Each social network has its own thing, the “hook” as it is called in the media. HIVE, like Twitter, has its retractors. Without judging anyone, I am one of those who coexist on both platforms, because I have friends on one and the other. Those who are content creators – I don't consider myself one – seek to position themselves and make a living or make as much profit as possible. Those who, like me, use social media as a communication, information, and entertainment tool -virtual entertainment-; in particular, I am not interested in attracting the attention of crowds or influencing any of them. I am free and let others be free.

The content should be classified according to the subject, I bet for it, but not to enclose it within a community or sect that implants rules that in a way seeks an order, but they sin judging the contents with silly ideologies, religions, and politics...

If Instagram was made for graphic photographic content, let it follow that path; if Twitter was made for informational, advertising and political messages, let it follow that ideology. The same applies to Facebook, YouTube -only videos-, Liketo -photography-, HIVE repository of all kinds of material that moves a Ratchet-like gear, i.e. cryptocurrency producing mechanism.

> For example, if a person has to pay to go to a concert, they aren't likely to pay to go and see a band they don't like at all, just to sit in the crowd and not enjoy it.

You actually might be surprised by that.  I can't tell you the number of concerts I have been to and the people next to us were so busy drinking and carrying on their own conversations that I don't know how they had any clue what was happening on the stage.  It makes you wonder why they spent the money they did on the ticket.  Surely there are cheaper places to drink and socialize!  

I get what you are saying though :)

I tend to agree with what you have concluded. I see a great deal of people disconnecting from others offline because of their online activities. The constant feeding of this dripping of what the algorithms want us to see on these social media sites just kills critical thought and people just don't seem to care. I am working on a Reflections post on reestablishing connections with family and friends after my long isolation, and I am hoping this will not be an obstacle, but it is on of my fears it will. 

I think getting out of polarization is hard. Especially now that Facebook and Twitter are super hyper on the specific bias. You would have to pay some money in ads in order to get the reach of the people to your content. I suppose Hive does not have that but our comments, influence through content travels. And that kind of works in this decentralized small space.

> This is a race to the bottom, akin to football hooligans stabbing each other in the carpark after the game, because they support opposing teams.

It is just the darndest thing, but here in the States, we don't suffer this much at all. At my favorite soccer pub and the home of the [New York Blues](the home of the New York Blues), we regularly watch matches with opposing team supporter groups sharing one side of the room at the world-famous [Football Factory](https://www.legends33.com/the-football-factory/) across the street from the monumental Empire State Building. A real proper place to watch a match!

As for the race to the bottom, I look to the bright side and just like to interact for a laugh or to retweet an important opinion. I try to keep the name-calling down to a minimum - it just isn't good for the soul.

When I  first joined hive I was only looking for a place to showcase my art and get paid for that. Now that no longer seems enough.  Weirdly enough here I also get most of my human interactions.

I think it's a mix of both. People need the audience for the content and it's better if the community is already there. I remember the Twitter days before Elon and people would just go back to Twitter no matter what (even if they banned) because that was where people were. The community aspect is probably a longer term view of things and that happens as people want to stop relying on platforms and take in a more fixed revenue from their consumers. 

I would guess that any community becomes an audience at a certain point. It's like having a wedding. You (probably should) love and admire everyone there, but if it's large enough, it's really hard to offer up much of your attention to everyone in gratitude for sharing the moment with you.

Either way, these algorithms definitely put their crosshairs on anger. Happy people aren't very motivated to action. 

You're right that people are looking for more audience to get more rewards or pay, but i think if we find right community than it's obvious that our audience will also large because they have attention in our content 

Well, a creator of value should at one's core aim not at attention but at sending the right messages out there. It's about creating sparks. About burning down the old world. About asking the forbidden questions. About throwing stones at the Universe. You need resources to make art, not the other way around. 

Well, some are good at making it a self-sustaining cycle. Good times...

Audience is the free people. 
Community are the people willing to pay for the creator. 
On a mere "creator" based. Community are the true followers, the ones that are really looking for the creator as the perceive something in common as they also feel some form of resonance with him/her. 

Community are usually smaller than audiences but since creators are mainly measure on numbers the bigger the numbers, the bigger their perceived impact on the market. BUT every creator has usually a community inside the audience IF he/she can build and transmit some human values giving emotions to people, making them feeling good because they spend time looking at such creator. 

Quite a perverse mechanism, but Communities are also growing in a much healthier way, like in eco-villages, living together, sharing resources and time. Or sport-communities where sport is used as a tool to educate. Or Yoga communities, called Ashram, where people live and work together, integrated spiritually. 

Like in Harry Potter an "all-tastes+1" communities. 

I like your take on how social media algorithms are messing with content creators. It's wild how these platforms seem to stir up fights just to get more activity. I agree that creators should be trying to build a community, not just looking for any eyeballs on their content. It's way cooler to connect with people who actually enjoy what you do, even if it means fewer numbers. It's high time we chilled out on social media, stopped caring about quantity so much, and started focusing on quality interactions. It's all about making the internet a nicer place to hang out... then again, there is the MONEY thing...

I tell you, it's tough not to just give into the "any audience is a good audience" attitude sometimes. I've been pouring heart and soul into this blog and my Hive account. I'm really passionate about topics like AI-prompt-engineering and crafting these guided meditation scripts (I now find myself in the blissful overlap of the two - leveraging the high aptitude that LLM like ChatGPT has in related fields like psychology, psychiatry, hypnosis, and general grammar for improving my script writing). I've spent countless hours trying to perfect them, making sure they're as beneficial as they can be. But sometimes it feels like either no one on this platform shares these interests or maybe my work just isn't reaching the right people. It's like being in a marathon, testing my endurance... and I'm REALLY sweaty and thirsty right now... and I don't see any water in sight.

I'm sure a lot of folks would've called it quits by now, considering how much time I've devoted to each post. But there's something that keeps me going, you know? Maybe it's the passion I have for these topics, or the belief that I'm adding something valuable to the world. So, I reckon I'll keep up the good fight.

>So I wonder, in terms of a healthier future for creators, is the aim to find an audience for the content, or build a community around it?

On second thought, neither. Or in other words, it is the same in the long run. A bunch of people who support you, and a slightly smaller bunch who hate you. In both cases.

I see the right thing to do is just create. Grow, fall, take whatever comes, but stay true to yourself and keep creating.

The crowd will move according to its own laws. If the goal is to become a leader, then either of these two options. If the goal is to be the creator and yourself, neither...

!ALIVE 🙌💜💛💙🙌