I've been thinking about how to market Hive in a way that resonates with people on my side of the world. š One of the current hot topics is growing Hiveās user base. Onboarding new users and improving retention has been a consistent challenge ever since I joined the platform.
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Itās often the case that people join Hive but never make a meaningful contribution, whether through posting content or engaging with others. This pattern has persisted, and it can be frustrating to see users lose interest and leave.
I'm curious why so many give up on their journey with Hive, even when they're aware of the platformās benefits and potential rewards. What causes that disconnect?
It makes me wonder if people leave because Hive is focused on long-form blogging. But then again, there are other platforms where users post blogs without any financial incentives, and yet they remain actively engaged. Maybe it's a lack of awareness about Hive. But what about those who do know about it and still choose to stay away, continuing to contribute on Web2 platforms despite receiving little to no return?
Maybe they donāt see the rewards on Hive as appealing as the attention they receive on Web2 platforms. Chances are, they simply want their content to be seen by others. This is especially true for people who arenāt focused on monetary rewards. Those who aren't driven by money often seek attention instead.
At the end of the day, understanding what truly motivates users is key to growing and sustaining Hiveās community. Whether it's rewards, recognition, or connection, we need to meet people where they are. With the right approach, Hive can become a platform that offers both value and a sense of belonging.
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For me the two go hand-in-hand. A post that you put a lot of effort into that doesn't pay out decently is discouraging but getting a nice amount of interaction from even one or two people still makes it feel worth it.
I actually gave up writing about comics because the engagement was mostly nonexistent, and the rewards were the same (unless curie stepped in which was appreciated).
Absolutely!
When effort is met with either rewards or genuine interaction, it makes all the difference. Niche content deserves love too.
number 1 reason is not getting enough upvote.
Yep, early upvotes can make or break a new userās experience. Visibility really shapes motivation.
I kind of agree with @namiks comment. I started posting animated videos and I got really low engagement and it almost made want to stop posting. Even if web2 apps don't give or give little incentives, at least people would still interact and you feel happy that someone enjoys seeing your work.
But here on hive, it seems some users perceive the platform more like a money making scheme than a place for fun.
And also I was thinking about the interface. People resonate more with visuals(pictures or videos). I could spend hours on Instagram or tiktok cos it's more of visuals. Here on hive, most communities set standards for writing a lot of words. To be honest, not everybody has that patience to read it. Maybe if the frontends and also communities promote visual content than having to write too many words.
You really nailed it there. Some things are far too niche for the low number of Hive users. And the communities that are large are the only ones that do have some life to them, and all that does is kill off niche interests. Photography/travel does the best here, and videos have fallen off massively in the past two years because the effort to make them is far too high and you're unlikely to make much from it. Written content takes the reigns.
And the same regarding web2.0. There's more growth opportunities there even if you don't have that instant access to monetisation. More people using it, more views/eyes on your creations that can lead to something more.
You are very correct about web 2.0 not giving instant monetisation but at least people would have eyes on you and could lead to something more. I like hives niche communities. It make it easier for you to find the content you're looking to digest. But the smaller communities lack life like you said and it makes people run away.
I think this discussion is something moderators of hive should actually look at.
On Instagram or tiktok, you could post a picture or video and you would see an engagement that would actually make you smile.
Hive is a very good initiative. Users being able to monetize their content.
I understand that it's difficult for communities, especially ones that curate manually. Its not easy checking a large volume of users post. But what makes hive and web3 special is being able to monetize your content instantly which web2.0 fails in.
But, it doesn't serve its purpose again when you could spend hours or even days trying to cook good content but you end up not getting good reward or even viewers engagement. Anyone would want to stop posting.
Hive wants to expand but the truth is, if it's difficult monitoring every user and curating whose content is quality or not, it'll be harder retaining current users and future ones when it expand even more.
Precisely. And we have seen throughout the years how easy it is to bleed active users. Last time I saw we had about 4.6k actually active people on here. And still we see how people burn out and drop off either from harsh downvote lists that end up permanent, or just losing motivation with posting due to how much time it can actually take. Especially with reading other people, commenting on their posts, then doing your own thing. daltono was a daily poster on here with 60k HP and he's now powered the whole account down because he is on a permanent blacklist (he did fuck up with using AI to post but even with others giving him a second chance, another won't). That's a person with 60k HP that's now about to sell it all and leave.
