I think you're exactly right that promoting Hive as a platform is not a good approach. Bottom line, it's not how most people use the web.

If you think about it, very few people go around saying that they're "on Facebook," or that they're "online;" they're online or on Facebook to do very specific things, usually related to some kind of hobby or interest group. Or perhaps they are following or promoting a business or artwork or a personal brand.

If more of our communities were more visible and more dynamic, it would make more sense to say to a friend "I'm part of a gardening community on Hive, why don't you come and join us?" and it might have more appeal than just trying to persuade people to join yet another social media platform.

In general, I'm far less concerned with whether or not something is quality content than whether it adds value to the community in some way. After all, I run a cat blog here and cat blogs are hardly the pinnacle of literature, and yet most of the Internet is obsessed with cats, from memes to kitten reels to God knows what else!

To close out what also could be a very long comment, I'm also not that much of a fan of posts about Hive, on Hive, just like I'm not that much of a fan of posts about development on Hive unless it is some grand announcement that will substantially affect everyone here. I far prefer it if people just write about what they're interested in instead of worrying quite so much about whether they're saying something popular.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

=^..^=