I put this Tweet out yesterday and it was something that was on my mind.
https://twitter.com/steevc/status/1500573751473324032
I had some responses from @dickturpin, @unklebonehead and @recording-box, but obviously Hive is the better place for this discussion. Some may know that I have been a keen commenter from the start and recently clocked up 50,000. I think that has played a large part in how well I have done here. Lots of people know who I am and some choose to support me.
[IMAGE: https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/steevc/23uRKsvXp8Fobh6fec1QVSCZrwSCwXvAGJAwERX5wrVUhGy9KNHfAemvz3cK1A3MyBGHS.png]
So I obviously think commenting is a good idea, but I see many people who hardly do it, or perhaps do not do it so well. Some accounts do more posts than comments, when I think you ought to be making at least ten times as many comments as posts. Not only does it get you seen, but it can also earn well. I have had comments make several dollars, but regularly get good rewards. I still would not say that you should see it primarily as an income source as that can lead to spam-like behaviour.
On the old (dead, but possibly revived) Tsu platform we suffered a lot from 'Nice post' comments from people desperate for a like. So far that has not been so much of an issue here, but as Hive grows we may see more of it. I do get some comments that seem to lack sincerity. Telling me that my running is good for me is not really adding anything of value. I get that language can be a barrier, but there are substantial communities who are not using English. Do not just comment on posts by big accounts as they may get plenty of responses and spread their votes thinly. Engage with posts you enjoy that interest you so you have something to say. The author will probably welcome the engagement (or at least they should), especially if they do not get much otherwise. Responding to comments can lead to more regular support. I spread several dollars each day across replies to my posts and comments.
Even the most viewed posts (mostly by Splinterlands) are often getting less comments than I do. They need to get their many thousands of players active on the social side of Hive where they could be earning well.
Although trending is not where I go to find posts it could be seen as an ad for Hive, but it can give a false impression. You will find posts that get huge rewards, but little engagement as they are there due to support by the big curation projects plus all those who follow their trails. Even if they have comments then many may be automated. We have at least one rampant comment spammer plus all the bots.
I just think that more actual social engagement would be good for Hive. It would make content creators more keen to come back even if their rewards are not great. People post on other platforms for no reward as they can get an active following there. Hive does not yet have the critical mass to make it attractive in that way, but we will only achieve it by building the community and not losing good people.
On Twitter @dickturpin said "The problem is, for a lot of posts what can you say?". You do not have to comment on every post you like, but if you have something to say then why not take a few seconds to say it? Even a "Well done!" for someone's achievement may be appreciated, but the best comments are those what make the conversation continue.
You can also compete in the Hive Engagement League by @abh12345. Even I struggle to even get in the top twenty there.
I get that a lot of people are just chasing the money, but I have always tried to make this platform fun for me. I have done what I can to help others and had a lot of kind words for doing so.
Hive was intended to be a social platform and I think it can be a bit lacking in that respect. We can each play a part in fixing that.
What do you think? Suggestions on Twitter included 'canned responses' (Peakd has 'snippets') or the ability to respond to a video with video. The latter would need some development, but many things can be done with what we already have.
Hive five!
Lovely post @steevc
I have to agree that a lot of posts are low effort. Even interaction can sometimes feel cheap; something like:
-> low effort post
---> nice post
------> thanks
----------> you're welcome
Lol.
But I frankly I don't mind; I just don't bother with that.
There are a lot of genuine creators who put effort into writing or recording well thought out and researched content, and have also been consistent as to improve their writing, speaking or editing skills. These are the accounts I try to discover, follow, upvote and engage with.
One of the reasons is you can have insightful conversation about something that interests you. You might learn something new and who knows, maybe even make a new online friend.
followfriday posts are a great way of discovering new people on HIVE to engage with.
> You do not have to comment on every post you like, but if you have something to say then why not take a few seconds to say it?
Exactly! Sometimes I don't have something to say on a post I like, and thats OK too. There are a bunch of tokens like Pizza and Beer you can send to show your appreciation. The @stickupboys even came up with the awesome idea of creating a bunch of GIFs to interact with their audience. So sky's the limit.
