Time for a bit of a Sunday reflection and thoughts on the trajectory the Hive ecosystem seems to be on... and where that's all going to end up.

I know this place was born out of a lot of positive energy and effort... and hope for building something better.

That has never been in doubt, in my mind!

Sometimes, though, Hive seems a bit like a rudderless ship, or like a ship without a captain.

Yeah, but that's DECENTRALIZATION!

Whereas that might be true, there is a huge difference between a great concept and effective functional execution of that concept. Decentralization — much as many seem to have a slightly surreal "love affair" with the term — isn't always "the answer" to everything.

"Leadership by consensus" is extremely difficult to carry out in a world that's not built that way. Even when it sort of works, it tends to move glacially slowly because getting everyone onboard with a "version" of an action plan that works for everyone takes a long time.

And because humans are mostly shitty, the minority who were not onboard — even if there was "consensus" — tend to get resentful and bitter and will passive-aggressively sabotage the majority's efforts.

Not good. At least not is you're trying to develop something business-like.

If you build it, they will come!

No.

No, they typically won't.

That only happens maybe 1-in-10,000 times because someone came up with something of pure genius... and the rest of the time, you have to scream and yell and wave posters and do interviews and have a publicity department and a PR department and whatever else.

That's not particular to Hive, mind you... it's true of everything from a hot dog stand to selling your art to the likes of Walmart and ATT.

Things don't happen by themselves.

The squeaky wheel gets the oil...

However much we might claim to believe in our Hive home, we have not been very good at being a squeaky wheel.

A lot of people are hesitant to throw money at advertising, and I can well understand that, but I also am not sure that's what we actually need.

What we need is PR and Publicity.

As in, a dedicated group/community whose function is to gather every possibly newsworthy update from any and all corners of the Hive ecosystem... and then be on top of spreading that news to every conceivable crypto/blockchain related news source, from Coindesk and the information services (CoinGecko, CMC, etc.), along with all the "lesser" outlets, YouTube podcasters and more.

Hive Doesn't Have a Public Face

Part of the problem seems to be that we're too busy making a lot of noise to each other, rather than to people elsewhere.

But "marketing" Hive to people who are already on Hive doesn't really make that much sense, does it? We're not the ones who need to hear about it...

The thing is, it's easier to build something off "being in the news" than off making a direct pitch for it. Think about it: Telegram games like Hamster Kombat haven't gotten to have 250 million users by running a bunch of ads... they got there by being in the news.

Of course, to be in the news, you need some newsworthy things to be happening... which is why you have a PR crew to dig up all the tea... and then spread the word on it, to anyone who'll listen, and even those who won't.

Success take a LOT of work!

One of the challenges virtually all organizations face is the fact that the people who build something great aren't necessarily the same people needed to deliver success.

Just like any other field, it may be difficult for a blockchain developer to "think like a user," because they live and operate on a completely different plane of existence from actual users.

And maybe that's one of the things we need to work through, around here.

Thanks for visiting and having a look at my blog, and till the next one!

=^..^=