There are certain advantages to being a people person and one of those is understanding the importance of the community backing a cryptocurrency project.
Many people new to crypto will run in and buy a random shitcoin for $10 they heard on the news and think it's going to return them a Lambo. This was the case for me when I began, as it probably was the case for you too. The excitement of investing your hard earned money for the first time into something seemingly valuable that promises wealthy returns is quite an adventurous prospect for the first timer.
But what many people don't understand on their maiden voyage into crypto is how value is created in the first place. You can't just create value out of thin air. There needs to be some (or many) processes in place to create that value in the first place. Of course how it's created could be many things in many ways, but in essence there will need to be some inherent value there or the token will crater.
Holding Dogecoin to get rich for example isn't value. Think of it this way, what is in Dogecoin that makes you want to hold the coin in the first place? This is the value that needs to be there. There needs to be some incentive to hold the coin in the first place. Say Elon Musk stops tweeting about it, or let's say in one of his bitch fits he turns anti Dogecoin. What happens then? Do you hold? Buy more? Or sell? A coin with value wouldn't ride on empty words of Billionaires.
That being said Dogecoin has one of the biggest and oldest communities in the cryptosphere, and this is something that is most often overlooked -- in any coin. A community is like the founding block of your project. The community is what will keep you from toppling over and having to give up what you've created so far. Without your community, you are nothing. Your token might well be the inventor of light-speed space travel, but without a community behind it, it's dead in the water. You need people to believe in what you're doing.
That's why whenever I want to invest in something I always like to get a feel behind the founder and the community at large. What are they saying? How are they going around their business? Do they treat everyone well? How does it feel to be in there? All these questions need to be answered because a founder that doesn't engage with his community is going to end up on the wrong side of the mob in the end. Trust me on that one.
I think the best part of a community is how open the leaders are to the hard questions and do they see that as an attack, or an opportunity to let people know more about their project? I think that's key. Often a frail ego can topple a community, or frighten it into silence, and when that happens, even if not right at this moment, it's a dead man walking.
So jumping into a community head first and getting a feel for the place is key. I try to run the man cave this way. Open to any questions at any time. No matter how hard, or how simple. I'll just roll with the laughs and the punches. And sometimes there CAN be punches you know? Everyone is welcome, anyone can ask a question at any time
The first thing you should be checking, before the tokenomics, before what the token does, before any of that shit is how do the owners respond to their community and how are community members treated.
Now that's not to say communities can't be run in a different fashion without being successful because they can. The key is transparency and openness.
Take Neoxian City for example, @neoxian rules that place with an iron fist, and bloody hell don't get on the wrong side of him or he'll catapult you out of there before you even know what's happening, but on the flipside he's probably the most open and honest community leader we have on Hive right now. His rule might be harsh and uncompromising but he's never ever pretended it's not, and those that sit within his guidelines and follow the rules are treated way more than fairly.
Example: One of our Nigerian homies got in trouble from hivewatchers and they wouldn't listen to him in main chat, or me either. So Neoxian fought his corner and got him re-instated. His trouble was obviously a mistake. See? A true leader will go out of his way for his community
This of course is in direct contrast to my own community. I am more of an anarchist and enjoy letting people air what they say. I'm a firm believer in accountability and consequences, and when someone acts out, well, the community deals with them.
Neither way is wrong, both are successful in their own rights.
This is why you need to look at the community, their leaders and those that follow them. Actions speak louder than words. So do they talk a lot but don't follow through with any of it? Is there a bad feeling in there? How does the community react?
And MOST IMPORTANTLY how well do the leaders lead? Do you feel your token is working towards a certain goal? Or does it just feel like a mish-mash of anything and everything cobbled together by high hopes, big wishes, sugar and spice and everything nice?
Hope this helps! :)