I love this as a solution. @demotruk
Here's a TL;DR version of my thoughts below:
Hive's true value lies in its ability to engage users. Most social media users prefer short, effortless content for interaction. By attracting these users to Hive, even high-value content gains a wider audience. However, the value of content shouldn't solely depend on the effort involved. Quick, impactful posts can be as rewarding as lengthier ones. Hive's success hinges on recognizing and appropriately rewarding valuable content, similar to TikTok's rise with brief, engaging posts. This approach allows rewarding quality short-form content while evaluating its impact on the platform.
Original Version Pre AI Shortening:
Honestly, the thing that most people miss to me is that Hive's real inherent value is this: It's ability to capture and keep people's attention.
As you pointed out - most people don't go to social media to consume articles, they go there to interact with friends and family or topics they enjoy.
We need a space for short form low effort content, because it's what most people already do. The reality is if we get enough of those people to hive... they're also going to be around when the high value articles/videos/etc... get spread and make them have more of an audience (which I'm sure is part of why people post content in the first place).
People tend to couple the value of something too much to the amount of work put into it though. Value is derived from what people receive.
Someone who spends hours working on a long crappy post should be no more rewarded than someone who spends seconds on a short crappy post.
But someone who spends minutes on an amazing post that people love and causes them to want to be apart of Hive and contribute to the ecosystem should be well rewarded regardless of the work that went into it.
Essentially we're operating on a theory that the more "valuable" content will help to make Hive more valuable as well. I think this is true, but I think it's not fully or properly understood and thus tends to be poorly implemented or executed.
There's a reason why TikTok shot to one of the biggest socials and why X/Twitter or even Threads continue to have a place in the social landscape... people enjoy hearing/reading short thoughts and they can be valuable (sometimes more valuable than the things that people spend hours writing thousands of words on...)
This implementation you're describing would be a solid way to have your cake and eat it too.
I think people posting short form can and should be rewarded highly if it's justified, but we'd at least have a way to judge that etc...
(For instance, if someone is posting and very routinely goes over their Cap per post and we see that they bring traffic, users, or a wide variety of votes that aren't automated - I wouldn't' feel bad if that person ups their cap- but that'd be very different than someone posting spam content to farm rewards)