And you're right because we have actually seen it. Newcomers come and try to figure out Hive, it gets a bit overwhelming or they make a few mistakes and they're instantly targeted. It's a great challenge to integrate these days. Especially given the time investment to build a few followers and get some engagement going when your rep is like 50. Most people probably won't even consider opening a 50 rep person's post in the first place, let alone consider voting it. Now add in the possibility of that new poster posting about their niche interests that aren't massive here on Hive, and they're destined to leave. No comments, no votes, no follows. They see a dead experience from the start.
There are a few initiatives aimed at helping new posters, but as you said that's where the difficulty of monitoring comes in. That would also end up being almost a full-time (unpaid) job for another Hive poster that's constantly scouting.
Things are messy and it's not easy to even think of a solution to these problems. I definitely have no idea and wouldn't even claim to know. But we all see the problems still.
Though I do think it would be good if front-ends had a page that would randomly pick a selection of posts from any community. Like a feed of random posts to check out across the platform. Peakd has "All Topics" under the Explore dropdown but that's just showing the most recent posts or the ones already discovered and considered Trending.
Yes this. I agree. And also the algorithm should be better.
When I open my feeds, sometimes I see only posts from one community and a set of people and topic. It's not diverse enough.
Frontends need to fix up their algorithm so users content can reach more users.
The Ecency promotion feature doesn't seem effective.
I've been using it and it shows almost no result.
There is no algorithm here, which I think comes as a positive and a negative. I really don't like that on Hive we have this weird system in which posts after 24 hours are not considered worthy of voting, regardless of the content. Because then curators don't get the full curation reward. I've even seen people that delegate to curation guilds complain about the guilds voting after 24 hours! Insanity. It means everything has to be recent. It's all focused on the now, not yesterday. So not only do we have people only searching very specific communities on here, they're mostly looking at posts that are from the last 4 hours. That's the lack of algorithm.
An algorithm that goes across the platform would be bad since it'd enforce this mentality more and only show people what they want to see. Not much would change for the good by improving discovery. But yeah even having a separate page that just shows new and older posts would be good. We need to abandon this mentality of curation being purely for the curator's own benefit and curate up to that 7th day. And also encourage people to curate posts that are good even if the subject doesn't interest them directly. Good posts are still good even if you can't relate to it.
Well said. Well said šš¾šš¾
Totally agree with you
I like your thinking
I really hope this conversation is seen by the right audience.
A change is needed for the growth of hive.
We should connect š
Maybe on discord or IG . Any media of your choice is fine
Totally agree. Visual-first formats are key in todayās attention economy. Hive could grow so much by embracing short-form and video content better.
Thank youu. I really hope this conversation gets seen by the right person and it's attended to š¤š½
Sending Love and Ecency Curation Vote!
Please Vote for our New Proposal! š
Thanks for the support and the vote!
You're welcome! :)
well most social media are not social for some time now. hive can be if you find a community that is active and into things that interest you. one of the reasons i staid in the crash of 2018 was the photography community at that time.
tbh i never made a connection on instagram or youtube that made me want to drive 500km to meat up with someone :D
So true... Hive's real strength is in meaningful social connections. Thatās rare online, and itās what keeps communities alive.
This questions come up every few weeks. I never understood why people think they could make a quick buck just by posting something. It takes some time and effort and most important what most people don't do is to engage with other posts and comments. Just posting and hope for the best doesn't work.
Engagement is key!
When you interact with other users it's likely that they will do the same. I would even say engagement is more important than everything else. Make good posts, answer to the good comments and then go out, explore Hive and read other posts and comment.
!BBH !ALIVE !PIMP
100% agree. Engagement is the engine of Hive. Post, comment, connect without that loop, nothing really takes off.
Exactly!
!INDEED !BBH
I think they give up because they are writing here solely for money. When the money doesn't meet their "effort", they will be gone.
!BBH !ALIVE
Thatās a big factor.
Without engagement or visible traction, people feel like itās not worth the effortāeven if Hive has long-term potential.
As we can see from other platform like YouTube and Meta, creator post and create content daily is due to monetary reason. Consumers will follow once the content creator are established. Just my opinion.
Well said. Creators lead the way; if Hive helps them grow, the audience will follow. Monetization is a tool, not the whole story.
#hive
In theory, both could go together, meaningful engagement fuelling monetary rewards. I think sometimes it's a lack of patience or having a vision that's different from what the core community has on this ecosystem.
Itās the endless downvoting that drives everyone away from Hive.
Valid point. Downvotes without context are disheartening.
On the other hand ā¦ Downvotes are a blessing in disguise.
I Sold all my Hive at $3 to buy Bitcoin at $16,000 ā¦ and retired.
I have just a tiny lit bit of Hive and HBD now.