How do I post here on Hive most of the time, I also have a Facebook account, as well as X/Twitter and Instagram accounts.
The difference in experience between hive and mainstream social media is considerable. As the title of this post alludes to you can either have quality, or you can have quantity. The jury is still out as to whether or not you can have both.
Even though I don't use my Facebook account very often, I remain amazed by just how much a typical public post gets seen.
Earlier today, I posted the cute picture of Shangri and Nala (above) to my public Facebook feed. I quite often share cat pictures because... well, what's not to like?
After about 12 hours, the picture's statistics are shown below. No, this is not a post that's done exceptionally well, it's a pretty typical result.
I should add here that I do not have my Facebook account monetized, but I'd estimate that 4,000 views and a 10+% engagement rate would likely have a "value" of around $3-$4.
In terms of sheer numbers, it's a pretty stark contrast to our own Hive community, where I would consider myself lucky to end up with maybe 20 page views for a well prepared post. And let's keep in mind that page views are not the same thing as number of upvotes.
After all, the vast majority of votes cast on Hive are done so by automated services, not by manual curators. Although I will kick in a footnote that I am very grateful for our manual curators!
I guess part of my reason for bringing this up is to shed a little light on the occasional claims I see around here of Hive having the potential to be "the Facebook of the blockchain."
It has actually been a while since I last saw such a statement, but there was a time when it was pretty common for people to have those thoughts.
I just don't see that ever happening, because this is far more of a niche location than it is something with broad appeal to the average web user, such as Facebook. As far as I'm concerned, pretending to be anything that even remotely resembles Facebook is basically barking up the wrong tree.
Put posting on Facebook also reminds me of the assorted hassles that I am glad we don't face here on Hive. At least a couple of times a week I see posts from some person I am peripherally connected with talking about how their account was temporarily suspended because somebody reported one of their posts.
On Facebook, you are definitely guilty until you can prove yourself innocent! And sometimes it can become a real pain in the rear if someone has a personal axe to grind with you!
And I'm very happy we don't have that kind of "reporting" system here on Hive, even if some people feel like they are being besieged by coordinated downvote efforts.
Feel free to leave a comment — this IS "social" media, after all!
As always, a 10% 