When we think about the relationships built on Hive, most of it is made through the comments - not the posts. While the post can attract people in and inspire discussion, it is in the back and forth where we get to know each other. I have made some good friends here over the space of nearly four years, some of them I have only ever talked to on-chain - others I have started with on chain and continued further on Discord.
When it comes to retention of contributors, there is more to it (for most) than the rewards, with the engagement equally and often more important. Last night I wrote a post about the need for consumers here, but the same applies, it isn't just the content they come to consume, it is the engagement with the authors and, other consumers. One of the draws of social media like Twitter, is that people are able to talk together through comments publicly with other people who are interested in and passionate about similar things - even if on opposing sides of an argument.
One of the things I have noticed on Hive is that for general service accounts (community, governance, development etc), people tend to engage with each other more than on private accounts. I assume that this is because they read the post and don't expect the author to respond, as the author is unknown. This means that the audience engages with each other and discusses what was written, much like an open forum.
One private accounts (like mine) however, people are more interested in engaging directly with the author rather than other consumers. This could be because of the sense of accessibility and familiarity with the writer - and contributors should spend time answering comments. I know that while I miss a few, I do my best to respond to most of the comments I receive and I think that it is appreciated - rather than people talking into the void.
But, What I love seeing are comments from consumers on the comments of other consumers discussing either the post itself or whatever tangent they have gone off on together. I think that as a consumer of content here myself, it definitely makes the experience more engaging to be a part of the conversations with other users and I believe that the discussion is the most valuable part of a post when it comes to user retention overall - in the same way that feedback keeps contributors motivated.
The rewards are only one part of the value collection of Hive usage and while they get the lion's share of the attention, the rewards alone are quite poor at retaining most users if the social factors are missing. The rewards are more like icing than cake and the social interaction is what one actually bites into. This is further indicated through the fluctuations in price, with those who are here for the rewards much more transient as prices move, while those who are engaging remain consistent regardless of price volatility.
The thing with being a consumer on Hive is that one can also be a contributor and actually get economically rewarded for the effort, even if it isn't much. Adding to the conversation mass is part of building the value proposition of Hive as a content distributor, as comments are valuable content. When it comes to blockchains, transactions are an important indicator of value as they speak of usage, but with Hive being a social blockchain, interactions are the value driver - or one of them on the visible surface layer.
What I am hoping s that more people start to use the comment section in a more social manner by adding their voice into the mix at whatever level they choose and hopefully, spend more time engaging with each other about a post, than with the author themselves. This is even more important if more consumers come in as more popular accounts won't be able to reply to that many comments, especially at length, as it just won't be practically possible. However, at least for me, I would be just as motivated to create by people discussing below the reward line, as I am from the comments I get directly, as it is an indirect feedback of value.
There is huge value for all when the discussion evolves as it creates a collection of perspectives that the author won't be able to deliver as an individual. In turn, this can spawn all kinds of new thoughts and therefore posts and perhaps inspire users who were more consumer earlier, to venture into the world of contributing top level posts, which can in turn capture more eyes in a fractaling process. Because posts are born from the same stem, they create a topic mass that can spread nicely across a normal distribution and become a pool of content that is attractive to niche consumers and new informal communities form around it through content tied together and supported by developing relationships. These can then grow and be formalized and tokenized in a much more organic manner than creating a community topic bucket and trying to fill it. This means that the bucket can be placed naturally into the topic stream to fill it.
I know that everyone wants to earn, but if we could consistently capture some consumers with a little will to power up something, over time they will all grow through curation until they are a valuable force with the means to add real value to the content the consume and create a demand on the community in all its forms, which increases the value of the tokens they initially bought and earned along the way. It might not be a fast process, but that doesn't matter if the first and foremost point of value for the consumer is good content and a good community to discuss it with.
Hive can be a community with endless facings and buckets that live and breathe as communities all over the internet and gives all users the chance to be a part of adding value and receiving value. A little bit of give and take is what communities are made of.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]