chatting with Artakush about re-kindling that ddaily energetic. We gotta find a way to bottle it again for sure!
And yes to the next meet-up!
I’m away now, but you will always have a spot with me in Guate! Just say the word! ✊
This is so cool! Congrats on the milestone and on making all these things happen in real life :) It does take a little bit of crazy (but only the very best kind!) :D
Thanks @honeydue
Somehow we managed to both be at another Hivefest and not directly meet 🤦♂️🤣
I kept meaning to say hi, but every time we were near each other you or I was engrossed in conversation. As we should be I guess 😎
And yes, I like to think the good kinda crazy! I certainly haven’t been accused of sanity much 😉
See you at the next passing ships Hivefest. 🚢
Ha, maybe it will be on a cruise
I keep hearing the cruise idea! Hope it's less windy than the boat ride, if it does end up at sea. I was just the same. At the next one, for sure. We say hi. Until then, happy New Year to you and your lovely family! :)
That’s a nice milestone and definitely a motivation to others and myself included to keep the hive spirit burning. Sometimes I think it’s very easy to forget about Hive assuming the money wasn’t there and I agree with you, no matter how much some people would like to sugarcoat the “not in for the money mantra” it’s still why we were even able to have the discussion in the first place.
Congrats on your 2k followers btw…did you just say 3k next year? Well, I wish you luck on your next milestone I think it pays to stick around and be active around here than anywhere else.
Would be sweet to hit 3k next year. Ya never know!
Thank for jumping in my blog with the supportive words!
And yeah, some humans may want to make this life not just about the money, and that is admirable, it shouldn’t be just about the money. But whether we like it or not, current existence is distinctly tied to money, we can’t run from that in life or on Hive.
Legend!
Congrats on the achievement!!
Thanks my man! Here’s to finding Thrive in 2025!
Awesome story! Hive on for the Next 7 years! 🙌🏻
Thanks for reading and commenting!
Hallo Tibfox,
ich vote zur Zeit nicht regelmäßig auf hive und wollte der 'do it yourself' community meine HP delegieren. Aber da ich Dich als Person kenne und unser Treffen in Aachen echt super fand, dachte ich ich gebe ein Großteil meiner Hivepower dir.
Als ich Dich getroffen habe, dachte ich mir: Was für ein cooler Mensch, der macht echt alles selbst und hat Spaß dabei.
Ich hoffe daß du meine HP fruchtbar einsetzt
@buttcoins, I paid out 0.284 HIVE and 0.098 HBD to reward 10 comments in this discussion thread.