Hi there everyone, TheRingMaster is back again and boy do I have a thought-provoking question for you today.
How come people pay monthly just to be a Neflix subscriber?
How come people take cash to buy games on PC, Mobile Phone, PlayStation or Xbox?
How come lots of people don't earn anything from YouTube and TikTok yet some spend most part of their day engaging on such platforms?
The answer is in one word and that's Value. It's value for money. People would exchange money for anything they consider valuable either being helpful to solve a problem or entertaining. Although platforms like YouTube and TikTok could be a go-to for answers to questions, I believe most of the users are there for one thing, to be entertained and have a good time.
Hive which I consider my favorite social media platform does a great job in creating a decentralized social media zone where we the users can have the freedom and liberty to share honest opinions on things that matters to them without the fear of censorship and control from organizations and government. If Hive maintains this quality which of course it would at any level or scale and improves scalability, Hive will be unmatched to the giant Web 2.0 social platforms out there.
Hive must, nonetheless, open itself up to a wider range of entertainment content if it truly wants to realize its potential and achieve mass adoption. To be fair it's not exactly the platform's responsibility to do this but the people or users' responsibility. The Internet itself is just the sum total of data that users publish. The quality of any internet platform depends on the quality of data users publish.
The reason TikTok seems to dominate Facebook so much was because of how fun their short videos where in comparison to Facebook's content. TikTok could easily go down the drain if users stop producing quality content.
This is why the excitement, entertainment and value new users of Hive will get when they first visit this platform depends on what we publish. I must confess I'm not much of a video content creator, I actually love writing a lot and so I always make sure that I'm sharing quality to my audience. Although quality is mostly subjective depending on who reads, I believe myself and my friends are doing fine with the blogs.
Like I already mentioned, although we still have a huge scalability hurdle to overcome before we can have a seamless flow in platform interaction or engagement, just imagine Hive as an ecosystem with TikTok-like short videos, GTA level interactive games and many useful applications or dApps.
- Hive would dominate the social media industry.
This vision I believe is not only an illusion but a workable path to transforming Hive into a significant player in the digital realm. I hope this happens before the Metaverse Era because there's going to be a bigger challenge for Web 3.0 if Web 2.0 still dominates and maintains control during the Metaverse Era.
I think the Metaverse and advanced Artificial Intelligence era will be a time where people would be more addicted and attached to their communication devices than ever before. Web 2.0 or Web 3.0 dominating in this era will pretty much determine which one dominates forever Centralization or Decentralization
The revolution of Entertainment
The big social media platforms are not exactly driven by knowledge based content although that is also great but I believe the key driver of success for countless internet platforms has been Entertainment.
TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Netflix and Gaming industries are packed with entertainment content that users spend hours on end engaging with. These platforms have captured millions of users' attention with entertainment alone.
And since the entertainment has created an audience base for them, the celebrities move to those platforms and create accounts, pages or channels to engage with their fans. This creates a connection for the fans and that makes them stick to those platforms even more. All of this starts with making the platform more entertaining and enjoyable.
I strongly believe that by adding more immersive content, Hive will attract more users and actually retain them. Yes we do have 3Speak, VIMM and other video based dApps on Hive but the focus should be on two things, the effectiveness of the dApp and the quality of the video published.
Short-Form Videos: The TikTok Phenomenon
It's no news, the short form videos are winning. It seems more enjoyable than long form videos. In today's day and age, people's attention span is less than before. There's just so much to do and to think about that even if the content is enjoyable, they don't have too much time to spend on just one. This is why TikTok is winning, they keep the content short and sweet.
I love how Hive's communities are now focus more on shorter blogs and content. With Ecency we have the Waves by @ecency team, with Inleo we have the threads and we also have DBUZZ by @dbuzz team which is a community primarily for short blogs.
When it comes to short videos, InLeo is working on InLeo Shorts where users can share short form videos like on TikTok. We have 3Speak which thankfully is improving everytime.
As we improve the flow of the dApps and focus as a community on sharing entertaining quality content, I believe we'll have great progress with video content on Hive. And that alone can boost our adoption vision to make Hive as great as the giant social platforms out there.
Gaming - Another Gateway to Engagement
I can't tell you how many hours I spent on my XBox 360 playing GTA 4 when I was a teenager. I could sometimes spend the entire day playing games on Xbox and the only time I took a break was to brush my teeth take a shower and eat, then back to the game.
I earned absolutely nothing from playing the game except that it was entertaining and enjoyable. Money was spent to get the games I played and I earned nothing yet I didn't regret the hours I spent.
I believe Hive is also a great place for gaming. There is already blockchain gaming on Web 3.0 such as Splinterlands, Holozing, Wrestling Organization Online, Rising Star and Terracore to name a few. These games and all others connected to Hive need to focus more on quality than the earning potential.
If GTA 6 allows all users to earn perhaps crypto from playing their games, they would dominate even more than ever because gamers are already playing for free so earning from it would be a dream job for them.
I believe Hive itself can be transformed into an advanced game platform and a game industry like Electronic Arts and Rockstar Games if game developers focus on quality. With enhanced features like virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI) rising in our near future, the potential is almost endless.
Apps - Enhancing Utility and Engagement
Entertainment is not the only value people get from the Internet. Sometimes we go to find tools that solves our problems. From editing tools to all forms of creative and communication tools.
There are practical apps that could uplift the usefulness of Hive’s existence. We need to focus on making apps that simplify daily activities, offer educational resources and optimize productivity. Doing this effectively would allow Hive to target population from different walks of life with different needs. The science geeks will have their tools, professional workers will have theirs, the business men and women will also have their tools. So in the future whether you want to work or entertain yourself, Hive could have the right dApp or community for you.
When these dApps keep improving, it would cause more use of the Hive token itself which will drive its value up.
I'm thankful for the existence of the Hive Fund because at least developers will have support. The use of tokens in rewarding developers guarantees regular innovations which is good for the vision of growing Hive.
Charting the Course
I've talked about the value of making Hive a powerful entertainment center but the question is what exactly would we need to do to have this done effectively? Well I've put together a few points based on my little experience on both Web 2.0 and Web 3.0.
- To be a great entertainment center, Hive and it's communities must focus on some key areas which would include;
Different Types of Content
We need to motivate people to produce various or different forms of entertainment like short clips and video games that involve you. This is of course going on well with 3Speak and I'm personally preparing myself to also join the video creators as well.
Reward System
We need to give Hive tokens or funds to creators and developers that promote innovation and interactivity. The Hive Fund project is doing great with this using HBD.
Engaging the Community
We're already doing well having deeper engagement on discord pages so that's great. We would need to engage the public in decision making which would build more trust and loyalty.
Technology Infusion
If Hive would succeed in the near or distant future, it would depend on our ability to utilize modern technologies and future technologies quicker. We should already be applying some level of Metaverse, Virtual and Augmented Reality technology. However I think it's an issue of funds and developers so I hope we get there.
As we keep developing, improving and building this project and all its communities we'll see a better and decentralized world with Hive dominating. It would take our collective effort and so let's all contribute to make Hive the Now and the Future.
Thank you guys for taking the time to read. As always I would love your feedback on the blog topic.
Let's Make Hive Great ✊