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Creating for Engagement:
How often have we heard of the importance of engagement here in the Hive ecosystem? Indeed there are communities and projects specifically focused on this issue however, in my nsho (not so humble opinion), despite our best efforts so far I believe that we have fallen short of the real potential open to us.
For my own part I have a degree in computer science (amongst 3) and yet almost a year into my sojourn here I have barely scratched the surface of what Hive is and how things work. More importantly with very little in the way of funds to invest it is a struggle to build on the wealth potential. In saying that last I must first admit that I am horrible at self promotion particularly as it rubs my ethical sensibilities the wrong way (in a traditional social contextÖbut this is a new social construct). Also, I must admit that I do not currently have a strong need for financial benefit from my time and efforts here on Hive. Unfortunately this last cannot be said of so many others in the world.
Hive has grown marvelously over the short time of its existence and I believe the time has come for a new stage in the evolution of the ecosystem. Our reach is now global and I think we are now at a point where the fiscal potential can truly blossom, particularly for the vastly impoverished portion of the world. In order to facilitate this I am convinced two significant changes in the ecosystem need to occur.
- Broader direct social interaction and,
- Simplification of the onboarding and cryptocurrency utilization functions.
These are all function matters and working solutions either already exist (albeit many are outside the ecosystem) or are under development within the system or could be developed fairly quickly. But let me clarify.
As for broader direct social interaction I am comparing various hive interfaces such as PeakD and 3Speak to (dare I say it?) Facebook. Aside from being much older, FB has a significant advantage in its ease of use. It also has very appealing features such as direct messaging and the ëFriendsî list just to list a couple points. Although these exist to some degree on Hive, it requires a higher degree of technical ability to figure out how to use them and they arenít as versatile in their function. As far as I have yet determined there is no DMíing and I have seen posts in the past that seem to oppose itís development.
Although I have some thoughts and ideas I will leave that for a later conversation. My reason for making this comparison is mainly focused on helping Hive have a significantly larger appeal to a broader audience. By simplifying the onboarding process and significantly decreasing the technical skills needed to work with Hive we make it a much better competitor to centralized social networking systems. This is particularly true when added to the income generating potential of blockchain. Also by increasing the useful functionality and enabling direct communications between users (this would have to include allowing users to block out some or all direct communication as a privacy matter) the system gains significantly in its ability to promote ëabundanceí and change.
One suggestion might be an ëacquaintanceí list for follows and casual contacts (limited DM function) and a ëfriendsí list with a limited number of members (with PM function). The second would be mainly for family and close friends who have earned more trust. Although making these additions would go a long way to ramping up engagement, what will help even more is simplifying interaction with the mechanisms for earning and working with crypto.
If the Hive ecosystem is technically challenging, working with the larger crypto metaverse is nearly a MENSA level maze challenge. More importantly the current state of affairs is such that only a small percentage of the world have the financial wear-with-all to participate in a significant way.
From one perspective the current state of crypto looks suspiciously like traditional fiat system investing (I know this is inaccurate but for many outsiders this is what they see). The bottom line being that it takes money to make money. The genuinely marvelous potential of Hive is the ability to EARN crypto. This takes advantage of ëtime is moneyí and allows some to spend time and effort and earn income for it. Unfortunately the Posting and Curating approach is really the only active method (and not everyone will be able to use this approach for income for various reasons) although a few new ones (such as Posh and tweeting) are emerging. And of course there are the technical challenges of storing, moving and utilizing crypto once it is earned.
It is my conviction that a number of existing systems could be linked with hive to greatly simplify working with crypto. Adding these functionalities to various Hive interfaces would also add appeal helping to build engagement. In addition we need to improve or create (sub?)systems that make it easier for people in developing nations to get involved and start earning. This is where we truly begin to change the world.
At present the median income in the third world is about $2/day. What functions can we create and implement that would allow anyone to earn say $5 - 10/day without a major financial input to get started. Can we establish a community or communities here that can fund real world businesses (maybe with its own token?), like a micro-loan program? How about staking pools that can really help jump start good content creators, especially if they are presenting news about how crypto is making positive change in developing regions? I say the potential is ready to blossom now, the question is do we have the collective will to make it happen?
I have found a few such as 
Upvotes are great but comments, counterpoints and even well thought out disagreements are preferred. Sound, logical debate and conversation are what I value most. Hoping you find this useful or inspiring.
Blessed be.
"This submission represents original content, created by me, that has never been published before, on Hive or elsewhere."
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