What will it take to bring Hive into the mainstream? I’ve been blogging on this blockchain (and the earlier iteration of it) for almost seven years. This equates to at least three or four lifetimes in the blockchain world. That entire time we’ve collectively been asking ourselves this haunting question.
I’ve seen several valiant attempts to promote Hive on more mainstream social media platforms but for whatever reason they’ve never really been effective, lasting, or far-reaching. I’ve even tried a few different methods myself throughout the years with contests and promoting the virtues of cryptocurrency and decentralization. My personal attempts have always fallen flat.
A Little Help From Rick Rubin
After reading Rick Rubin’s wonderful new book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, I realized that the only way to promote something like Hive is to do so naturally and organically.
In his book Rick explains, in various ways, how you can’t force paradigm-shifting ideas. He says you simply have to quiet your mind and look for clues in synchronicity that’s happening all around us. You have to let ideas bubble up naturally. He believes we’re just an antenna for these ideas, a sort of vessel through which ideas can be born into this physical world.
This might sound to some like some drug-fueled, New Age fantasy but after writing poetry and fiction for over three decades I tend to agree with this theory. If I get my mind to a certain place entire poems and complex ideas for new works of fiction can come to me at once, almost as if they’re downloaded.
The Epiphany
This brings me to the epiphany I had the other day after I promoted a post on my Facebook author page linking to a blog post from another Hiver (@zirochka) that moved me tremendously. In that moment her writing spoke to me so much that I wanted the world to read it. I didn’t urge people to join Hive or evangelize the benefits of crypto or decentralization but merely shined the spotlight on the amazing content of the piece.
This is when it dawned on me. This is precisely how Hive will, one day, be discovered by the mainstream. This, my friends, is the “special sauce”. It’s one hundred percent genuine, therefore doesn’t feel like a shill to the general public. It’s not touting the virtues of decentralization or getting crypto-rich from blogging. If thousands of new eyes find our content here and decide to sign up that will only be a plus for all of us and for them. After they sign up Hive will, naturally, be the gateway into the world of crypto and decentralization just like it's been for most of us.
I urge you all, if you read content that genuinely speaks to you on a deep level here on Hive share it on other platforms. Pay a little bit to promote it if you have to. Think of that as an investment. Also, we should all (conspicuously) include Hive referral links as a permanent part of our blog footers (click on “My Dashboard” in the upper right) to make it easier for those who are interested in joining.
This post does a good job of explaining how the referral process works in greater detail.
It might take a little time but I really do believe this is how Hive will find its way to the mainstream, naturally, organically, and, sooner or later, exponentially.
All for now. Trust your instincts, invest in you, live boldly, and take chances.
Are you interested in joining Hive? If so, click on this link to sign-up and begin sharing your thoughts and ideas with the world!
Poetry should move us, it should change us, it should glitch our brains, shift our moods to another frequency. Poetry should evoke feelings of melancholy, whimsy, it should remind us what it feels like to be in love, or cause us to think about something in a completely different way. I view poetry, and all art really, as a temporary and fragile bridge between our world and a more pure and refined one. This is a world we could bring into creation if enough of us believed in it. This book is ephemera, destined to end up forgotten, lingering on some dusty shelf or tucked away in a dark attic. Yet the words, they will live on in memory. I hope these words become a part of you, bubble up into your memory when you least expect them to and make you feel a little more alive.
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Let’s Keep In Touch
I am very touched by your feedback on my last post, it's important for me because (it sounds weird) writing posts takes a lot of energy from me. I know that some didn't understand what I actually wrote about. But it's okay.
Same here. Sometimes I think that maybe the cause is precisely the reward. On the one hand, this affects the curators, and on the other hand, the expectations of the new author. Those who come for reward first, give up soon. Those who come seeking freedom find out that the audience is ... not large, and not too active.
I love Rick Rubin's idea. And agree with @steevc regarding the danger of hype. But definitely worth a try referral link. Great post about how it works, by the way.