But yeah, comments are an amazing way to build relationships here on HIVE, one day I will make it to 50,000 haha.
(I have quite a ways to go)
I've been spending a fair amount of time recently re-thinking how I intentionally interact with and create posts on Hive. So your post here is very timely for me.
>Engage with posts you enjoy that interest you so you have something to say. The author will probably welcome the engagement (or at least they should), especially if they do not get much otherwise. Responding to comments can lead to more regular support.
This is important to point out. And it has been one of the difficult things for me. My career is fitness and I'm arguably a subject matter expert in that field. For a long time it interested me, and I thought maybe I'd find joy in interacting with the fitness communities on Hive like Actifit and Exhaust. But the truth is that as I prepare to retire from fitness work, consuming and interacting with that kind of content just isn't exciting anymore.
This took me some time to learn this about myself. And I've found I get more joy from reading posts from folks that are writing on things I know less about. It does make contributing to the conversation harder, since my knowledge base is smaller. But I guess the thing to do then is to ask clarifying questions in the comments to keep the engagement up. Maybe that kind of thing would work for others also finding themselves wanting to be social on a post where they perhaps don't have the knowledge or vocabulary to be adding to or counter-pointing a discussion.
I agree that more social engagement is necessary for Hive to attract more users. When I write content I try to remember to finish with a question to spark engagement, like you did in this post. I don't always remember, but I think that just as people should strive to comment more, so too should folks writing posts try to prompt that engagement. I think that's part of good blogging.
All that said...
Nice post.
!PIZZA
Positive
So I gave this some thought last night based on our conversation on Twitter, and in the same vein, you mentioned "A string of random thoughts cobbled together" I mapped out a response prior to this post that I've only just read. People can disagree if they like, but I would argue that in the high 90% range, posts that are submitted are not really in the "Conversation encouraging style." I recently did a post "I was human email" while I think it's a pretty good and possibly an informative piece of work, I wouldn't say any of the paragraphs was written in such a way that Joe Bloggs would leap to their keyboard to ask "What's a pound note?" although having said that, it's probably a key element that would be an easy way to comment. As you know, I work in Sales, and one of the hardest parts is Cold Calling; everyone hates it because you're going in blind and can be told to "Fook Off" by even the most professional of companies. After a few weeks and months of that, you give up, so I understand why some folk might be reticent to comment on a given post especially if they disagree with something. One of the less stressful calls telesales people can make is a soft or warm call: "Hi, you bought a widget from us a couple of months ago; I was wondering if there was anything else we could help you with?" so maybe elements such as Pound Notes woven into a post might encourage people to comment?
Negative
While you constantly decry me for being cynical, I would argue I'm a realist. With that thought in mind, I would say that for again, around 90% of the Hive userbase members are more interested in gaining curation rewards than engagement. I have to agree with you; I have seen comments on my posts over the years that I can tell has been written in such a way as to disguise what the author truly wanted to type: "Nice post, I upvoted you, please upvote me." 🤣
I don't know what the answer is; it did occur to me that when I look at news stories and blogs on the Internet, the 'comments' are very thin on the ground. Sadly, Hive is not Usenet or Twitter for that matter. Those platforms are designed and engineered towards engagement, hell Twitter (And Facebook et al.) has an AI and an algorithm specifically designed to show you Tweets from like-minded people or, at the very least, content that the AI knows you are interested in. As far as I know, Hive doesn't even have a feature that says: "Hey Pete, your friend Steevc has posted something." it doesn't have any of the features its competitors have in terms of bringing people together. All we have is awesome people like yourself who flog their guts out compiling data and posting, "Oi! Look at these people who live near you; wouldn't you like to be friends with them?"
Summary
I suspect communities would disagree with the "Lack of engagement" accusation. I know I have made more friends on the Ecency Discord channel than I probably have on the Hive platform. I suspect this is because of the instant communication it provides? I guess most of the Hive userbase is talking daily with each other either on Discord or within maybe gameplay (Splinterlands). I can't comment on 3speak as I don't really use it much.
Not sure that helps much but it's the thought that counts. 😉