Nearly three hundred missing persons were removed from my list of those I follow. Some were inactive for over three years. No sense in hoarding people. Maybe we'll cross paths again in the future but I somehow doubt it.
Sorting this out took awhile.
Warning in advance: My brain is scattered.
Apparently, over the years, I followed a lot of noobs. Several low reputation/low account value silent types. I guess I saw something in them, probably tried to help, but it wasn't enough, and now they're gone.
I'm only one guy though; one consumer. They needed more than just me.
If someone signs on here to create and hopefully monetize their content, their success depends only on themselves and the effort they put in. Nobody else will do your job for you. That same unwritten rule applies to damn near everything in life. Even a freeloader has to find a way to become a successful freeloader and if they can't, it's time to move on.
Seeing so many content creators come and go isn't a sign of a flawed content creation and distribution platform though. It's normal. This is a tough gig. Most fail. Everywhere.
Majority of people are, content consumers.
Tough to fail as someone who simply kicks back, enjoys things, hits upvote buttons, earns a bit for that, and maybe earns a bit more for spending time in the comment section afterparty.
I can go on Youtube right now. There I'll see several channels I've subscribed to over the years. Majority have gone silent. Some even got to experience hundreds of thousands of eyes all glued to their daily grind. They keep churning out the same style, drift into a comfort zone, people lose interest, then the content creator is blaming algorithms and quits because a few thousand views isn't good enough anymore; yet the first time they ever got 100 views was the best day ever and they even made a vlog post about it.
Even though those folks quit, I'm still on Youtube enjoying videos, as a consumer.
Visiting Facebook earlier for research purposes; I discover the same trend.
A community with ten thousand members. Majority of them are quiet noncontributors. I still see a few daily posts but very little engagement. Granted the community is based around a seven year old PC game. Still, the entire community dies because the coordinators haven't found a way to keep things fresh and people focused.
Businesses dry up.
Out with the old, in with the new.
So now — but hopefully it'll be a little easier to pull off in the near future — someone can step up to the plate here on Hive, drag the market of thousands of people they managed to establish on Facebook, drop it into a community here, and monetize that shit; even with a little help from their very own token. Spruce things up a bit. Rejuvenate interest. Arrive fully equipped with content and consumers.
I'm surprised this far into the game here on Hive, content creators with their massive markets of hundreds of thousands of consumers haven't setup shop here, utilizing their following to establish a solid revenue stream, but I have a strong feeling they don't understand the business model, or don't realize you can develop one here on Hive, quite easily.
Instead some come here just to take. No comments under their posts. They don't even explain to their outside followings/consumers how they can now earn as a consumer by staking tokens, as a form of donation, then supporting the creator through the upvoting process, while sharing in the profits. They'd rather have their consumers "hit the like button" on Youtube or wherever, for free, and earn nothing, while being hounded for Bitcoin donations all day. Getting a 'return on donation' sounds like a far superior deal to me, as a consumer, and one hell of a fine way to attract far more money in the form of donations, if you're a creator, since consumers enjoy life when they're not being ripped off. Plus the entire ecosystem benefits, creating yet another revenue stream provided the process creates steady buy pressure, increasing the value of the token steadily over time. No more losing jobs, being deplatformed or demonetized due to "cancel culture" either.
Sitting on a gold mine and ignoring the nuggets. Brilliant!
I'm honestly baffled as to why so many independent online content creators spam twenty-some different platforms with instances of their content. That's like standing on top of a skyscraper, dropping a handful of pamphlets, expecting those papers to land in the hands of those pedestrians down there, and pretending they'd actually be interested.
I'd say majority of these platforms nowadays that pay in cryptocurrency don't even focus on attracting actual consumers and since the same instances of content can be found nearly everywhere, there's no real reason or incentive for the consumer class to find one place and call it home base.
The entire concept and benefits of exclusive content are lost on these people.
I mean, sure, technically these creators spamming every platform they can find are "monetizing" their product. A penny here, a penny there; but who's looking?
When I'm looking, I'm seeing low views and silent comment sections.
I'd suggest corralling all consumers into one profitable pen but they'd be too busy micromanaging nonsense over twenty-some different platforms to even notice any incoming feedback.
Boiling this business model down to the basics; even the street performer knows she's better off setting up in one busy place and just going for it until the crowd forms around her. That cuckoo dude with the banjo running up to each individual stepping off the bus, pulling the people into random back lanes, then attempting to play a song for them; he's five minutes away from being arrested.
