Introduction
Bringing new users to Hive is something I have taken seriously from day one. Basically, everyone must be interested in Hive marketing and making Hive a household name in the social media industry. This week alone, I have been able to onboard some friends and thanks to https://hiveonboard.com/, a platform set up by 
Here are some of my friends I already on-boarded this week:
Getting your friends to join Hive is one thing, but teaching them how Hive works is equally important. In this post, I will explain how to earn on Hive.
Most people like talking about money and how to make it. So when explaining what hive is and how great a platform here is, that question about money is unavoidable. So you want to explain to your new friends how users are rewarded on hive and why its worth their precious time. That is basically what this post is all about. Well, there are at least two major ways of earning on the Hive platform. They are: posting and curation.
Earning rewards through posting articles (Author rewards)
When you make a post on Hive, other users will like (upvote) the post. As they click on your post, your article earns money from the clicks. The amount of money it earns depends on the number of voters and their voting power (a future article will talk about Hive power). So the more Hive power and voting percentage a user votes with, the more money your article makes. Also, the more people vote on your article, the money money it makes.
How is the post earnings paid?
Hive has a 50-50 sharing formula. It means that 50% of your post earnings is paid to you as the author and 50% is shared among those people that voted for you (the curators). Then going further, your 50% share of the post earnings is yet divided in the following manner:
50% is paid to you in liquid Hive or Hive Based dollar (depending on the currency used for payouts at that time).
50% is paid to you in Hive Power
You can still decide to get 100% of your post earnings in Hive Power.
How do I change my rewards structure?
While still composing your article using https://hive.blog/, look at the bottom of the window just above the "post" button, you will see "Advanced settings" (Check the illustration below).
- 1. Click on Advanced settings
- 2. 50%HBD/50%HP: This option divides your reward in equal parts of Hive Based Dollar and Hive power
- 3. Decline Payout: If you dont want any rewards (maybe you work for RedCross, hahaha), select this option
- 5. If you want all your reward to be paid out in Hive power, select this.
When you are down with your selections, click the "Save" button at the bottom of the window.
So that explains how your author rewards are paid out. That is not all, you can still earn by voting other people's posts.
Earning rewards through upvoting articles (Curation rewards)
Not everybody has the grit to start writing and posting stuff on Hive. It not just in everyone to write. So if you fall in that category or not, you can still earn by upvoting other people's post. But for you to earn in this way, you must have invested funds in your Hive Power. You really need a big investment in Hive power to earn significant curation rewards. If your Hive power is small, like 200 or less, your votes will be worth 0$. But you can cast the votes anyway. Just do not expect much from curation rewards if you have not but your hive power.
How to upvote or simply vote a post.
Below every post, there are 2 buttons. One points up and the other down. Check the illustration below
- 1. To upvote a post and help increase its reward, click here
- 2. To downvote a post and remove some of its rewards, click here
Note on downvoting: Please do not downvote anyone if there is not legitimate reason to do so. Its like shooting them at the back. This button is used when there are some voilations of sorts by the author such as plagiarism. Its not clicked for fun as it reduces the post earnings and usually provoke counter downvotes from the victim. Never start a fire with indescriminate downvotes. I explained this function for educational purposes. Thank you.
Conclusion
There are two major ways to earn on Hive - author rewards and curation rewards. Of course, there are other indirect ways such as by delegating Hive power and getting return on investment, by participating in contests and by selling your skill and getting paid in Hive. Just be as active as you can, and surely, you will make some cool Hive $$$$$.