Hive Isn’t Meant to Stay Small
Some time ago, I wrote a post pointing out something that felt obvious, Hive’s user base seems smaller than it used to be. And I also shared the “silver lining” angle, fewer users can sometimes mean better visibility, less competition for curator attention, and more chances to get noticed.
That post ended up being a little controversial.
Not because some users seem to agree with me, but because one Hive user responded in a way that didn’t fully align with my point, and it gave me a needed reality check. It made me realize I’ve been looking at Hive through a narrow angle, the “how do I win here” angle, instead of the “what is Hive actually built for” angle.
And that difference matters.
Because yes, it can be easier to build momentum in a niche community. But Hive was never meant to stay niche.
Created using Sora
Hive is designed to scale. It’s fast. It’s almost fee-less. And a chain built like that doesn’t exist just to serve a few thousand people who already understand it. Hive is meant to cater for millions and millions of users, the kind of numbers that turn a good product into an unstoppable network effect.
The part we don’t like talking about... The Price
Let’s be honest, the price of Hive has been discouraging for a lot of people. You don’t need to be a trader to feel it. When the chart is bleeding, motivation bleeds too, especially for creators who measure their effort in fiat terms.
But here’s the lesson I keep relearning in crypto:
Price and progress rarely move on the same timeline.
Hive can be building quietly, shipping improvements, strengthening infrastructure, and improving the user experience… while the token price is dwindling. That disconnect feels frustrating, but it’s not new.
And this is where the loyal community members stand out.
Who stays when the payouts don’t “hit” the same?
During bullish periods, everyone is a believer. During bearish periods, you start seeing who actually cares about the platform itself.
I’ve noticed something that lines up with what many long-time Hive users already know: when the price is down, the “tourists” slowly disappear… and the people who remain are the ones building real roots.
Some stay because they genuinely enjoy the conversations. Some stay because Hive is their daily habit. Some stay because they’re playing the long game, stacking Hive, powering up, compounding curation, and treating bear markets as accumulation seasons.
That’s not fake. That’s conviction.
A smaller user base isn’t “the goal,” it’s a symptom
This is where my mindset needed to shift.
If we celebrate a small user base because it gives us better chances at rewards, we accidentally admit something uncomfortable: we’re optimizing for comfort, not growth.
Hive needs users for more than vanity metrics.
We need users because:
- Decentralization becomes more real with more holders, not just a handful of whales steering influence.
- The economy becomes more stable when more participants hold, spend, save, and circulate value.
- Governance becomes more meaningful when voting is distributed across more stakeholders regardless of their HP.
- Content curation becomes more accurate when “Proof of Brain” is shaped by broader human input, not dominated by a few big accounts.
Right now, curation often feels imbalance. A few large accounts can shape visibility, while smaller curators trail behind, even when they’re trying to do the right thing.
That’s why changes that reduce friction for everyday curators matter. Even something as “simple” as improving how upvotes behave can make participation feel more intuitive and fair, especially for smaller accounts trying to curate consistently.
The real bullish signal is the people
If you ask me what keeps Hive alive, it’s not the price chart.
It’s the loyal community members who keep showing up, posting, commenting, curating, onboarding, and building… even when it’s not trendy to do so. It’s the people who treat Hive like a place, not just a farm.
That loyalty is powerful, but it shouldn’t become an excuse to stay small.
The mission isn’t to protect a quiet corner of the internet where it’s easy to get attention.
The mission is to grow Hive into what it was built to be, a scalable, human-centered social blockchain that can actually handle mass adoption without collapsing under fees, censorship, or centralized control.
So yes, I still understand the “niche advantage.” But I don’t want Hive to be a niche advantage.
I want Hive to be a global advantage.
Hive on.
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It's been said a lot that more users will fix various issues with Hive. Some will leave as the audience is too small, but then we need the good content to attract users. Not all of us will be great creators, but we can all earn. We need the pioneers who will stick with it through the tough times. Ideally they should bring in fans from other platforms, but I am not sure how often that happens. I do know we have some creators here who have a decent following elsewhere and so do not necessarily have to be on Hive, but they believe in it. We need to show that they are appreciated here.
