I would like to address an often overlooked elephant in the room, whenever this discussion comes up... and perhaps it will explain at least part of this tendency for everybody to sell instead of stake.

I am going to step outside of Hive for a moment and start with 27 years of being part of "rewards for user-generated content" venues around the web. Hive is just part of this broader category/industry.

Today, I received a notification from PayPal that about $36 had been deposited as the final payment of royalties from a publication site where I started putting up articles in 2007. The site is now shutting down because it is simply not viable to pay people revenue share anymore, particularly in view of the proliferation of AI generated content.

Not only is it the final payment from this particular venue, it is also the final payment from any venue because all the others have shut down, or ceased to pay creators.

So what's my point here?

The fundamental premise under which we market and talk about Hive — and its predecessor — revolves around this idea that you can get rewarded for creating content. Put a bookmark in that statement.

One of the foundational principles of marketing is that you tend to attract exactly what you ask for. As a random example, let's say you have a shop that sells high quality upscale camping gear. But if your marketing strategy (to get people in the door) is that you're constantly giving away free tents, you're far more likely to draw a crowd looking for free stuff than a sustainable clientele looking for upscale camping gear.

Now, let's circle back to Hive. If our sales pitch for Hive is primarily centered around the idea that people can get rewarded for their content, what do you think their expectations will be once, they're here creating content?

While there definitely will be some who end up using Hive "the way we want them to", the vast majority are going to create content, see their number go up, and then withdraw the proceeds because... you know... they're getting rewarded for blogging and then they're going to go buy a pizza. Or pay their Internet bill.

Semantics matter, in terms of how your approach people, and who you end up appealing to. From my perspective, pitching high was a place to earn money for content, amounts to "going after the low hanging fruit" which — sadly —tends to rot rather quickly. Hence our crappy retention rate.

If we're looking for serious content creators, we have to start with an examination of what's important to serious content creators... as opposed to what's important to somebody cruising the web looking for a few cents as a reward for clicking buttons.

As a content creator, for example, I'm looking for stability. I want to know that the site I'm publishing to is not suddenly going to go away tomorrow because the "owners" run out of money. I want to know that my content isn't suddenly going to be hidden behind a paywall. I want to know that I'm not going to get banned or demonetized because I used the word "cat" (or something else) too many times and it arbitrarily offended somebody. I like a sense of community, the kind that comes with a place that has been around for a really long time.

One of the things I like about Hive is the angle of viewing it (and the rewards) as an opportunity to build stake/ownership in the venue that I'm using to create my content. In a sense, it's an extension of building influence.

Whenever I mention Hive to somebody else, I never use the term "make money." I view the making money part more as a fringe benefit or afterthought that comes as a result of my primary objective, which is to create content in a stable and protected space.

And having been here for over 8 years, I do use my liquid earnings too put tiny amounts into various Hive endeavors (including Holozing) that I believe have potential, rather than simply powering up. But I also don't power down and sell.

I apologize for the dissertation length comment! But this just all had to come out and be said.

=^..=