Learning as a Content Consumer on Hive
Put yourself into your potential audience’s perspective, if you were to come by your own post, would you really be interested in consuming the content you put out? I think this is the part where most content creators, especially those starting out forget. They forget that they are also content consumers functioning on the same brain wave that decides what type of content would they be willing to use up their precious time.
So if you happen to publish content you aren’t even invested in, it’s going to show and the hints may not be apparent on the post itself but by how consistent you are at the subject. Now choosing to blog random topics doesn’t necessarily mean a lack of investment on those topics. It could simply mean you have other interests you are passionate about, like normal people actually do.
There’s an advantage on being consistent with your niche. When people see you post, they’d know what themes you’d be running and that sense of familiarity works when nurturing a relationship with your audience. It’s difficult to get that advantage by blogging about random topics spontaneously on Hive because followers usually follow you for the content they’d best known you for.
Here’s the interesting social dynamic when it comes to social rewards on Hive. There are several ways to approach the blogging to earn route and the consequences aren’t as punishing compared to doing the same thing on other platforms. You can focus on a niche community or blog about random stuff yet still have the same potential to earn substantial rewards for your time. The rules of the game are different here because Hive, while a social media platform, has other features on it that make it still profitable without being pressured to be a content creator.
Content that goes viral on Hive don’t necessarily mean the same content can get viral off the platform. It can happen but how often has that really happened?
Regardless of the pending payouts of the post, I consider any post with at least 10 views on it already a success. Getting some attention on your posts here consistently is an accomplishment. If you post the same stuff on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll get more views than what you get here on average. That’s just how much attention here becomes a precious resource.
I mean if you get at least some views on the counter, you’re doing something right in getting some clicks over your content in a platform where the average post barely reaches 2 digits of views. There was a time when the post reflected the view counter from the old blockchain. Imagine seeing more than 200 votes on a content with 7 views on it. That’s just how much trash can be tossed into the trending page back then.
Your post that went to hive trending isn't a big deal.
Right Content, Wrong Platform
You can make the best content about your niche but it still would go underappreciated given how limited the prospective audience you can get from Hive. Everybody here posting content is playing the hero role and competing for attention, nothing new there, this is the norm on any social media platform. The problem is setting yourself up to an expectation that content discovery here is as efficient as the content posted on centralized social media platforms.
Unless you posted content that is useful, controversial or interesting that people can get back for entertainment, most posts get buried after 2 days. That’s just how long people would mind the fresh post on their feed. Random AI recommendations on centralized social media are so efficient that it can lead one to gain more followers over content posted months ago as a suggested relevant content. We don’t really get that advantage here on Hive because content discovery requires manual browsing and banking on that prospective followers be interested in what’s old content.
Old Content Posted Still Matters
This is underrated especially for people more focused on those 7 day payouts and less about the long term life of their blogs. A lot of the time it’s curators screening for abuse that revisit old posts. But here’s something to think about if you ever want to get serious about improving your blogs first and prioritizing social rewards second, consistency matters to curators and prospective followers. If you ever want to expand your reach to other platforms, having your blogs here could help boost some confidence and give more prospective followers content to consume.
It’s not an unusual habit to search for more information about the content creator you like. If they happen to have other social media pages attached to their profiles, there’s a good chance that invested fans can explore those pages too. I don’t think I’m the only one who browses previous videos or art works of my favorite content creator even if those were posted years back.
This is how I gained random followers (not bots) on Instagram even when I’m not even posting on it for months. In reference to how efficient content discoverability can be under those AI suggestions, I find more artists with works to add to my sources of inspiration and these accounts post weeks to months apart.
For people that maximize their daily autovotes for social rewards, this wouldn’t be a problem if your endgame is just for the $. But for those that have goals like consistently putting out useful content for their target audience, it’s better to step back and compose the content to maintain consistency. Daily posting isn’t bad if you can maintain the level of consistency as a content creator people subscribed to you for.
At some point I've given up and just became a shitposter.
If you made it this far reading, thank you for your time.
You're being modest. You're definitely not a shitposter, but this is funny 😂
I agree with everything you've said here and definitely think that having a niche (or two) is the way to go. Ideally, the blog should be somewhat consistent and the content all related. Something I would add based on my own opinion on the subject is this: it can be nice to post about something different once in a while, outside of your niche - maybe as a means to be creative, to write about a passing interest, to eliminate writers block or even just to make a bit of money (like you mentioned). I think one way to do this effectively and still maintain your overall niche is three-fold. Firstly, make that post in a community. Secondly don't post it to your actual "blog," and lastly, maintain your niche consistently on your main "blog" by not posting content outside the niche or excessive re-blogging of others posts. When a person's main "blog" is made up of random posts on random topics from everyone under the sun, it gives zero indication of what that person is interested in overall. Then if a user goes to their "all posts" section and see that the person also post about the same assortment of varied topics, I would say that this is usually a good indication that they aren't worth following because it means that the person is going to contribute a random assortment of content to your "feed" that you're not at all interested in.