I've been here over nine years and am still waiting for it to go viral :)
!BEER
Yeah, it’s the classic Hive loop: we need more users to fix the audience problem, but we need good content + visible appreciation to attract and keep users.
I agree with you on pioneers too, people who stay consistent during the quiet seasons are basically doing unpaid infrastructure work for the culture.
And LOL… nine years waiting for it to go viral is real Hive veteran energy 😂
Cheers and thanks for the !BEER 🍻
Yep, it's the chicken/egg issue. We should build on what we have and make Hive a fun place to be.
Well said, I enjoyed this read and it was thought provoking.
I will touch on a few points of interest.
Why am I here?
You mentioned several reasons for one to be here. I looked at many account activities and connected accounts to get a sense of why people were here. It helped me rationalize my own purpose for being here. Once the purpose was locked in, everything started to fall in place. Not so much because I knew where I was going but more on using tools and skillsets in addressing challenges along my journey.
If you define your purpose early you can avoid much noise and distractions in the systems you interact with.
What is Hive?
Having defined your "why", now what?
Not hard to tell that Hive has many meanings to many Hivers. For me it was important to separate Hive into a tool and a community. My reasoning is that speaking of Hive without context is as useful as speaking crypto without context.
First, I see Hive as a tool, a protocol and a collection of functions, processes, and many sub-systems configured in a way that provides the creation of many social media communities.
Second, I am amazed at the many rewarding communities that exist on this platform we all use. Now we all measure rewards in our own way. To me, earning money here is a bonus but I completely understand where it could be the highest priority for a Hiver with a different purpose. Also, there is no escaping the gaming component of Hive reward pool management system, including the impact of downvoting versus just ignoring something you don't like. Sure, speak out but why use community resources in a way that is a net lost to the community as a whole.
The Price of Hive
I don't get overly concern of the price of anything at any particular moment. Here I look at the macro as well as the micro impacts on our platform. Hive is priced based on US$. The macro-economic effect on our communities. Our currency is Hive, not US$. As long as part of our brain is bias to the value of a US$ we will short change the value of our own social media currency.
I operate more in process-centric ways than say my better half who is very much task-centric. We both agree on the value of having well documented and communicated standards, best practices and governance at the top of any organization but we differ on pricing of goods and services. In particular so during times of high inflation and even periods of depression. For example, I may buy 2 of the same coats today because both will cost more later. Or, a project token price is sufficiently depressed that it trades at rock bottom pricing when evaluating the full potential of the project.
Totally agree and why I wish there was a strong leader at the top of this food chain to promote guiding principles for using Hive platform. We are all leaders in our own projects. There seem to be many great leaders, ie whales but the action and support from some whales are counterproductive to the wellness of many communities on Hive.
Wishing you all the best.
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!MEME
!PEPE
Thanks a lot 🙏 Glad it landed as thought-provoking. That’s really what I was aiming for... less “price talk,” more “what kind of platform are we actually trying to build?”
Keep it coming. Great stuff.
!PIMP
!LOLZ
It's not easy to get attention in a quiet corner. It's difficult to grab and hold an audience everywhere, however, it's far more likely to happen on platforms that have millions of people roaming around, from all walks of life.
Quite similar to busking. Maybe it's easy to get the attention of the one or two people walking down that lonely path. They have nothing else to grab their attention. They'll stay for a little while and move on. Now, the busker is once again left alone playing on that lonely path. Could be several hours before the next group shows up. Meanwhile, you've been playing for hours, running out of material, and need a break.
If you sit in the busiest area of the park, even though the majority is ignoring you, you're still able to build an audience. As some are leaving, more are showing up. You're able to use only your best material and perform to the best of your abilities before becoming exhausted. You also stand a greater chance of earning. And since you're not the only performer in that area, more show up just to see what all the fuss is about.
