**Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook is enormous, but it didn't start that way. What did it take to become the giant that it did?**


![fbvshive.png](https://images.hive.blog/DQmYZTjF252484mkK2BTBn2koj4UJyQYRMJhdcUtEDZnwwQ/fbvshive.png)


*Does Hive possess enough of the same elements that Facebook had, in the early days, to become a giant, too?*

I don't think it only *has* enough, I think it has ***more.*** I'll tell you why, and you can decide if you agree with me.

*'The Facebook'*, later to become just *'Facebook'* because of a suggestion by the creator of *Napster*,  started out as an idea to connect college students together. It was a closed community and only accessible to Harvard students.

Even Mark Zuckerberg's initial build to harbor the college students required a small investment from his best friend, and CFO, to run a server for a mere $85/month.

The multibillion-dollar company started with just a small investment of several thousand dollars. It spread from college to college and remained a closed community as it spread across the globe to colleges internationally.

***Some of the key elements that made the project so successful were these:***

* A rockstar, and later, *rockstars* of development.

* A broad interest by a large and exponentially growing community.

* The ability to connect the community in a new and appealing way.

* A loyalty that was created within the community as a result of the connection they found there.

* Further funding (which in the case of Facebook was obtained by large investors).

* An intuitive ability to serve that community with the things *they* wanted. (*Facebook chose not to serve ads to its consumers until it had already obtained too much loyalty and mass adoption to be stopped*).

* Continued innovations to keep the project healthy and accommodate a further reach to all areas of the world, expanding beyond the initial closed community of colleges.

**All these things turned a college 'basement' project into the multibillion-dollar company that Facebook is today.** 

The question is, does Hive have all these qualities, and in what quantities does it possess them. Based on these areas of Facebook's success, does Hive have the potential of an early Facebook, or does it have less/more potential?

Another question is this: *Who will benefit from the success of Hive?* 

It certainly won't be a single entity, so how does this affect the promise of this project and the loyalty of the community it harbors?

***Let's work through each point, one at a time, and see what we come up with.***

>Question: Does Hive have a rockstar/rockstars of development?

>Answer: ***Yes!*** Absolutely. What's more is, the Hive project started off with a rockstar group of developers and is ever-growing, introducing new developers to the platform frequently. The power of appeal to new developers in this community is so strong, it pulls in new blood without the necessary costs of a salary.

Why? Because developers see the potential of this blockchain. When Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook, very few people knew about it. The opportunity to become an early adopter just simply *wasn't there.*

With Hive project, anyone can become an early adopter (for now). All projects that are built on this platform are worth something, and the success of even a single project within the blockchain could mean stardom for all the rest.

***Think about it this way:*** If you play craps by yourself and roll for a number, your chances of winning aren't very good alone, but what if you and everyone else at the table were playing together - on the same team? What are your chances of success if only *one* out of all those people has to win, for you all to win?

Not only that, but new players are coming to the table all the time, and they get a roll too. You see what I'm saying? *I think our chances are pretty good.*

***Next question:***

>Question: Does Hive possess broad interest by a large and exponentially growing community?

>Answer: While Hive might not be growing as fast as Facebook, it has the potential to grow. This one is the one that all the hard-working developers and the rest of the community are striving for - *the mass adoption of Hive.*

I believe part of the reason why Hive has been a little slow to gain a larger community is a lack of *simplicity.* That *simplicity* is another reason why Facebook thrived. Blockchain and its communities are still very new, and much of the world is still very unfamiliar.

However, Hive's strong community of developers is working every day on new frontends and ways to make connecting with that world more familiar and easy. It's only a matter of time before one or more of those projects takes off and goes mainstream.

***Next Question:***

>Question: Does Hive have the ability to connect a community in a new and appealing way?

>Answer: ***Now, this was an easy one.*** BEYOND YES! Hive is incredible. Decentralized social media that puts the power to engage, thrive, and benefit through real personal ownership as a part of a community - full of life, intelligence, and personality.

A better question: *What's not to like?*

*Next...*

>Question: Does Hive have a loyalty that was created in a community as a result of what they found there?

>Answer: ***AGAIN, DUH!*** Hive has shown more loyalty from its community than any digital project I know of. It acts more like its own sovereign nation than a digital community of users, developers, and investors.

In this community, we have seen a massive hard fork take place on short notice to avoid the exploitation of our beloved group. Everyone pulled together in a commendable effort (which succeeded) and forked the blockchain from Steemit to Hive.

I read a post from someone saying, *"One day, they'll make a movie about this."* I agree, they probably will.

***Next question...***

>Question: Will Hive have further funding (which in the case of Facebook was from large investors)?

>Answer: Now this is where it gets really interesting for Hive. We don't just have the potential for further funding, BUT we are *actually the creators of that funding,* ***together.***

How exciting is that? Not only is the funding created by the community as it grows, it doesn't need to have some centralized body to privately benefit from the work of others.

***We have TRUE ownership.***

*Next question...*

>Question: Does Hive have an intuitive ability to serve the community with the things they want?

>Answer: Oh come on! If it didn't, none of us would be here! This blockchain is ALL about serving its users and is poised at serving more. The developers of this blockchain are some of the most active in all of crypto, and they are going to reach the masses, and those masses will benefit from this community.

It's a win-win.

*Next question...*

>Question: Does Hive have continued innovations to keep the project healthy and accommodate a further reach to all areas of the world?

>Answer: Now, I'm beginning to feel redundant. Hive is not reserved to a closed community of colleges like 'The Facebook' was in the beginning. It is already open and available to all, globally.

We have many users from all over the world sharing all the things they love most, whether that is there key work in development, or blogging, videos, articles, photography, poetry, music, and humor we love and enjoy here.

There is a community for everything, and if there isn't, ANYONE CAN CREATE THEIR OWN!

***Beautiful...***

The Hive project has such huge potential because of the value it can bring to its users. There is no need for those ads to ever hit Hive.

Why?

Because there is enough value in the innovations of this blockchain to serve all, and the more it serves, the more it *CAN* serve.

### Any thoughts?

**Drop them in the comments below, give me a like, follow, and upvote, for Hive!**