As always, my timing is lousy.
With the upcoming STEEM hardfork and the potential for big damage it will do, the attention of many will be elsewhere. Even so, I think this post might still be ahead of its time regardless, so if needs be, I will loop back later and pick up the topic again.
In the meantime...
Where is the value in HIVE?
Is It In Blogging?
Or in social media as a whole? How about in gaming, or in gambling?
Is It With A Rewards Pool?
People don't have to spend a HIVE penny of their own stake in order to reward others for their posts or comments. Because of inflation that is channeled to the rewards pool each day, people can grow their stake.
But is that where the value is? Or is that where we all want the value to be?
Is It In The Wonders Of The Blockchain?
HIVE is a pretty fast, free, utilitarian blockchain, with quite a bit of potential to do much more than it is in the number of transactions. It's among the few, if not the only chain, that doesn't have a company or centralized authority currently behind it. There's quite a bit to like in technology and in governance.
Do most people care about that? Is it the chain that attracts people?
Is It In The Community?
There is quite a bit of good and goodwill here. Many positive people doing great things. There is a potential for a synergy the likes of which doesn't exist anywhere else.
It's also true that there is a not-so-friendly side to the community, too, that can rear its head at any given time.
People come and go everyday. Numbers have dwindled, for whatever reasons you wish to attribute to them. People can be all over the place as to wants, wishes and actions. As unified as the community can be it, it can also be at odds with itself.
Therefore, is the value in the community?
Is It As A Speculative Alt Coin?
HIVE isn't quite two months old yet. Even so, great things have happened, particularly in the way of listings and in PR, something its cousin chain has not ever had much of. It's in a great position—along with the ongoing development work and what the users might be doing to contribute to it—to take off.
But even if it does, is that where the value lies? Is that what HIVE is meant to be?
Is It In That Ever Elusive Killer App?
Some say we need more development, more apps, more utility. No doubt about it, but so far, that big app that will attract the masses and the value they're supposed to bring with them has yet to materialize.
But even if it did, would the value of HIVE be in that app, or in sum total, in all the apps on HIVE?
Is It In The Combination Of All Those Things?
A case certainly could be made that the value of HIVE is greater than the sum of its parts. It's all of it, working in concert.
But STEEM had all of that, too. Granted, there was plenty of baggage thanks to Steemit and how STEEM came to be, etc., etc. Unfortunately, that's a legacy HIVE currently shares, and there are some who think HIVE is still in essence controlled by a central entity, even if that group has more people involved than Steemit Inc. ever did.
Aside from flying the banner of decentralization proudly, continuing to work hard and to innovate, what's going to make HIVE stand out, not just from STEEM, but from all the other alt coins clamoring for attention?
The Future Of HIVE Is In Using HIVE
I'm not the first to say it. I won't be the last. I will hammer on it from time to time, though.
Instead of seemingly fixating only on the current economics of the rewards pool, and everything associated with it—from autovoting, to spamming, to rewarding this group more or that group less and everything else in between—we should at least put in equal time and energy in creating ways to attract consumers.
And when I say consumers, I'm not talking about just consumers of content. I'm talking about consumers of all kinds of products. Not just digital, but the kind you can eat, physically hold in your hand, do stuff with, put on a shelf, etc.
I don't know if that means we build a place that consumers want to hang out in first, and attract existing businesses to HIVE to market and sell their wares in HIVE, or if we attract some businesses for the existing users here to partake of (we are all consumers, too), or some combinations thereof.
The idea is, we begin the transition away from just being a platform that relies on inflation that dwindles by the year to reward posts, or that also plays games or provides gambling apps, and tools to analyze all kinds of data with—to something that more people are going to want to actually spend real HIVE on.
I know there have been attempts to do certain things and for one reason or another those stores and businesses have fallen to the wayside. I get that it's not an easy task. Nothing worthwhile normally is. But if we want the masses here, they need a reason to come. The whole world doesn't blog, or tweet, or Facebook or endlessly argue over everything.
The whole world does need to eat, put clothes on their backs and roofs over their heads.
There are an inordinate amount of needs out there. How can HIVE start to fill even a small portion of those needs? With HIVE, the alt coin. With the transactions of HIVE between holders taking place on the HIVE blockchain.
I'd like to see more discussions about how HIVE can become a global digital currency, and how everything HIVE currently is, and what it can become, will eventually onboard the masses, because they can spend HIVE on the things they want and need.
That's where I believe the value in HIVE is.
Images courtesy of Glen Anthony Albrethsen