On this platform, because it's quiet, akin to that lonely path, the performers end up becoming a product of the environment. It's not their fault the posts go unnoticed. That's what we're offering. Kicking them out of the park isn't the solution. Many will leave, naturally. Even what's considered locally to be the best of the best experience low views, regardless of token value.
Placing emphasis on and encouraging the act of consumption here, is the solution. And in order to see results become beneficial, that'll require a lot of people active, and engaging. Not just creating. The people in the park always outnumber the buskers.
And maybe some don't like the busker analogy, possibly thinking that's a low form of life. It happens.
What is a university without students and what is the professor teaching, if there's no audience. Someone like Plato would agree, it's best to go where the people are. And it blows my mind when I think about how the students can pay their fees, and watch that money grow. In my mind that concept is huge and far more rewarding to society than posting into a void for rewards. Society is made up of several communities, and that should include this one, here.
That busker analogy is PERFECT. Quiet corners feel “easier” until you realize you’re performing to empty space most of the time.
And your point about consumption is the key: creators alone don’t create a thriving platform, the “crowd” does. Hive needs more readers, commenters, curators, and casual scrollers… not just writers chasing payouts.
If we can make consumption feel fun + rewarded, everything else compounds naturally.
Typically, content is a draw and the audience makes the most noise. This concept dates back thousands of years and there are crumbling theaters and coliseums to prove that to us. Libraries as well.
The crowd doesn't always cheer in the moment. Listening quietly happens a lot.
Later, once they leave, those individuals share their experience with those who were not there. Society today talks about what they consume constantly but it's always been that way, and the behavior has always been decentralized. Both entertainment and education follow the same path and have been on that trail for centuries.
Could have a million advertisements flooding the senses nonstop talking about how great everything is. Nobody talks about those.
"Did you see that video? Here, let me show you. So funny."
"This chicken tastes great." "Thanks, I found the recipe here. Let me show you."
"The trailer was good but the movie sucked. Don't go." Or, "Have you heard about this movie? I think you'll like it."
The content is the draw and the people do the marketing.
We don't need to make consumption feel fun and rewarding. That comes standard. And I'll upvote your comment and be rewarded for the act of consumption. You upvoted my first comment so I was rewarded for sharing ideas. I read your post and upvoted, therefore I was rewarded for the act of consumption. As a consumer, I've been rewarded three times so far, here.
And when I think about the value, I don't base my conclusions off the few cents visible on the surface here and now. It's not about me and my earnings. That line of thought could lead an individual into the realm of thinking it's not much so therefore, not worth it.
Tallied up and applied to society as a whole, I see tremendous value. These behaviors are thousands of years old and only now lead to something more than just the feeling of being rewarded.
I've both seen and experienced what's happening to people as we doom scroll our lives away. All input, no output. Tricking the senses into feeling rewarded all while shutting people off from the world. Constant exposure to advertisements. Left with nothing but lost time and very few memories to share. What are they chasing? A poor substitute for what comes naturally. People are inquisitive. People want to be supportive. People want to share. People seek rewards for doing so, and always have.
Maybe Hive can contribute to solving at least a small part of that problem. Or maybe not. I can't say for sure. I see potential. Not here to insist others see it the same way. Just something to think about.
Like you, I've never taken to the idea that Hive should be some boutique operation, an exclusive country club where the big players are fawned over by an adoring (but small) group of sycophants. That only benefits those who are doing just fine right now thank you very much, and don't want to open things up and let anyone else have a nibble at the buffet table (the fact that they see it that way is part of the reason we're seeing what we are right now).
I've been here since the Steemit days in 2016 and have seen it all.
This is the money quote right here:
That pretty much described me until earlier this year when I decided to optimize opportunities outside of Hive rather than going for daily post for a year award that I started on January 1st. 30 days of continuous posting proved that contributing steady, thoughtful, posts and meaningful comments made no difference unless you were part of the "in" crowd, which I've absolutely never been even more so since the split with Steemit happened.