I can understand how writing takes energy from you. It's difficult to share your feelings in general and dealing with day-to-day worries that you have living in a war zone probably make it infinitely harder. I think what you're doing is amazing and brave. You're sharing things that many people in other countries never have seen on the news.
Yes, I've been here since 2016 and have seen so many waves of people come and go. I've kept writing all these years for the love of it and would do it even if I was making nothing. I think it's most difficult for me when engagement slows down, this tends to happen during bear markets. There have been a few points where I've felt like my writing wasn't reaching people, this is the only time I've felt discouraged. Life is a marathon, not a race though. It's difficult to think about that when you're young, time goes so slow but as you get older you begin to understand that anything worthwhile takes time.
I bet you'd enjoy Rick Rubin's book! It'll be one I keep with me for the rest of my life. I'm glad I found that post detailing referring others. I'd seen it right after it was posted and was able to find it pretty quickly and link to it.
Thanks for the comment and I hope you've had a good week!
Something we've been thinking about doing once we revive our POSH Twitter account, after we check what the new API usage will cost us. :D
I agree with what you say about sharing Hive naturally and genuinely, this is also a reason we're very strict with @poshtoken, just because there's some rewards there to be had to incentivize and more importantly reward those potentially bringing in traffic to our ecosystem, doesn't mean you should go about it the wrong way. There's many who try to like/retweet trade with others attempting to maximize a token that's meant to reward you a little extra for the effort you're putting into growing your Twitter reach to eventually use it to bring in traffic. They also use bots, some commands that bring in bots, etc. We've made sure that such activity gets nipped in the bud quick so it can't earn any extra rewards and at the same time make others think twice if they want to go down that route.
Still a lot more to fine-tune and the whole poshtoken comment curation needs some incentives as well but looking forward to see it improve over time.
Eventually there's no way people are going to be able to miss finding out about Hive as I don't think there's ever going to be a place similar to it because most won't want to let go of power or stake without making the most on either. They will never go pure #web3 the way Hive is.
I totally agree. I think if we just keep building organically, lightning will eventually strike and someone with a huge audience will write one article or publish one Tweet about Hive and that'll be all it takes. Hive then will grow exponentially in a very short period of time. I think onboarding should be a little easier though. Someone should just have to snap a QR code to create a profile on a mobile app in just a few steps. Does this exist yet? We want the barrier to entry to be no more difficult that the most popular social media app is today.
Haha it's like you're reading my dm's, was just talking about ease of access to Hive with someone and what we can do to improve it, even if it temporarily means not "owning your account" and having a centralized custodian keep track of it until you deem yourself ready to own your keys as long as you get to use hive as soon as you get here. Hope we can come up with a good solution for that (there's already great ideas) and find a way to fund it.
Oh interesting! The keys are really one of the most confusing aspects for people. I hope this can be solved. I can see there being almost like an apprenticeship period where you can only post and comment but then your wallet and earnings are unlocked after a predetermined amount of activity on the blockchain, you then earn a "badge" and you get your keys and can access your wallet.
However much the price of HIVE attractive, I think it is because most people do not willing to produce something rather than copying a link and pasting in other social medias.
I think the incentive to produce good, original content would still be there if more people shared our Hive posts on other platforms.
You are absolutely right dear friend @ericvancewalton I think we should all be committed and promote quality posts on other social networks, it is an excellent way to bring more content consumers to our blockchain
I take this opportunity to wish you a splendid afternoon
Thank you @jlufer! I hope you enjoy your weekend!
I get your point, you do not need to force people to join hive by telling them awesome stories or jaw dropping stories of becoming rich quickly, if not they won't last here and that will only lead to discouragements which they might spread around.
The best thing is be yourself, do your best, write and share good contents and let them be drawn naturally.
😊😊😊
Yeah, in most parts of the world promising people they'll "get rich quickly" if they join Hive would have the opposite effect and turn people who create quality content away.
The best thing is be yourself, do your best, write and share good contents and let them be drawn naturally.