The main reason why Facebook, Youtube, and even Google do so well is because they're all designed to be one massive community melting pot where consumers can easily browse smaller communities, groups, channels, content, comment sections, everything, etc. All in one place.
Some folks in the past complained the chaotic nature of a platform like Hive.blog (formally the S-word) is a major turn off. Keep in mind, many of those complaints came from disgruntled amateur content creators struggling to work hard at building their own dedicated consumer base, on a platform that forgot wasn't ready to market its consumer incentives. for over four years...
I was always fine with the chaos though and now with PeakD upping the ante I see it is a classic winning business model designed to grab consumer attention and keep it there. Even Amazon does it with retail. You want one main door every Hive consumer needs to use to get inside then once there, they become lost and never leave.
Muahahaha!
On average those consumers spend 7.5 hours daily browsing content online nowadays; and earn nothing but eyestrain.
Catch my drift?
From a business standpoint, as a content creator, I've always admired Hive and the possibilities/superior potential. Absolutely adore the fact consumers share in the profits rather than ripoff artist middleman corporate goons.
I also enjoy building puzzles or pretending I'm MacGyver.
So I understand, in its current form, Hive is much like opening the jigsaw puzzle box, then trying to figure out where all these pieces go. Or as a content creator it kind of forces me to make a bazooka out of a can of lysol, roll of gift wrap, box of matches, and a random spring I just so happened to find laying around.
Do you remember the early days of Facebook?
First it was a little chaotic social space, then it evolved and people could stumble into all kinds of strange little apps developed by independent creators to add to their profile, then eventually they scrapped that model and everything they thought you'd use like the social space, games, messenger, etc; it all just came standard in one tidy package.
People are convinced Hive will thrive focusing on building dapps/applications built on Hive.
Right now we have all these features of Hive and the future going off in every direction; much like this article right now.
People wanted a chat/instant messenger for four years, so a developer here finally released one. Nobody is using it though since it's not connected to a home base like PeakD, where majority of people heard the announcement.
Recently I stumbled into an introductory post. The woman telling her story stated she had been using Actifit for quite some time; didn't even know about this space.
@klye has been working on a dice game for quite some time and you probably wouldn't know that unless you know @klye.
Apparently there's a poker game called Lucksacks connected to Hive somehow. "More $ Paid Out Than ANY Other Game on Hive!" Poker was wildly popular on Facebook in the early days and still is. @lucksacks.com, "The longest running Steem/Hive game" has 253 followers here.
I'm just a guy who only works half the frickin' year and I have 4500 more followers than a Hive app?
"We're decentralized. Deal with it."
Every application could have a little 'Home' button that leads directly back to the main social setting majority of people on this blockchain have always used regularly.
Without simplicity directing traffic back and forth to a place where consumers can browse, every other application loses out on potential consumer spill-over. Every Hive application could be accessible in some kind of menu off to the left when I'm browsing the social feeds. Developers would benefit working directly with other developers, teaming up to tie everything together. Before the big announcement blog post gets published, a little icon with a 'New!' flag in the apps section could already be sitting there, waiting to be pressed.
Decentralization to me in its simplest form basically means no single point of failure. Disorganization and chaos causes several points of failure.
Easy access to all independently developed features of Hive within a social setting where actual people/potential consumers frequent is in my opinion the most valuable feature of Hive. Facebook, Youtube, Google; they all help prove my point. As for Amazon, well, interestingly enough, there are thousands of books available there, many have been on sale for years, collecting virtual dust; no sales. This article will get more attention than thousands of books today and that's all because it's published directly into a social setting or common area where people gather.
To Conclude
It's true, most people are not content creators. That's how this post started. Pointing out the fact many were lured here thinking a basic social media status message would pay them the big bucks. Then they don't stick around to fill a more suitable role like consuming content in order to earn rewards, playing games, finding out they can earn a few bucks for walking around, plus more, etc. We're all consumers of something and many who failed or simply don't feel like creating content wouldn't completely vanish if the other features were sitting there ready to use, explained in detail, and easily accessible.
Content (arts, entertainment, information, games, all of it) in it's various forms has a tendency of attracting all walks of life and plenty of eyes. Those consumers also bring their disposable income with them and I heard somewhere cryptocurrency projects are always looking for new investors; but I could be mistaken.
Point is: It's wise to make their lives easy.
Anyway...
No. I don't want to be supreme leader of Hive. I'm just a guy who really likes the place, even if it is a total clusterfuck...
"For now."