I will never forget seeing some people having an exchange and using the phrase "no upvotes, no comments, just trailvotes." They were discussing whether to comment on a post. They were talking about my account... As if there was some sort of official policy somewhere to starve my account of support, why? I don't know. I'd been tipped off to the possibility of something like this "Do-Not-Support" 'List' a few years ago and had refused to believe that such a self-defeating operation was true. But after digging around, it was apparant that nothing was ever going to change. So I took advantage of the welcoming opportunity in front of me and have been optimizing my content outside of Hive, that's why you haven't been seeing as much of me this year. But I still pop in from time to time to see if sanity has returned. If the massive drop in the token price, the shuttering of operations and the exodus of longtime builders hasn't woken the elite country club members up then nothing will. But I'll always be proud that I hung around and kept building when the token price slipped while others bailed.
So I'm now a whale elsewhere (why beat my head against a brick wall here, right?), and it feels good to finally be included and rewarded for my content contributions. I didn't know that the token had taken this big drop in the price, but decided to drop by and share a post regardless of the price.
The loss of ionomy last year hit me just as I was starting to buy the $HIVE token again. If I had a huge stake, I'd be rewarding just those people you talked about. You know, the ones like me who hung around through thick and thin and kept building, believing that Hive should be much bigger.
But like a plant which provides oxygen which nourishes us all, those loyal Hivians need regular watering to keep them healthy and strong while building community. I still have hope and don't believe that it's too late to turn this ship around. Those with stake need to start watering and fertilizing more than the handful of their friends plants and need to engage in wide-scale agriculture. Reach out beyond your base and support those who've been loyal seedlings for years and watch the garden grow.
source
This was powerful to read, and I’m glad you shared it honestly. The “no upvotes, no comments, just trailvotes” line is… brutal. Whether it was intentional or just how things evolved, that’s not the kind of culture that helps Hive scale.
And I really love your “watering and fertilizing” analogy. That’s the truth: loyal users aren’t just “nice to have”... they’re the foundation. If long-time consistent creators feel ignored, the chain loses its strongest roots.
I’m also glad you found a place where your work is properly valued. That’s not betrayal—that’s just being practical. Still, I hope Hive improves enough that people like you feel pulled back in more often, not just for nostalgia, but because it finally makes sense again.
So much potential, so much possibilities, let's work together and get it there.
Exactly. The potential is there... we just need more alignment and more people actually pulling in the same direction. Let’s keep building and supporting the ecosystem piece by piece.
Would be better if there was not a bunch of collusion that downvotes perfectly good content to ensure the reward pool doesn't payout to much and sucks all the profits back to them. After a while ppl stop posting and realize that its not worth it unless you can plow a bunch of money in and sneak in set up a operation to be superior to the current alliance that is extracting all the money and suppressing others votes otherwise you prob wont be getting much to be worth your time unless your in a country where the lower money goes further but at this point we need to reset HIVE and fork it and remove or significantly reduce like was done to the steemit ppl stakes of the ppl abusing the system which are all the large whales just audit all the actions and i believe its been done and then based on the level and length of the offences just re allocate that money in a fork to all the other users who would get the power leaving the current powerful accounts powerless and if it took off and maybe get backing from a capital raise and if you could raise enough then maybe could incentivize splinterlands to move over by giving a grant to move as well as funding a endowment fund via stable coins that earn a 10-15% apr outside of the platform that back the returns paid out which would be a savings rate that's reasonable and the rest could be used to allocate to projects based on voting power of the stakeholders with say a structure to return some portion of the money back to the endowment fund and then part of it would also go to just reinvesting into other assets to grow it. Other ways it would make money would be the new DHF would get all advertising revenue and sign up revenue as well as other sources of revenue and have a deposit and withdrawal fee as well as some additional fees to have other revenue streams which would be necessary until the money is paid back plus a return to the investors who dont control anything from the interest designated for grants but control all the other sources until they make a pre set return and get principal back then they are bought out and the funds are handed over to the stakeholders plus a small portion is converted to stakes for investors so they then get a decent stake but not one that could over power anything so they still can profit with everyone. There would be a down vote appeals group that would penalize retaliatory downvotes or frivolous downvotes and there would be no arbitrary rules and x% of the community would need to vote any guideline in and it would be a high %. This would reset the entire system put a sustainable funding mechanism in place and have a dao as well that would be run similarly to the sps dao and be managed transparently so ppl actually know what's going on and we dont end up wasting money on cars and stupid things that benefit certain ppl only with rigged approval. If it could work and a group could be found then i bet most would leave if they got funding from the new fund to come over and the old platform would lose all its liquidity which are the small users leaving the whales holding there bags that they then would have to trade to others and have a rule that one must burn there hive or send it to a null account if they want to receive the fork which would have real value backing it not just a algorithmic stable coin which is much less stable than real dollar backed and other crypto backed revenue.
