One thing that I noticed is that engagement is a bit dead on Hive. I think some users are just playing shitpost and earn in the community and doesn't really focus on blog and community building.
I, myself, has the same mindset sometimes, but I stay in the community just for fun and writing...and also building connection helps a lot.
The recent feature, @commentrewarder, might help to increase engagement anyway. But in the end, it's always the rewards that will push the users to do so.
Engagement isn't dead, most just don't make content most would want to see. There is no shortage of content but I just don't see the point of engaging on posts with topics I'm not even interested in. If no one can ass themselves to comment on a YouTube video, TikTok, IG, or twitter even if they like the comment, then that applies for Hive. Forced engagement is meh. A lot of the stuff I'm interested in isn't posted on Hive.