Switching the way HIVE is promoted -- and used, so that the people who are already using it, create more value on the platform, seems to be the way forward.

You touched on this with the comment about building fanbases here.

If I do something interesting as a creator, and then motivate 10 new people to join me here on HIVE so that they can engage with what I create here, and facilitate their engagement here -- then that is a small sphere that surrounds me and my work, in addition to providing a stronger substance / quality work for the currently existing HIVE community.

This sort of approach, of building businesses that include some element of exclusive value proposition that depends on HIVE is a different way of thinking about using the platform.

The difference is basically, using HIVE with the goal of gaining upvotes, to using HIVE with the goal of giving upvotes to facilitate engagement, and deriving your paycheck from ETH and USD.

HIVE works better as an investment tool anyways, and if the content is good and consistent, then it seems like post rewards will flow that way regardless.

.:.

This is a different sort of approach to the platform and is something I've been mulling over for some time. I will make an attempt to get this to work with my next project.