Lately — basically since the recent Binance listing of Hive futures, and futures trading in Hive being announced on other platforms — I've seen a considerable uptick in discussions about "what is good for Hive" and what isn't good for Hive.
Upon reflection, I guess it's not an easy thing to determine, simply based on the fact that people's perception of what Hive actually is varies greatly from one person to the next.
Let's consider — just for a moment — that some people think of Hive as a social blogging platform; some people think of it as a place for developers to build decentralized apps; some people think of it as an investment vehicle; some people think of it as a place to play games on the blockchain, and some people think of it simply as a glorified cash dispenser. There are probably other perceptions as well, but I'll just leave it at those, for now.
My point in listing these is simply to point out that these discussions we're having will most likely just lead around in a circle simply because people think of Hive and then think of different things depending on who they are and what their objectives are.
So rather than getting involved in these discussions I'm more interested in exploring where the common ground lies that might tie all of the above together. What are the common objectives we would all like to see? And are there any single things within the realm of those objectives that could be interpreted for the majority as being "good for Hive?"
I'd hazard a guess that for most people it would hold true that what's good for Hive would simply be more visibility.
More visibility meaning that Hive is in the news more frequently, and that when somebody says "Hive," more people nod with at least a basic knowledge of what that is. As it stands right now if you say "Bitcoin" to somebody... well, most people on the planet have heard of Bitcoin. If you say "Hive" to them most people have not heard of Hive so that's how I interpret visibility.
What would likely also be considered "good for Hive" is making it easier for people to get their hands on some.
As in you talk to somebody — maybe a friend — and they say "Hive sounds cool — how do I get some?" Again, right now it's not the easiest token on the planet to get a hold of. Of the many services out there that offers SIMPLE base level entry to crypto, in most cases you can't buy Hive directly with a credit card or your bank account. You have to buy some other currency, then change that currency to Hive, then send it to your Hive wallet, and then you're here.
Not exactly easy for someone who might be a knowledgeable blogger or social media user, but but a crypto and blockchain neophyte.
Which perhaps takes us back to the "visibility" issue — Hive is not very visible among centralized or decentralized exchanges for that matter, and that lack of visibility leaves us mostly floating around in the 300's and 400's in terms of marketcap rankings, even though everyone keeps pointing out "how much is going on" with the Hive blockchain.
Of course, there are those who argue that the price of the token has nothing to do with whether the Hive blockchain is "successful," but that sounds a lot like saying that the price of ETH has nothing to do with it being one of the most widely used base chains in the entire crypto/blockchain space.
I can almost guarantee you that Hive was a top-50 coin in terms of market cap would be a lot easier to get some!
What else is good for Hive?
I would hazard a guess that we need to build on — and emphasize — what some of our biggest selling points are here.
The Hive blockchain is fast and relatively cheap/free. You don't have ridiculous gas fees like you do with Ethereum or Bitcoin. What Hive also has going for it is wallet addresses that make sense to human beings because they're not 47 random scrambled digits long (that you can't possibly hope to memorize) but they are something relatively simple like 
It's something people can relate to, and it's also something that most other cryptos don't have. For the external world to actually be aware that this is how it works here — we make crypto simpler — again is good for Hive.
I'm sure you can come up with your own list of things that would be seen as positives by all parties.
Till the next one... I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Feel free to leave a comment — this IS "social" media, after all!
