I was away for a few days, and returned to find LeoFinance having been "replaced" by InLeo; new "livery" and everything.

"The King is dead; long live the King!"

I'm glad, at least, that my username didn't become "obsolete" as part of the rebranding process. I periodically find myself feeling slightly sad for those who are now loyal Hive community members but who will forever have "$teem/$teemit" as part of their usernames.

Sure, you could re-brand yourself, but then you'd also give up all this history you'd built under the old name. And therein lies the dilemma often associated with a re-brand.

InLeo, LeoFinance and the Whole Layer Two Ecosystem

I have long admired the stick-to-it-iveness of the various incarnations of LEO. I say this, as someone who can sincerely state that part of my (still modest) stake includes 500 LEO that was airdropped to me because I was a PAL stakeholder, back on the old chain when fledgling "tribe" communities were coming into existence with the $teem-Engine initiative.

So how is this all going to work out?

On a personal level, I am not unhappy to see the "Finance" part drop away. I have never been a super active blogger in the Leo community because I just don't have that much to offer about finance, investing and crypto. So having a broader interest platform is definitely a plus for me, and I am excited about that!

In a broader sense, I wonder whether it's going to be a good thing.

I say that through the lens of perception of looking at how the broader Internet actually uses the web. Specifically, the important element in which the way wo look at a "thing" moves from a focus on the actual "technology" of that thing to how we "USE" that technology.

Examples: Pretty much nobody talks about "being online" anymore as a standalone idea, it's what you DO online that matters. Similarly, simply having a cellphone doesn't make you cool anymore, it's what you DO with that phone that makes you cool. Or — closer to home — simply being "IN crypto" is losing its shine as an idea, and being gradually replaced with what you DO with crypto.

So what does this have to do with "InLeo?"

This rebranding was a jump from "specificity" towards "generality." How is that going to help? I recognize that the intention might have been "we need to get more users," but are these the users we are looking for?

Of course, I can only talk about this through my personal lens of perception. Given that, the way I always understood communities within the Hive infrastructure was that they were a bit like "interest groups" within the broader Internet.

Interest Groups, Loyalty and Retention

The nice thing about "interest groups" is that they afford us two things: A clearly defined niche/target market making recruiting/marketing easier... and with that niche orientation, they also help generate brand/interest loyalty.

I say the latter mostly from experience. It is much more difficult to dislodge a user from a niche interest group than from a "general purpose" group. To wit: I have hobby groups online I've been part of since the 1990s, while while I can't remember having become part of anything "general" since joining Hive.

Now, I am not writing these words as a criticism of the direction Leo has chosen! Quite the opposite... I'm just sharing an observation or two about potential pitfalls that might be kept in mind on the path forward.

Without a doubt, the overall Hive ecosystem needs to find new ways to grow. I have long held the hope that the answer would come through our 2nd layer communities, particularly those catering to niche interests. So far, though, most seem to have struggled to get significant traction, and most — for whatever reasons — have seen their tokens fade to fractions of a cent.

Regardless, though, I wish all the best for InLeo on the path forward... I'm glad to be part of this new frontier!

=^..=

Curator Cat 13 October, 2023