How Do We Grow Hive?

Firstly, we have to identify what Hive is. Yes, Hive provides a number of services and experiences, but at the end of the day, it all boils down to one key aspect: Hive is an incentivized economy. Whatever your activity on the Hive blockchain, it is incentivized by tokenized rewards. Activity on the Hive blockchain is very much incentivized by reward and as a result, an increase in the user base will require a more diluted distribution of the voting power.

There are a number of key community members who have realized this and are actively engaged in the appropriation of this understanding. Essentially, if the community grows, the distribution of the voting weight needs to be spread further. In other words, auto votes, as well as not moving beyond habitual voting habits means new community members are not really being incentivized to continue.

This is however the freedom that comes with a platform that is censorship resistant. Nobody can be told how to vote, or who to vote for. However, it’s a two-edged sword. Not moving beyond familiarity means that new and up-and-coming contributors are not really benefitting. Now, I understand this needs to be earned. A few good articles are not going to be enough.

I am talking about hundreds and even thousands of articles. It’s encouraging to see so many curation accounts, especially on Leofinance. However, I have noticed that many of the larger Hive curation accounts seem to be stuck in stagnant voting practices. Essentially, seeking additional quality content, and choosing to spread allocation means an army of quality content creators is born, as opposed to a handful.

One does however have to be careful not to throw your pearls before swine just for the sake of “growth”. Accounts need to earn and establish their presence on the Hive blockchain. It’s a two-way street. There’s no free lunch, but in the same breath, a great effort deserves a bit of recognition.

A Journey Of Discovery

Today I came across a post by @slobberchops, in which he mentioned that he was looking for good-quality content that he can curate. This is exactly what we need to see, and was hoping some of the larger accounts, especially whales, would begin thinking like this. When it comes to Hive, incentivization is continuation. He also mentioned that many of the authors he had previously curated had either vanished or dropped in regard to the frequency of their posting schedule.

This creates the perfect opportunity to expand our network of quality authors. The unfortunate aspect of any platform like Hive is that quality is not necessarily immediately identified. In other words, Hive is full of undiscovered talent and knowledge. Authors who are able to impart value, provided they are visible to the community and visitors. If you stumble across Hive or Leofinance, whatever is trending is going to be what you happen to see.

It makes sense then that we should always be in a state of “discovery”, ultimately looking to identify and encourage authors who impart value, insights, and understandings that benefit and enrich the community. I really hope to see more of this taking place. I have recently noticed that some of the whale accounts on Leofinance are making a significant effort in order to try and promote quality content from authors that are currently flying under the radar.

This is truly commendable and is evidence of how Leofinance… as developers and a community are going about things the right way. It’s great to see a community being proactive and uplifting, especially when we look around at the world outside.

Final Thoughts

Stake allocation, in terms of upvotes, that “lands” on undiscovered talent, essentially lights another lamp for Hive. The greater the light, the more visible Hive becomes. Content creators find a home, and they in turn bring others to their own little piece of “digital real estate”. Many of these visitors will eventually go on to also become Hive citizens. Having multiple factors at play that produce the network effect, eventually, compounds into recognizable growth. Anyway, that’s it for me, see you next time!