There was a time when we might have said something like the above, with respect to Hive, or its predecessor.
Of course, things haven't exactly turned out as planned or as the clickbait-ey title might suggest. Sorry about that!
Now, let me interject that I am not writing this in service of some kind of fault finding, I am more interested in exploring and potentially explaining something different, in a much broader sense.
Personally, I keep coming back to the fact that it is ultimately human nature that drives everything in our world, regardless of what it is you might be trying to do.
If we take a step back and consider the title of this post as a marketing slogan — as well as a description of a community like Hive — who do we believe such a statement might be attracting?
In that fictional "ideal world" people sometimes refer to, we'd like to think that we're going to attract genuine content creators who are happy to find a new venue for their creativity, where they can not only pursue their love of creativity, but also be rewarded for it.
But that's not really how life actually works, is it?
Many years ago, I remember coming across web sites that offered people tiny amounts of money for performing simple repetitive "micro tasks" online; things like transcribing data from supermarket receipts or manually deciphering names and addresses from hard-to-read paper forms that failed automatic reading systems.
The bit of background I am using to "set the stage" here is that there were literally thousands people out there, willing to perform totally mindless drudgery work for what might amount to $0.30-$0.50 an hour, and that was if you really busted your butt.
Yes, I actually tested many such things — not because I hoped to make money, but because I used to write about such things for the entrepreneurial press.
With that firmly in mind, let us return to the previous question of who we think might be drawn to the above headline?
Without a doubt, some legitimate content creators would be in the mix, but doesn't it seem likely that most of those flock to the "opportunity" would come from the same swarm of hornets willing to do absolute tedium work for virtually nothing?
In aforementioned "microtask" example, it also held true that users were constantly being "evicted" from the system for using various (often automated) approaches to cheat and game the system via an assortment dishonest means.
Because that is — to be perfectly blunt — in the very nature of many of humanity's ostensible "bottom feeders."
Was the opportunity/system, itself, dishonest?
Nope. I think it was originally imagined as a way for retired people and the homebound to make a few extra dollars in their spare time... much like their "analog" predecessors where people could make a few dollars from hand-assembling things like Christmas ornaments at home.
Similarly, there's nothing wrong with Hive, itself... simply with the nature of many who are drawn to the type of opportunity it offers.
Again, let me point out that I am not on a fault-finding or blamestorming mission here... I love Hive, and being part of this community!
I'm simply pointing to an inherent problem that will always be an issue here. Point being, that it's not the marketing that's the problme, it's the marketing focus that might be to blame for the spam, AI and other abuse.
Ironically, it is likely to be less of a problem while the price of our native token declines, because many of those who come here in hopes of finding "easy money" are less likely to hang about as their return on onvestment (of time and effort) declines, while those who are primarily here as content creators might feel frustrated, but are not likely to be put off completely... because they can still pursue their interest in the creative process.
Do I have any handy-dandy solutions here? Sadly, not really... other than to be very cognizant of Hive's actual target market.
If we're marketing to blockchain developers, by all means encourage the opportunity here, but don't paint a picture of a Hive benefit being that "there's a built-in audience."
The moment you do that, you immediately remove the incentive to bring onboard an external (to Hive) audience to use whatever that developer has built.
Similarly, if we're marketing to content creators, it's probably wise to highlight benefits other than just "make money" as the primary attraction... and perhaps don't even phrase it as "make money" but as "build ownership stake in the platform you're using."
Of course, nothing is perfect!
Feel free to leave a comment — this IS "social" media, after all!
As always, a 10% 