That was a long explanation and I don't know if it made sense or if I got my point across, but there you have it. 😅
It made sense and this is something I have been keeping in mind until I got to the point and said screw it and just post whatever I like, there's a good chance that the only ones reading it are the ones I already socialize with frequently.
I made other alts just to cover other interests I like, sometimes I do regret it and sometimes I am fine with it as they both serve their purpose as an outlet for sharing stuff I'm really into. Well segregating accounts for specific topics is a way to filter the type of audience but this is extra levels of content creator, not something one should mind if they were just blogging for kicks.
I still bear in mind that there is a chance that some random stranger will come to view the post so I have to put up something worthwhile reading to respect their time.
Yeah alt account is another way of doing it. I've toyed around with the idea but never followed through.
Another aspect of Hive though is the community and relationships that one builds. When you talk to people regularly it often doesn't matter what they produce. Sometimes it's just nice hearing what they have to say.
This tbh. And this is where more people that limited their goal for rewards at producing content. Most of the time, if I wanted content from my interests, I wouldn't be looking on Hive unless it's Hive related. Sticking around on the platform long wondering why they aren't getting a lot then you look at how barren their comment/reply activity always gets me to think what were these people really expecting? post their stuff, personal stuff and immediately hook people to be invested in them? yeah I know you know the answer there.
Being sociable here on Hive is the strongest predictor of success for someone that started with 0 or low stake and I wish more newcomers know that as basic 101.
When you like someone, it doesn't matter what post they make, you get to tip them and win back the same amount on as curation rewards. It makes their day and everyone wins. The moral hazard here is conditioning people that there are always monetary consequences and some may expect those relationship to be just so, limited at the transactional level.
Interesting angle about content consumption. Peakd offers good analytics about views and time spent on the page. For serious content creators, they can dissect that data and gear their next content towards whatever the data says is good.
But yeah, writing about niche topics consistently seems the best and easiest way for most people. Good insight.
Sticking to a niche may be great at first until you ran out of stuff to talk about. Ever tried ghost writing for the same subject for a month? Best pinewoods in town, benefits of pinewoods, why you like pinewood for your coffee table. Eventually, you'll come to dislike what you like because that's all your audience wants to hear, or at least, target audience. I know some creatives can keep going at it depending on the inherent flexibility of their niche like abstract painting, farting on a canvas is still an expression as spitting paint on it.
Had tried this before for several months. It's not even the same topic, but I got bored immediately. Got a recent side hustle for game-related ghostwriting. And that's infinitely much better for my sanity.
Since it's very rare to get readers on Hive, I'm just writing about whatever I enjoy lol. Posts like yours that prompt engagement are rare.
Btw, no more podcasts? Topics like these are good for conversations.
Na delete ni @tpkidkai yung recording ngayon di ko na alam when available sila @indayclara ulit for recording
What? Nooo, TP. Was looking forward to it lol.
:P u call that shitposting?? What do u consider a quality post then? maybe 1000 words or more with at least 5 pics and a video?? :P
I get excited if any of my posts get $1+ in upvotes. I do post often (at least daily) and only have a couple really good posts.. but yea, still nothing compared to some of the $100+ posts I see..
I have a high internal bar for quality but it gets lowered if I consider it's done by someone else. Writing 1k words can be done in less than an hour without saying anything can still earn one an applause. More words, photos, or videos does not necessarily mean it adds value to the core or substance of the post. One can still say a single sentence post and if it hits the right context, it can be quality.
It's for this reason why you struggle. If your metrics of success are what is reflected on the post payout, then that covers around more than 90% of the users being losers not making it past 1$.
If a stranger posts the exact same thing as you, would you bother reading it or make effort into finding the post amongst the sea of posts? This is what I'm trying to tell, many times we think our works are all that, but they ain't and by a stroke of luck someone comes by and appreciates it thus fulfilling a dopamine kick out of the self prophecy for validation.
Whether my post gets a dollar or none, I know I'd be reading the type of content I published even if it were done by a stranger because I know my target audience and it would be crowds that think alike or explore interests alike. And whether I get rewards for the post or not, it doesn't affect my motivation to pursue anything I want to accomplish on the platform, and that is to shitpost.
