It is amazing how simple business sense appears to go out the window when it comes to Web3. I think because of tokenization, people think there are shortcuts that enable the skipping of crucial steps.
On Hive, we all know that promoting the idea of "get reward for blogging" doesn't work. That was something that was tried years ago and the results were obvious. People came simply for the rewards and were doing nothing more than trying to scalp the system. This was one group. Then there were those who tried to do that, were not successful, called it a scam, and left.
Neither is beneficial to the long term growth.
Then we have a series of discussions, panels, meetings, and, now, Spaces to discuss what the narrative should be. We embark upon marketing to attract users. All this is done in the name of growing the ecosystem.
Unfortunately, all of this is a failure. Growth is flat for a glaring reason. All of this goes against simple business sense.
In this article we will explore exactly what is going wrong.
What does a business offer?
This is an easy question. A business offers a product or service that customers are willing to utilize. From this, the company seeks to earn a profit by monetizing the transaction in some form.
When we discuss commerce, this is fairly straight forward. Money is usually exchange as payment for the good or service.
If we look at the banking industry, people deposit their cash to earn some interest. At the same time, they acquire the ability to make digital payments on things such as bills. In return, the bank is able to use the money to lend out.
Taking a quick look at these sectors, it is easy to see what they provide:
We can break this down even further by looking at professions. What service do these people provide?
Again, the answer is rather evident.
Now for the multi-billion dollar question: what services are provided on Hive?
With all the focus upon users, there is a glaring hole that most seem to omit discussing. There are few services offered on Hive. Since that is the case, what the heck are these people even trying to market?
This all comes back to what does Hive offer? What businesses can you point to that people will utilize?
We, once again, are at the "Medium-style" blogging. If people are interested in that, why not just use Medium? Why would they post on Hive? The answer is rewards.
It is a vicious cycle that does not change. The reason why we keep having the same conversations, year-after-year is because of the absence of services.
Here is another simple question: where do you get your news?
Most either turn to the mainstream media or a site like Twitter. How come they do not turn to Hive? Another answer that is not difficult to figure out. We do not see news really posted on Hive.
So, how come, one of the most basic features of the online world, up-to-the moment information, is not even offered on Hive? This is a service people can utilize within this ecosystem.
Which brings us to another major question: did it even dawn on most people on Hive to post news related information so that it is available? I would guess most likely not.
In short, Hive is trying to get customers without having anything to offer in terms of a product or service.
There is some information posted, both in text and video form. The problem is that without intuitive search, people cannot find it. We also see a handful of games, most of which has marginal appeal. Unless they can promote the idea of some form of rewards, which usually means some ponzi-scheme design, few are interested.
Are there decentralized financial services offered? Can people purchase synthetic assets? Get a loan? Use an exchange for trading to other currencies?
Do we see book clubs? Review sites? Or videos that people will watch for either entertainment or information?
Can you buy stuff? Are goods sold that people can purchase?
Information. Commerce. Finance. Communication. How many services in these areas do we see offered on Hive?
Consider all the different websites that you visit in a day. How many of them can be replaced with something tied to Hive? Can you get your stock quotes? Heck, for the most part, we cannot even find cryptocurrency pricing.
This is the reality that Hive is in. From what I can see, there are a couple reasons for this.
We start with the technical limitation and the absence of smart contracts. This is a problem since this is needed for the development of some of the applications to the services I mentioned. It is a situation that is being addressed so we need a bit more patience.
The other issue is we lack business builders. Some of the options does not require additional technology. In fact, many can be built with what is already offered. Over the last 18 months, I hammered the idea of building on Hive. This means attracting people with a business mindset.
Unfortunately, this is something that falls on deaf ears. Most are here, once again, solely for the rewards. This leads to discussions about reward pools, downvotes, and a host of other topics while overlooking the elephant in the room: what is really offered here to the new person?
To me, this is the target area that requires addressing. If you want more activity tied to Hive, we have to develop the services that have people returning on a daily basis. As always, I disagree with the nonsense of trying to pull it from the outside. We have to develop it ourselves.
For example, there is no need to bring in a major journalism entity to Hive to get "news on the blockchain". This is something that can be undertaken by the people who are already here. Hell that could be a community that people get involved with and post to. Will it happen? We will see.
The opportunity is for someone(s) build a kick-ass business that provides a service to people utilize and want. A few ideas were mentioned here. However, there are a ton more with just some creativity and imagination.
Hell, just look around the Internet to see what is already offered and mirror it. That is an easy starting point.
The technology on Hive will keep advancing. There is development with some key features being worked on. This means the technical capabilities is expanding.
What about the rest? Most of that is not up to the developers. Here is where the community has to prove itself.
Hive desperately needs services. A store that was open for business yet had mostly empty shelves is not much of a commercial enterprise. The same is true for an office that has a few desks and yet offers no services to clients.
That is what Hive needs to address.
Provide some services that people will utilize and then we can target users.
