This is a bit of a continuation of the thoughts from yesterday's post...
A large part of the appeal of becoming part of the Hive ecosystem was for me an opportunity to continue blogging, and to improve my writing.
Of course I also wanted to share my fair share of cat photos and learn a little bit more about the workings of decentralized blockchain environments.
Ostensibly, we are all here to reap the rewards (both tangible and intangible) offered by this new form of social engagement, and as I alluded to yesterday there are lots of different ways to approach the fact that we earn some rewards here.
Sometimes I find myself wondering whether most people who are part of this experience are actually content creators, or are they merely harvesters?
That is to say — and this is just my personal acid test — if I asked whether you would still be creating content somewhere else if you were not on Hive, what would your answer be?
I expect an awful lot of people who are part of this would have to confess that they're only creating content because they get rewarded for it on Hive. Very few are participating simply because one of their primary interests or hobbies is to create content.
I'm not suggesting that the idea of rewards isn't part of my motivation but I know for myself that even if I wasn't here I would likely be building a blog elsewhere, and likely try to have it monetized with affiliate links from Amazon and perhaps ads from Google AdSense.
If that didn't work out, I'd still have a blog and promote its content on social media.
In other words, I consider myself primarily a content creator. The fact that I am part of Hive does not alter that fact, it merely augments it.
One of the reasons I'm even questioning this and pondering the possible answer is the fact that so many people I have come across in our community will admit that creating content on Hive is — in fact — their first experience as content creators, and even with social media.
Of course it's not the first time I have pondered this question.
Many years ago, the same pattern was true of other get-paid-to-write sites —yes, they have existed for almost two decades longer than Hive — in which the fundamental question was "do you write and get paid as a CONSEQUENCE of writing or do you write simply for the PURPOSE of getting paid?"
It might sound like close to the same thing but it really isn't.
People who say they are writing for the purpose of getting paid typically don't really care whether they're getting paid for writing, or for sorting nuts and bolts, or for scratching their head. The objective is getting paid, far more than what you're doing to get paid... they are just "harvesting."
Conversely, if your objective is writing (or any form of content creation) and getting rewarded is a natural consequence of that then you're more likely an actual content creator.
Of course, you might ask yourself whether this even matters.
I would submit that it matters to the degree that It helps explain how the activity level of the Hive ecosystem ebbs and flows with the price of the token, and how people seem to "disappear" when the token price causes rewards to be lower. People are more tied into what ends up in their pocket than whether or not they're actually contributing something and or getting a following in a social content sense.
Of course, this not about trying to point fingers at anybody and say that it's good or bad, it simply is.
After all most people who tell the world about Hive and their experience on hive tend to focus on "getting rewarded" as their primary sales pitch, so you would naturally expect that the people you attract are going to be primarily focused on "getting paid" for whatever it is you're telling them they need to do.
It's not rocket science.
Just some Sunday night musings to consider!
Till the next one... Feel free to leave a comment — this IS "social" media, after all!