The other day, I was talking about my work life a little, and how the company I am employed at went through a recapitalization. This means that venture capital exited for a profit, and new venture capital bought hoping to make future profits. It was a very large exit for the initial VC, which means that the new VC has bought at a high premium. But who knows, perhaps there is a long way up still to go for the company.
But, what has changed is that up until this point, every employee has been a part owner of the company. Sure, it might not be that much for some people, but it is still significant for many and absolutely life-changing for a few. Now though, rather than working for a future payoff, everyone will be working for a salary alone, and that changes a lot of the motivations behind the work. I suspect that even for many minor holders, their "attachment" to the work place has just decreased significantly.
Skin in the game
Skin in the game
having a personal investment, usually monetary, in the pursuit of a goal or achievement. This concept is often used in business, finance, and investing, where individuals or entities put their own resources at risk to achieve a desired outcome.
On Hive, it is pretty easy to get some skin in the game, without using one's own monetary resources. This is done by creating content of some sort and getting votes from others who have put their own skin, stake, into the game themselves, so they can draw some value from the pool and allocate it as they deem fit. And when they allocate on authors, that author is going to get a bump to their platform reputation, the number next to their name.
This is mine:
While that is the fifth highest rep on the platform, the reputation itself doesn't really mean much by itself, as all it is is an indicator of vote amounts over time. For instance, the highest rep on the platform is this:
This is part of an initiative that helps to stabilize the price of HBD at 1 dollar US, which has been relatively successful over the last couple years. But as you can see, it has only posted ten times, so it is the comments that are getting the votes daily. Yet, while the gap between 84 and that 99.11 rep might not seem so much, at my current rate of posting and votes received, it would probably take me about 40 years to get there. That is just an estimate, and perhaps someone can do the math, but you get the point.
It is unreachable.
But, while the reputation might not indicate much by itself, coupled with HP held, it tells a bit of a story in many cases, Because if a person has a high rep, but doesn't have much HP, it means that they have been getting voted significantly, but not leaving even the half they get pre-staked in, so they have powered down. There are some other alternatives to this, but it is likely that 95% of the time or more, that is the case.
I stole these images from @azircon's post, which is worth a read.
The first image is a chart that is showing the held HP against the reputation, and the one below has it conveniently separated into the informal classes of dolphins (5000+ HP), Orcas (50,000+ HP) and whales (500,000+ HP).
Do you notice something?
These are actually the 1000 largest holders of Hive Power. This means the top 1000 accounts with the most skin in the game. While this is an imprecise way to do this, if you have a look at the high reps around the 75-85 mark you will see that there are a lot of accounts, with the majority of them being in the dolphin category. Again, imprecise, but we can assume that because of the reputation score, these accounts are or have been at some point in time, creator accounts - people who have earned their reputation through the staked votes of others, and therefore, have also earned Hive Power, and likely HBD.
If you remember from above, in order to allocate from the pool, it takes stake. And what this means is that those who don't have stake, can't allocate the rewards pool. So, those who have high reputations but have little Hive Power, have earned from people with skin in the game, but haven't invested into having much skin in the game themselves, which means that they can't reward much to other content creators like themselves, or support the same communities that they themselves have benefited from.
Do you see any issues?
Once earned and in ones own wallet, people can do as they please with their HIVE and HBD. However, if looking at this from an investors point of view, why would an investor invest into people who aren't willing to invest themselves into the same investment? People who aren't willing to share some of the risk and put a little of their skin in the game.
To each their own.
However, I always find it interesting when people talk about how great Hive is, or how they want the token to go up, but they aren't actually invested. Yes, I get that people can do what they want with their Hive, but what they are making themselves are employees, not owners.
Being an employee is great, because it carries very little responsibility and no business risk. There is also the benefit that an employee can just quit and walk away, without a loss. However, an employee doesn't get much benefit from business success and of course, an employee can be fired at any time.
No one can be fired on Hive.