I totally agree with this statement.
Your effort to promote Hive through social media is very appropriate, Eric. Hopefully the Cryptocurrency world can return to normal like it was at its heyday. God bless u, my friend.
Thank you Eliana. If more of us do consistently it will greatly enhance our chances of growing this community. Bless you as well!
I think its a very good and valuable idea. As you are saying, if it is done this way, the biggest advantage will be that it will attract a lot of new users. We all should take this time together, when we have the link, we will share it here and there, and when people open it, they will definitely come to it. I also try to make all my friends and relatives know this project and work for them because the work here is appreciated and the community are very supportive. It will be much better for the project and its future when it is marketed this way. Thanks for sharing this great and valuable idea.
Thank you for your comment! I, personally, find writing here on Hive to be much more rewarding than any other social media platform in existence. I think others will feel the same way. Facebook used to be a similar environment but now they limit your post outreach, make you pay to reach your audience if you have a business page, and clog your feed with ads. Their business model is driving more and more people away every day.
Most welcome dear. Hive is better than other platforms because The people here are very supportive of new users and reward original content accordingly.
Organic growth can be slow, but can be better in the long run. I think there are dangers in hype that raises false expectations.
I met @zirochka at Hivefest and her story is inspirational. This is the sort of thing we need to get out there to show how Hive changes lives. Another example is the borehole project in Ghana. Where are the reports in mainstream press about this? Even the crypto media is just going on about what coin will 'moon' next. Hive is about people.
For sure, this is why I've begun to downplay the cryptocurrency/rewards aspect of Hive. I think we can still share our platform and communities in a genuine way though that doesn't come off as shilling.
That's awesome! Yes, her story is very inspirational. I'll have to check out the borehole project. I've not heard of that. Hive IS about people. I don't feel like I'm a "product" when I'm interacting here like I do on every other mainstream social media site.
what a wonderful book (from what I can gather), I have to read it now ;)
I think you have a great point and I also think the stronger we try to push it into the mainstream the harder the pushback will be. Perhaps we do not need "full" adoption as this would be an influx of millions of users that Hive could actually not handle. For me it would already be great to see hundred of thousands of monthly active users, that would really make an impact! Also don't forget that the blogging part is or will be only a very small sliver of Hive. The true onboarding will happen through various apps (probably most of it in gaming)
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 32/52) Liquid rewards.
I highly recommend reading the book if you have any interest in creativity!
Yes, the dApps are a very important part of the platform. I tend to forget this because I'm not a gamer but plenty of others are. The sky is the limit when it comes to what can be built on this blockchain.
I strongly believe one day the goodnews of hive will spread like fire all around the world beyond imagination
If we keep sharing it will be inevitable.
Thank you for holding VIRTUALGROWTH token. This post has been included in Virtualgrowth Top Token Holders Sharing Posts & Token Update 2/10.
Best / Namaste,
You're absolutely right. I think hive is different though and requires systematically and well-thought out marketing scope and this one is one of them. We have to market the chain with what people can relate and tap into rather than paying influencers. The adoption has been slow, but it's not stagnant, but truly we could use something better.
You're right. I think the age of the influencers are coming to an end. People are getting more sophisticated and beginning to see straight through the shill. As long as adoption is even a trickle then I feel we're making progress. We have to focus on the quality of content, the value this adds to people's lives, and the fact that when you join you're becoming part of a global community.
Value is important, probably advertising the idea of web3 and decentralized might not be the key. Integration through content and interest might just be it and at the end of the day, people can just, come for the content and stay for something far more exciting.
You're right. Yes, I think sometimes the proper answer is hidden in plain sight because it appears too simple. It sure is worth a shot.
Everything has it's time, and we will have our for sure, I don' know when, but I'm pretty sure of it, we will have main stream adoption, I have never seen such a beautiful platform with such a lovely community. Games like Splinter lands and others have receive so much intension. in fact it is on the best Blockchain game out there and continue to do so. Bigger things takes time to happen. I love how hive is progressing and I hope it will continue to progress like this. we just need to play our part by promoting hive in a positive manner.