Nope (unless it just so happened that I needed a particular thing in one of my notes, though having said that, I have actually fallen over my own blog posts while looking for 3d-related stuff -_-). But I do things because I feel like it and anyone else liking it too is extra happiness :)
Generally, most of the time even, yes. The "slice of life" bloggers seem to usually struggle here as they have a lot of interests and don't want to niche. However if one has or is able to develop a shining personality people come for that instead :D
LoL your third graph XD
And that's assuming that one's feed or life isn't busy x_x
I have no idea how people manage posting daily. Maybe it's just me being a bit too precious about stuff that other people are going to read.
BAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAAAA good one XD
We can't all be protagonists and sometimes some people out there are skilled to outshine the others. That's a given with personal lifestyle blogs. One needs to be a person that can attract other people first before other people can get interested into what the creator is into. I sometimes get drawn by those TV shows with travel and cooking, not the food or travel but how charismatic the characters play out on TV, and then I watch the food and travel part of theirs.
I sometimes think they do this on their other social media or just posting for a quota to trigger those autovotes. I can't say for sure. Maybe some people just have that high level of self-absorb-ness and energy to make those happen. I tried doing that but then I learned I'm no protagonist.
There are rare times I do find something interesting to read from other people with like interests. I just wish I had more time browsing people's stuff nowadays.
Meanwhile I just found that if I spent that much time making a post that I thought was worth posting daily there were way too many things I wasn't doing including working more on the big projects I've been working on forever XD
Being a protagonist sounds like way too much hard work.
It's for this reason that I decided to post less unless I get a stream of creative juice to write with. Most of the time it's just drips of ideas that sound nice but couldn't compel me to write anything.
It’s a little tricky to get your niche going in an early timeframe when you start out. For me and many other people we weren’t really bloggers at all but maybe found the place through one means or another. Being on here is a growing and learning experience for sure.
I’ve been able to get some familiar topics going but I have a lot of interests that it’s hard to post daily and stick to one solitary theme for me.
I think it’s good to have at least one or two things to post about that are consistent though. I enjoy doing monochrome Monday, it’s a fun themed post for every Monday and I recommend new people try that.
I think there's some leniency Hive offers where it's not punishing to explore new topics compared to other platforms where the culture is a bit different. Hive offers authors the incentive to explore and still get autoupvotes/upvotes for their time bothering while content creators on YT need to maintain a consistent themed content to their established audience, experimental videos here and there may work until you upset your fanbase for trying out new things.
One needs to answer how much of the hobby posting variety they want to commit because if they made a goal of being the traditional niche blogger, they need to actually sacrifice some interests and post it elsewhere than on their blogs. Maybe a variety of topics can work if it's the personality that's being sold but if it's as specific as a niche, then it's hard to thrive out there than in here.
That's something I've been noticing on my peakd analytics. At some point, I even question its accuracy because one of my posts that I wrote about my frustration dealing with linux and setting up times new roman on libre office still gets the most views over the newer ones. When I checked the title just by plain google queries, apparently it's on the front page. Even my old game reviews still got a visit and I've been wondering how did these people find these reviews. And it looks like I have some chance over tech and OSINT reviews but it's really time consuming gathering those data and also trying stuff out with a huge chance of breaking the system in my laptop 😅 due to trial and error.
Since now I am into expanding my photography portfolio, I attached my acc wherever I can so they can read behind the scenes.
I talked to some hivers and they told me that they also check old stuff because it's there forever. I mean, even these days if I wanna show a friend the experience I had traveling somewhere, I am just gonna pull up my article from hive.
I've really been trying to get into specific niche but I guess, I already wrote in the footer what they could expect from me and that's what I mostly talk about and also lots of coffee + food 😅. But yeah, you made a good point about choosing a niche and just consistent over it so that it's more recognizable.
That was a good read, as usual. Have a great weekend!
SEO still applies to your blogs and self marketing, those random topics you publish will be there just as my old posts get ranked more from the old blockchain than their Hive equivalent here. It's way advanced from the regular shitposting mindset but if people who are serious about going full blogger life and monetizing their works, even the small things like this actually matters because content published in the past can, by serendipity, still lead to clicks and views where potential audience can be drawn in as a patron.
You could always use an alt for specific and niche subjects while linking your other accounts. Usually this works for the artists I follow on twitter where they share their SFW cosplays and art and they leave a link to their NSFW accounts for people to check. From experience, I firmly believe it's really more about the personality people subscribe to because if skill and looks were the only thing a content creator has going, they can succeed at it but it's a tall order to maintain the status when someone more skilled and blessed by genetics enters the competition in general.
Thank you for your time :>