No one can stop an account from posting or even from it getting voted on. But, people can stop voting, people can downvote, people can mute in communities and entire front ends if the owners choose to do so. An employee on Hive who posts for an income stream but holds nothing, can build no income stream for themselves. Nor can they distribute any value to other accounts, which means that they are unable to support people who like them, are looking to earn. Even if the content is good, is it good enough to not care about the rest of the community?
Unlikely.
I am somewhere in that clump of people who have high reputations, as well as a fair amount of Hive Power. I have taken Hive out on occasion, I have also bought Hive on occasion, and I have supported other Hive projects on occasion. And as many know, I keep on creating content daily, in the hope of inspiring people to improve their lives, including their financial lives.
Forever an employee?
One of the things I have spoken about many times and love about Hive, is here, I get to be an owner-operator. I get to work and get paid for it, but I have the chance to continually buy into the model and own a little of it. I am part employee because I rely on votes for my content, but I am also part owner of the pool and can both distribute and earn from the pool through curation. But, just like the investors who bought the company I work for, I don't want to support employees who aren't willing to play their part in adding value and, content creation alone really isn't enough.
There is plenty of content on the internet already.
So what makes the content on Hive different isn't in the content itself, but it is in the community aspect of it. A person can be a great creator, but if they aren't actually adding value to the community through that creation, is it valuable? What "value" means is open to interpretation and comes with many exceptions for sure, but it is something to consider.
If you were a venture capitalist that invested in Hive in the hope of increasing the value of the platform you part own, what kind of content and what kind of creator would you invest into?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Taraz, you wrote about my fav topic! LOL. I am going to bore you to death.
Incomplete, Taraz, incomplete!!
Governing Dynamics....Adam Smith's century old economic theory: "In competition, individual ambition serves the common good"
However, Adam Smith was wrong!
Dr. John Nash's famous PhD thesis proved him wrong.
Dr. Nash proved:
the best result will come from everyone in the group doing what's best for himself … and the group.
It was beautifully featured in a scene of The Beautiful Mind
And that is Nash Equilibrium! One of the pioneering economic theories of our time!
I should have had a question mark :D
And yes, the best result is maximizing the self, which almost undoubtedly means supporting the group too. One can really only maximize oneself if living the life of a hermit. But, once there are two people, the maximization of the self that is possible increases as there are more resources and the ability to compound results. Two people can lift a heavier log to make a shelter than one person can alone.
Hive is a beautiful thing. It should run like a well oiled machine with every participant engaging, posting and upvoting their way around the chain, but somewhere along the way somebody forgot to bring the oil can
Perhaps rather than oil for the tinman, they forgot the heart for the lion and brains for the scarecrow? :D
Ha! You're absolutely correct lol
Indeed
Incorrect. As an "owner" as you put it, I feel it's my duty to once again point at the world outside, the people there, and the money in their pockets. With that, an "employee" on Hive can build an income stream for themselves, PLUS create several more "owners," all by themselves.
Geez you guys... lol
It is possible, but also unlikely by itself. The people who have come into Hive to invest seem to be those who have met people on Hive already, rather than a single piece or many pieces of content from a single author. It is not completely unheard of, but rare. It would be nice if it was more common though.
Yes. So, in order for something like Patreon to be a success, the content creator able to attract an audience first says, "Please support my Patreon." Patreon isn't building that trust. The consumers trust the content creator. Without that element, very few would support Patreon.
That's how these things take shape.
Of course some noob that needs to be reminded plagiarism is bad wouldn't be able to pull something like that off.
That's why I view damn near all onboarding attempts these days as wasted potential. People starting from scratch, majority won't succeed, and all are dependents. Zero chance of bringing in eyes and/or money. Zero. Zilch.
But we pay them anyway? Knowing that's the result? Money out the door. They'll last three months, or sit there collecting autovotes for years for the same effort that rarely grabs outside attention. Rinse and repeat.
Meanwhile someone with talent and a market on the outside isn't made aware of this potential to create their own revenue stream. They think their only option is to wait for the votes to fall from the sky. They might create a few instances of content, hardly get rolling, and leave, because they know they're better than that. They'd also tarnish their own brand attempting to make it fit in so it appeals to The Community.