Yes, my wife and I say time and time again the people make this platform shine. We've met so many quality people on other continents that we've become good friends with. When we travel these friends have taken the time to show us around their homeland and it's always been the highlight of our trips. As Americans, we now see the world in a very different way thanks to Hive.
The best way for any platform to become mainstream is through the community. People want to belong.
I feel like I'm repeating myself at this point, but I'm new here and what brought me here is exactly this. I saw that this place is built by people for the people. Gaming, writing, art, etc. There is something for almost everyone. Now that I'm here, I want to add value with my own style, and I hope to attract people with overlapping interests. Then someone else is going to add their sauce to the pot and so on.
You sound like exactly the kind of person who belongs here and will thrive. Awesome metaphor by the way, Hive is like a stew that is simmering. : )
It's likely going to require an alignment of many variables for HIVE to achieve "mainstream" adoption. I believe one of those requirements is that crypto becomes a popular conversation again, such as we find near bull-market cycle tops in Bitcoin and the overall crypto market. That's box number one that has to be checked-off. As to the other boxes, it's difficult to say.
If "Web 3" social media options becomes a mainstream topic at some point, in, say, the next bull market phase of crypto, then one would expect that this would significantly boost the probability of HIVE garnering more outside attention. This would likely lead to a higher number of sign-ups and users during the ending stage(s) of the bull cycle (ending in "euphoria"), but may require a few more boxes to be checked off before the retention rates would be at a level that, when combined with an exponential growth in new sign-ups, would provide enough traction for the growth to spread out beyond people who're merely caught up in the speculative mania. I think most of us are already aware that the speculative crowd tends to fade away, along with their sign-on/ click rate, as the market tumbles over to a new bear market phase.
As much as it pains me to say it, I'm convinced that luck plays a huge role in whether something is widely adopted, to any relatively high degree (I'm thinking at least tens of millions of users, if not hundreds of millions), or not. I'm just not sure how many, or what specific, factors have to align in order for HIVE to have a real chance at moving beyond the "tipping point" of mainstream adoption.
I agree, it will take a lot of luck. I struggle with even mentioning the crypto aspect of Hive to people these days. Sadly, there are just so many negative connotations when you even utter the word "crypto" in mainstream circles. I miss the old days when crypto got people excited and motivated, I hope this exuberance returns with the next bull cycle.
Bear cycles are for building so doubling down on app development, great content creation, and making the onboarding process as easy as possible now would be wise.
I'm confident that the collective level of exuberance for crypto will only grow over time, as I really expect this to evolve into something as big, and important, as the Internet is today, if not more impactful/ useful. The only question that I'm left with is if HIVE is going to be invited to the party. I must say that I'm convinced it has a good chance :)
Me gusta🙏👏 pienso que es así tal cual
What kind of drug-fueled, new Age fantasy is this!?
Hehe.
I think you are right. In its something I have always felt. Be Don't promote hive, promote good quality content that can be found on hive. I think it is key!
It is why I love original crazy good posts and not just copy pasta crypto news. Things like that just drive the chain down
The fun kind! Lol.
We definitely need to promote that good quality content outside of Hive. I've been thinking a lot of the Quora platform lately. I wrote an answer to a question on there that has gotten over 20k views in the past few months. If we search for questions on Quora that good quality Hive posts answer this could be a effective way of getting more eyeballs here.
Those cringe-worthy posts are just the worst. I think it's important that these kinds of posts aren't rewarded, this will dissuade others from following in those footsteps.
Definitely agree there. Posts which answer or explain or just plain entertain are the key and that they are on hive is enough to get the person interested if they keep visiting the same place and seeing stuff.
And yes on the cringe-inducing ones. The problem is they are rampant!
I believe Hive is different and special so in other to accept the impact it showcases one need to be genuine in what they create and share.
