I'm just doing a bit of freewriting for the soul today on Hive communities and marketing...
I was thinking about this a couple of nights ago - why bringing people to our blockchain has been somewhat difficult when tried. Many people have tried convincing people to come here and enjoy fast block times, free transactions, unique named accounts, and (of course) the censorship-resistance and immutability of the platform we use.
And who can forget about the money? The money has always been the thing. You can get money for posting. You can get money for voting. You can get money for witnessing. You can get money for developing and marketing...sometimes. You also need money in the system for more transacting, additional rewards, and more influence.
So when a potential new user is approached about joining Hive, why don't they join? When it's a big social media personality or "influencer" with a large following, why don't they join?
Maybe they hate money.
Maybe they hate influence.
Maybe they hate blockchains and cryptocurrencies.
Maybe they hate having to build a new following on a new platform.
Maybe...we're pitching it all wrong?
I've seen a lot of attempts to recruit particular users to Hive. I don't know how many attempts I've seen that actually explained the real benefit to such users and their followers.
Yeah, the money is cool. Yeah, you can make a decent amount of crypto over time for posting your amazing stuff to the chain. Yeah, you can even get some neat rewards just from voting on amazing stuff.
But this misses the real value of a social chain and it's this missed/mixed messaging that often seems to let new users down.
We have communities here on Hive. An individual user can actually own their own community - and that's in addition to owning your own account. There's no real threat of having your community shut down or a threat of being deplatformed. Just like mainstream social media sites, you can create, manage, and build your community. But unlike other sites, that community cannot be censored or taken away from you.
If you spent four years building out your community and building up your following, it can't just vanish overnight because some moderator doesn't like you. If you've been storing what you think is critical information that the masses need to see, it can't just be erased with the click of a button by some employee of a corporate entity. Your followers can't be dropped, their votes can't be undone, and their cumulative influence tokens can't just be seized or deleted.
This is the value that Hive offers to social media users.
Why should a group like the Wall Street Bets community join Hive? Because they can build up their community, their share of ownership in the blockchain, and their influence on Hive. They can cumulatively wield greater influence on governance, development, marketing, and social rewards distribution over time, essentially ensuring that any attempt to silence them or force them out would not only be practically impossible anyway, but it would be damaging to the value of the chain itself.
The same goes for someone like Donald Trump. If he were to join Hive and bring millions of social media followers with him, it wouldn't matter how much he's disliked by other people, he would still be able to have a voice and he and his followers could cumulatively gain influence in the network. There is no Jack Dorsey or Mark Zuckerberg to banish Trump and his supporters. They can create and moderate their own communities, allocate daily rewards, store their content, and have a say in governance and development just like anyone else.
The benefits of moving to Hive - other than visibility - are almost immediate. Rewards may be a bit slower but that's something that can be easily acquired by investing. There's no shortage of HIVE on the open market. So the impediment to adoption so far seems to be the visibility issue.
But the question is: Why does someone with a large following or a large community outside of Hive need to worry that much about visibility?
They can bring that following or community with them!
Unfortunately, this hasn't been happening. I'm not sure that it has been adequately pitched. I'm not sure if the people who hear the pitch even care to hear it. At a time when seemingly mass deplatforming and demonetization has been occurring, you'd think that this would be a concern and that useful alternatives would be sought. Maybe Hive isn't seen as that useful. Maybe the prospect of a short-term visibility issue while transitioning to a new platform is scary.
Maybe marketing and onboarding strategies need to change - or actually be devised.
Anyway...here's the thing...
Why should any community come to Hive?
Because you can do this with your community on Hive...
You can own it.
You can grow it.
You can manage it.
You can monetize it.
You can actually wield real influence.
You can share rewards with your followers.
You can enjoy not being moderated or censored.
You can store your content without fear of whimsical or targeted deletion.
And even in the absolute worst-case scenario, if any user or content was ever censored - even at the protocol level - you could fork the blockchain and run your own version of it.
All of this cannot be done on other social media platforms. You can't do it on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, or even Gab. Years of hard work can be thrown away on those sites in a matter of minutes or in the click of a button.
People talk about cryptocurrencies being extremely volatile and risky. But isn't it even more risky to spend years building your social media presence and following, only to have it deleted over a comment, an image, or a public appearance somewhere that's seen as not politically correct? Is it not risky to put thousands of dollars into hosting and operating a site or marketing your brand only to have some corporate entities decide that you ought to be canceled because of some words you used?
The risk of simply using Hive is quite minimal. Most people never need to make any investment other than their time and energy. There's no harm in trying it out, asking your followers and supporters to join you, and setting up your own community right here on the Hive blockchain.
But the rewards can be massive - and that's not even speaking to the financial aspect. (If you only look at Hive as a potential cash cow, then it will likely fail you.)
Everyone has a chance to grow something long-term on Hive. Forget about the money, even though it's a potentially large part of it. Think about the ownership and the freedom instead. Think about preserving the community you worked so hard on building - a community made up of individuals that also seek the same assurances as the community owners and leaders.
Give Hive a shot. Join it. Bring your family. Bring your friends. Bring your followers. Give it the same effort you gave to the platforms and their owners that are now hell-bent on silencing and/or destroying people like you. If you just want to hop around from one centralized/corporate entity to another, you're going to be playing their game until you run out of energy, money, or options.
Don't wait until you're already silenced, demonetized, or deplatformed. Build for the future now!
The opportunity is here.
The opportunity is here right now.
Seize it.