We have a problem. A known one for a long time, yet we see very few attempting to find a solution, as far as I know.
The problem is that we order posts by their payout, with the exception of new posts and the personal feed, which are ordered chronologically. Well, trending and hot are a combination of both payout and time spent on that page.
The argument has been made over the years that payout is not as relevant for sorting, if someone has a whale regularly voting on their posts (likely on autopilot), and not the best metric to discover new quality content.
The idea to include the number of votes and the number of comments and replies in the algorithm that determines the ordering has been proposed on more than one occasion. Counter-arguments have been brought that these can be gamed, but stake is stake, you either have it backing your posts or not.
Looks like Leofinance finally plunged in to try to re-work the trending algorithm on their platform (not yet released, I think).
It would be based on a combination of engagement (number of comments and replies) maybe votes, if I remember right, but also the reputation of the account involved. This new algorithm will be tested first on Threads, then tweaked, then added to long-form, Khal said.
Ok, it's an attempt, we will see what kind of anomalies it generates and they will act from there.
Views as a Metric to Quantify Outside Interest
What the metrics mentioned above don't say, any of them, is what is the success of a Hive post outside our ecosystem. How many eyes read it that didn't have a Hive account to vote or comment on the post? Where was it seen the most?
Here's where complications arise for Hive. Since we are one database with multiple front ends, each front end has its own views for a given post. But most front ends don't even count their own views, and from there we'd need to aggregate the information to present to the user something he can use and make decisions based on.
So far, we have PeakD which counts views on posts for their own platform, PeakD uses a 3rd party code for that, as far as I remember. Leofinance tracks views on Threads too, and they will add it to posts at some point. Leofinance, however, needs to eliminate double view counts from the same user for it to make sense for ad revenue sharing purposes or as a tracking method, which means storing IPs.
Still, from a dozen or so interfaces that have some traffic, we will only see the views from two of them. I don't know if 3Speak has a view count on videos. Or Liketu. Two other interfaces which may be shared a lot.
Well, I guess we know what to use when we share content outside Hive then, if we need the views count.
Why the Views Metric?
Because it paints an overall picture, both from inside the ecosystem and from the outside. If there is the possibility to refine details, it can be used to target audiences and learn more about them. Say you share your posts on X, Facebook, and Publish0x. You'll know what kind of post generates more views for your audiences in each of those places.
Views is not a perfect metric, of course. Like most metrics (except stake!), it can be boosted artificially. But if you don't do that and use this metric wisely, there's a lot it can tell you, especially if there is a dashboard to look deeper into details.