It is an interesting question that I have pondered. For reference, it is my understanding that TikTok started roughly the same time as Steemit. For some reason TikTok seems to resonate with the masses. I believe TikTok feeds the brain much like junk food and sweets. Perhaps folks nowadays are simply too lazy to be interested in Hive as in its current iteration. We may stay a niche site, which is not the end of the world, I suppose.
It might take an app with aggressive algorithms like TikTok, built on the Hive blockchain for it to grow to those same proportions. You bring up a good point though, is this something we really want? I guess slow, steady growth might be the ideal thing for the platform and community.
That's a great idea. I think if you force it too much people are going to be turned off. Part of me feels like people just don't create or consume content like this anymore. I sure I am wrong, but I feel like a lot of people just don't want to put in the effort. I almost think the earning aspect of it should be totally left alone. Get to that after they have been here a while and are established. If they come for the wrong reasons they will likely leave pretty quickly.
Thanks! Some thing just happen at their own pace. Public appetites are fickle and I'm hoping that they shift back away from short form content eventually. Algorithms are definitely drastically shortening attention spans but there's usually some kind of backlash once people realize they're being manipulated. I hope this is the case anyway.
Yeah, that would be cool. I'd like to do more short form content at some point, but this just feels more natural to me.
Yep, I thought a lot about marketing of Hive too, and I have a conclusion that Hive makes sense only when is embraced with all the complexity. And this is out of scope of any marketing message. Talking 1on1 and organic growing person by person. When it clicks, it clicks. Otherwise than that attracting with good content and then learning Hive piece by piece while using it. I can see these two ways only. Othwerwise than that it's only increasing brand awareness, also useful, but let's not count on new registrations that way.
Booming of price in entirely separate topic here, also possible, but how many people will stick through a bear?
Hive didn't have any marketing push since its inception and the growth has been accomplished through natural and organic onboarding. Users came here either for blogging or for the apps and games from here and enriched it once they discovered the integrated ecosystem from here. This is a slow process, but at the same time, we keep things real and governed by the people for the people.
PS: Thanks for sharing the book - The Creative Act: A Way of Being Hardcover, by Rick Rubin. Looks like one book that I would enjoy reading.
There have been a handful of attempts to promote Hive on Twitter but the impact was pretty minimal. The absence of cohesive marketing is partially due to the decentralized nature of Hive. I agree with you that the people who "get Hive" find their way here and usually stay even through the ups and downs in the market.
You're welcome! The books so good I've bought a few copies for friends.
The rewards earned on this comment will go directly to the people( @joydukeson ) sharing the post on Twitter as long as they are registered with @poshtoken. Sign up at https://hiveposh.com.
The mainstream media is deep-seated as the social media choice for the masses. The second most important point is that the masses do not take social media as money generating thing in the first place.
In contrast, people who show interest(not all) do come here to engage to earn a living. No problem with that but there is a normative divergence between the kind of audience both types cater to.
So when people will realize that Hive as Blockchain-based media offers censorship resistant content, they will definitely think about it seriously.
Regarding revenue generation potential, it should always remain secondary to any social media otherwise it would lead to manipulation in some form or the other.
A bit late to this post, but the problem that is missing here is simply this: Most people don't like blogging. Even fewer like reading other people's blogs.
We've seen this for years and years here. People will blog with passion until their monetary rewards start to dwindle, then they suddenly remember that they actually hate writing.
They start calculating how much they're earning 'per hour' and compare it to a real job salary, ultimately never returning. User retention here has always been about 1-5% for this reason.
Even somewhere like wordpress which you can sign up with a simple click of a button is generally left for the lonely housewives to write about their fruit salad recipes.
It's just not a model for mainstream growth, and that's honestly cool with me. If I want to go mainstream I can just visit the steaming pile of degenerate garbage on Twitter or TikTok. If I want a more community-oriented, family-like atmosphere, I can come here.
Becoming mainstream is a dangerous game full of corrupt billionaires, desperate media moguls and screaming censors. It's not a desirable place to be, tbh.