Plus there's only what? 1000 paying consumers here? The odds of their product being appealing to that 1000 people is slim to none. Speaking in general. Not every video on Youtube gets 1 billion views for a reason.
People generating revenue streams is not rare at all. It's rare here because in many ways, the "owners" make it rarity.
As "owner" I should point out any advice I have to offer melts away in ten minutes or less so please read this as fast as possible. Yeah. That line is just a joke... kind of.
The mindset and patterns established over the past several years here are contributing to stagnation. And I know that's an unpopular opinion. Not just saying it for views. I know we can do better.
The opportunity to reach outside, grab your audience and bring it in with a solid deal that actually rewards paying contributors exists. I see tremendous potential there.
Yet, even Patreon has its centralized processes to influence the outcomes of results, which has supposedly seen some of the larger creators who are interested in being free, move away from that support. There is also a trend to move away from earning from ad revenue for the same reason. And, it is the ad revenue that makes the other platforms attractive, because the amount is immense. People will give up a lot of their moral stances, when there is money on the table and they can get a slice.
Perhaps one of the problems in attracting outside eyes through content creation, is what is created isn't unique to Hive. The only really unique content on Hive, is stuff like this, about Hive. Maybe this is a key of sorts, where the content for Hive is attractive enough outside of Hive to bring people in and take an interest. Basketball doesn't have talk shows about Curling to attract fans to an NBA game.
Talking to a few people like nonames and antisocial, one of the things I'm actually starting to do myself is focus my votes on the people that are building themselves on the platform, not the ones who just dump everything. It's actually a really good strategy and it helps us drive the better adoption of investing in the platform instead of just cashing it all out. Becoming an owner-operator instead of an employee.
Plus it's fun to give some (for me) good 50 and 75% votes to content! I was always a 10-20% guy but focusing on a better userbase I think is a really good strategy. We can increase those owner numbers!
It is the way to go and it is fun to think that one day, if it does turn into something bigger here, you have helped people who have helped you to make a better life :)
I think what I noticed first was when I joined Hive I was number 828,518 and now 150 so what happened to those 828K accounts who started before me? Yes some are alt accounts, but the others should see what Hive offers for the future and stake is what guarantees the future. Stake is what make Hive work because without this Hive would not function or have value.
I wonder what it would look like if everyone who earned from the start had staked 75% of it all?
A totally different place and I guess Hive would be more valuable. I think the bigger problem however is the funding Hive does with various projects that dump the tokens offering very little benefit.
That’s some nice growth! Maybe a few sold out their stakes though…
Azircon posts and this further explanation from you are really eye opening. I have been more of a Hive content creator (mostly employee as you say) staking just 50% into HIVE power and Splinterlands player allocating some of the curation rewards into SPS. I will have to allocate more into HIVE power going forward...
Staking the 50% is better than many :)
I think that Hive and SL users should spend more time creating good content on Hive for SL and building power to better support other SL players on the platform. There tends to be more of a maximize SL approach though, which can end in problems like we saw with the fund proposal.
Well, I have switched to 100% power up and will try to reach 10,000 HIVE power by the end of the year with Hive Day powerups.
This is so real. An employee can work and work and work for someone else's business but at the end he's probably given some amount of money or assets as farewell gifts. After that, the owner, continues to succeed in his business while the employee probably goes about looking for another job to start from the scratch.
This was really inspiring to read. Although, I'm still way behind, but with more discipline, I'll be able to achieve it.
Thank you for sharing this with us on hive. Thank you
This is also the problem if relying on a centralized platform for income - they own everything, including access to the community a creator has built.
Mmmmm I am not an employee here, I am investor, unfortunately for me when Cub from Leo was launch I put a big bag inside and lost s lot of my shares here.
For this reason right now I am in the shadows, only waiting, with my hand ready to shutting, waiting the moment for convert my options in a lot of stake and recover my places, for this reason I am taking step back, and only waiting.
Unfortunately a lot of people here come and received a salary and spend it immediately, some others come and save a little waiting to get more in the best opportunity.
Best regards.
