Noticed this only after your comment on my article:). Great to see more people powering up. In almost 4 years I have only initiated a power down once, namely when the news of the acquisition broke and I had no idea what that would mean for Steem. I may look to power back up to those levels that I were at again soon.
I think Hive should be the social profile on the web that people know that they really own and want to see grow over time. One they can expect to use across a wide variety of applications and be in direct touch with each other (as you say).
I do think there is a lot more need to "promote Hive". Just not on Hive...
Probably, the most productive thing to do is to just focus on building one's own communities that we feel comfortable brining people we know elsewhere onto. I have been on a bit of a spree there lately and helped onboard 5 people the past 2 weeks. Hope to keep on going from there and Make #Norway Great Again :)