I would like to express this, (and more broadly) many possible solutions, in a much more elaborate way but before that (even if that doesn't eventuate) I felt the need to put this thought packet down here. Because I do, above all, love and respect the COMMUNITY element of this endeavour.
Essentially, the model here is upside down.
NETFLIX will be the analogy.
All streaming systems can be really.
So what is it?
We can all agree that streaming is the standard now for entertainment. What is entertainment is debatable but as a business model all platforms are equal. The fundamental is RETAINING ATTENTION. Which converts into SUBSCRIPTIONS for CONTENT. That then equate to REVENUE which grant growth.
If you are clever, you have likely already realised the analogy.
HIVE (originally as steemit), essentially tried to do it in reverse.
SEEKING REVENUE by promising REWARDS (bigger if you BUY IN).
CONTENT (as both the need and the entertainment) then exists as how people "subscribe" to the idea (by committing time as CREATORS and CURATORS).
ATTENTION RETENTION was, and clearly still is... THE STRUGGLE.
So back to NETFLIX. The entity succeeds because it retains attention and amasses revenue. Even by a world wide campaign of free 30 day trials, which could be extended by simply a new email. I'm sure they knew that "flaw" but ATTENTION IS RETAINED. It's then what guaranteed them ability to take that next step.. to actually go from not just providing content created by others but also creating their own ORIGINAL CONTENT.
This is the FLAW OF HIVE. That it is dependent solely on ORIGINAL CONTENT when it has not achieved the other two milestones. Not enough eyes to have that content generate rewards back to the system and not enough content to retain a large audience that can again return the reward back to the system. I don't mean the TOKEN as the reward here, but the sustainability and exponential growth of the system/platform.
The solution of how to fix HIVE is reserved for another post.
A "what could have been" though:
HIVE and steemit has/had ability to actually become that 'tokenized reddit' that many wanted steemit to be. The DRAW (and business model) would then be that: in among all those NORMIES from MAINSTREET (simply signed in by email) sharing the greater internet (not needing to be into blockchain but) receiving tokens (that could be claimed later, just as how poshtoken is trying now).. there could (as the PREMIUM) exist HIVE ORIGINAL CONTENT that would stand out, (would obviously give higher reward) and by that be the incentive for people to make the transition to then commit fully to the HIVE blockchain.
It is also then, when it becomes a no brainier..
"Ok I have x amount of tokens already from just sharing things. If I get involved in this content creation thing my reward goes UP! If I then add even just a little bit of my money to it.. my return goes up MORE?!"
BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME.
By that, the model is corrected to:
ATTENTION RETENTION + REVENUE = GROWTH + SUSTAINABILITY.
This is merely an example and clearly not solely blockchain. The future of social systems however, are barely in infant stage. Tokenization and Decentralization is not the grand "next generation wow amazing" that many thought (and still think) would be why masses march on over to these platforms. There's much missing still.