And do not forget I am a stakeholder of hive, with his gunfire ready.
Yeah - Cub was essentially a rug pull - which is sad.
I feel like it is really similar to getting a job but then not doing anything to advance yourself once you earn the job. If you just keep taking, you aren't going to grow. It's just going to cause you to stagnate and then eventually burn out.
Perhaps it is because a lot of people here don't seem to be able to hold a steady job?
That could be. The days of getting hired somewhere and retiring from the same place are long gone.
I am relatively new compared to many who have several years on the blockchain and when I started I took classes from a group to know how to use and post, but none of those who taught who are Hiver with high reputation even owners of communities do not do it much less promote hive ignition and if they have done it once or twice in all the time they have on the platform, it is a lot, but if they have the loyal votes of the most known whales then the biggest ones the most reputable and experiences should set an example and teach the newer ones and they don't do it and sadly we end up doing the same as them if you are right you opened my eyes I am one more employee I will try to change and every month do a hive ignition.
Those groups that claim to teach how to hive tend not to work very well in the long term. Might be okay to learn basics, but it isn't the kind of thing that gets consistent support.
I would invest in content where Hive members sell something to each other (for HBD). For example, stamps, coins, rare books, etc.
There used to be a few marketplaces - don't know what happened to them.
I love these posts! With the datapoints and the entire “social” Hive ecosystem. Great read!
Cheers - the graphs are great! I wish I could make them :)
Interesting. I took heart from the 85% of the 1,000 top HP holders who held more HP than they had earned through author and curation rewards 😁.
Yeah! It was a bit of a surprise :)
Apparently I'm #344 for Hive Power stake and #487 for reputation. Does that count as skin in the game?
I think so :)
It’s clear that some people post on Hive just to milk out everything
I see people make withdrawals and power downs.
Now, I make withdrawal once a week too and my account is still quite new but I have been able to build it to 122HP or more cos I really can’t remember
It’s easy to build wealth here but if everyone decides to take all the Hive they earn and exchange it for other crypto, we won’t have much investors on here
That’s why I have planned to limit the way I withdraw too and save up some more
Hive isn’t a work even though we can build generational wealth
If everyone does it, there will be more stake in the pool for me ;)
Hi,
I don't fully understand this concept exactly:
“A person can be a great creator, but if they aren't actually adding value to the community through that creation, is it valuable? What "value" means is open to interpretation and comes with many exceptions for sure, but it is something to consider.”
Is the value you cite “human-artistic” or is it a “mechanical-monetary” based value for the purpose of blockchain life/expansion?
Is the value of a post, of a creation (a text or an image), given by the amount of votes?
Is Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa an artistically interesting work even without viewers?
Does it have intrinsic value?
If value is given by the amount of votes, does an ugly/poor post (text or image) that receives so many votes add value to the community?
What do you think?
No - because there is no one to view it. Without a viewer, where does the interest come from?
This has given me a gleam into how reputation and voting work to make hive progress
An inspirational read! thanks for the content, it went well with my morning coffee :-)
I'm pretty sure you've written in the past about how you wished you had cashed out in 2021 when the Hive price was decent, and paid off your mortgage.
Suppose you'd done that. You'd have a higher net worth than you do now, your wife would be happy, and you'd sleep better at night knowing you'd secured your family's roof.
But you'd be getting crapped on in articles by strangers on Hive for not scoring well in the graphs Azircon produces about holding versus cashing out.
I guess it depends on what people value more; their family security, or peer pressure from strangers on Hive! It's a difficult one, isn't it? :-)
Nice to see you repurpose some of that cool data that Azircon shared. I would too if my dot was that big. 5th-highest reputation on Hive. Now that is an incredible achievement. I've been enjoying seeing my rank inch higher and higher in the 60s.
I might need to buy some Hive to break into the 70s! Maybe I'll start swapping my AFIT tokens into HIVE. Also have some staked LEO lying around that I don't really use much after my failed attempt to get my inleo short-form content up and running. Maybe one of these days I'll take a shot at using the premium feature to see if the juice is worth the squeeze.