I hear the frustration... especially around downvotes, cliques, and the feeling that some good content gets suppressed. That experience does push people away.
Where I slightly differ is the “reset + fork + confiscation” approach. I think that kind of scorched-earth move would create even more division and trust issues, and it would be hard to rally everyone behind it long-term.
But your core point is valid: if the average creator feels like they have no fair chance, growth stalls.
What I’d rather see (and what I think is more achievable) is:
stronger social norms around downvotes (clear reasons, avoid retaliation, use muting/ignoring more often),
more visible, transparent curation trails that support outside-the-circle creators,
and more onboarding + consumption incentives, because without readers, even the best writers feel like they’re posting into a void.
If we fix those, whales won’t feel like “gatekeepers”... they’ll feel like “gardeners.”
I see your point with the removing of assets maybe a board that is independent and does a complete audit and makes sure every transaction is transparent and in the best interest of hive stake holders with them having a blocking authority over DHF funds for a certain period of time to allow for the blocking or challenge of items by having accounts that are small sign up for a proxy vote contract that would auto delegate all hive owned to the board account on demand and be able to wield all the power of the small accounts at once to vote to block certain things or be able to ensure compliance with rules that are consistent for all members. Maybe instead of taking assets if the ownership could not be over come then voting shares are limited in certain situations where actions of the larger players collusion is in question and how that collusion negatively impacts HIVE and if found that the actions are not consistent with a fiduciary relationship then they would also in this case as part of the them holding on to leadership positions need to put up significant collateral that can be slashed and any account that is known to be associated with the account under investigation would not be allowed to vote on the slashing penalty. Losing money if they act in a way that would not be necessarily in the interest of all members should not be tolerated and if they can lose money a good chunk then they wont do it likely.
That idea is more practical... strong transparency + independent oversight could build trust without nuking the chain. The key is making it credible and truly community-aligned.
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Thank you 🙏 Appreciate you supporting content creation. That kind of simple encouragement matters more than people think... especially when creators are trying to stay consistent.
Your welcome.
Consistency is exactlu what we should encourage!
Exactly… consistency compounds over time.
Full agree with you HIVE is not suppose to stay small. Let us stay onboard, and do our thing for HIVE and all the community and not losing our believes we will stay such a small community. Over my last 8 years, I have been quite involved. This year I took a half-year break, but slowly getting back. I missed this. The only social media I am active in - not saying I don't have other social media, but I behave very passively in those. The only social media I miss when I take a step back. My take, regardless if HIVE stays niche, or grows or whatever, I will always be here in one or other way.
Respect. And I relate to the “half-year break then slowly coming back” part... Hive has a way of pulling you back when you miss real conversations.
I love your mindset too: whether it stays niche or goes mainstream, you’ll still be around. That kind of long-term presence is exactly what keeps the place alive during rough seasons.
Hmm.. But isn't 9 years (overall) and 5 year after fork is a long time for Hive to reach the point it should be.
Some of promises are still pending from steem days.
You’re not wrong to ask that. 9 years is a long time, and some “Steem era” promises still feel unfinished.
At the same time, I think Hive did deliver on the biggest thing: the chain survived, stayed fast/fee-less, and kept building without corporate control. The harder part has been “product-market fit + distribution” (onboarding, retention, awareness), and that’s where we’re still catching up.
I’m hoping the next phase is less about promises and more about consistent user growth + better UX.