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I was discussing some Hive points around the [benefits of staking](https://hive.blog/hive-167922/@tarazkp/opting-into-hive-for-a-richer-world) and how the biggest challenge facing Hive is attracting end users, not developers or creatives. I stated the issue as, *An audience has to be attracted away from where they are currently consuming, which is very difficult as they are already consuming a lot and much of it is forced down their throat by centralized curation. It is where their friends are, it is polished and pretty, it is convenient - it is risk free.*

>Using Hive as one's primary social media is also completely risk free. What is there to lose?@markkujantunen

This is correct, Hive is risk free in some ways and there is very little to lose in trying, but this isn't the same as trying a new food or hobby, as that is not the way most people are introduced to Hive. Most people are presented the "getting paid" part and I believe this comes saddled with assumptions and expectations. 


![honeycomb.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/tarazkp/Pbx6d0GZ-honeycomb.png)

I think that firstly, people are likely to believe that it is some kind of scam, as many are already wary of the "earn online" nonsense that much of the internet is known for. The next thing is that it can also seem too good to be true or that the chance of getting paid isn't good. Some people get paid through Instagram, Twitter and Facebook - but *no normal user* joined up there in order to earn from the get-go, it was purely consumptive - however some expanded into earning from that point.

I think the other thing that would likely come up is that getting paid to contribute comes with the feeling of work and for most, work rarely comes with a positive feeling. Not only that, while people add stuff to social media all of the time, once a "reward" is available, the concept of social judgement comes into play in a different way. Getting judged on opinion is one thing, getting judged on skills quite another and many people are quite fearful of this. Not getting paid not only doesn't attract as critical eye from the audience, it also gives an excuse for not being better - 

>*professionals* get paid, not amateurs.

On most other social media platforms where people spend their time, people do not know how much those who get paid get, they don't necessarily even know *who* actually gets paid. Is an "influencer" getting paid, free merchandise or are the parents footing the bill? When we do actually know someone is getting paid, it is the star level kinds of people like Christiano Ronaldo, who got paid 60 million for a handful of paid posts on Instagram, 3x that of his salary of performing his *prodession.* But, he is famous, he is someone, he already has a following. 

>Who am I to get paid for my random amateur nonsense?

That is rhetorical - I am no one. As are we all. Just like the markets, who we are doesn't matter as much as the sentiment concerning who we are. For example, the small difference in skill at professional levels matters less than the hype a person can create surrounding who they are. The top graduates from an Ivy league school for example, will earn more than those just below, even though the grades are very similar. Perception matters, things like reputation and expectation.

While I know that most people don't think about these things directly or at depth, I believe that when a user is presented with the "get paid to blog" scenario, they immediately think, "what would I blog about that is worth getting paid for" and it doesn't matter if told that it doesn't matter, just do what you normally do on other platforms. 

*Getting paid* comes saddled with ingrained expectations of many kinds and *social risks* come into play. Trying a new food or starting a new hobby has less risk from the get go as very few try a food or start a hobby with the expectation that they are going to get paid for it, at least not from other people sitting in the restaurant or in the class.

Don't you find it interesting that on Hive, we pay each other? You should, because this is the future of ownership and consumption  - a far more *direct relationship* between supplier and consumer with far less middlemen. This is not the normal order of business on other platforms as while consumers pay, the *platform* distributed. 

But, a new potential user doesn't know anything about this, they have no idea what the platform is about and do not consider it an investment vehicle or a place to hang out, because, they are already hanging out somewhere else and investing into social media isn't really possible without buying stocks. 

In my view, there are many reasons why someone would be scared to join Hive and a lot of it comes down to their previous experiences on the internet in general and with social media. Money from the internet sounds like a scam, social media is something that people do for free. Most do know that the large companies are making bundles of cash off of their users, but don't know any users who are actually making money from social media. We might have a higher rate of awareness here, but how many people do you know in your real-world social circles who make money from posting online?

As said, *perception matters* and the perception that many people have of earning online opportunities is either not good or, considered out of their reach. I think that this sets up a mental/ emotional hurdle that stops many people from putting their hat in the ring and giving it a go. The last barrier I will mention here is social proofing.

>If this is so good, why aren't more people here?

What I believe is that if there were more people here that people actually knew (like friends, family and celebrities which the other platforms leverage), more people would be willing to join as it has been "pre-approved" by their peers, it has been normalized. Even for many of the people who have given Hive a go, this isn't normal and they aren't so keen to invite their friends and family onto the platform - which creates a catch-22 for the platform too. 

Perhaps the only way around this is for a Hive application to become very popular and attract many users without having them go through the Hive learning curve, one that requires a paradigm shift. Instead, they come in through a mass gateway and then filter out as the success of one application will inspire more development and gateways to explore. Some percentage of the arrivals will get interested in the platform to start learning and investing, which will create a similar mass of users for the investment side, normalizing investing directly into a platform and creating that direct relationship between consumer and contributor. 

The mechanisms surrounding *creator and consumer rewards* are obviously a vital part of the equation, but due to most people off-platform not really having any understanding of what this all means, it also becomes a hurdle.

Something interesting happened the other day while sitting around with my colleagues. I have mentioned that I write during the course of the discussion, one of them mentioned an article of mine she had read about my daughter and how moving it was. She doesn't have an account here. How long until she joins? Now, I could force the matter and she will join under my guidance, but doing it upon her own volition means *she is opting-in* and there is power is that - when the decision is our own, we are more likely to invest ourselves to discover further and, more likely to consider the decision we made as good. 

When we try a new restaurant we will often over-reward the experience and tell others. However, when we try a new restaurant based on the recommendation of friends, we will evaluate it based on *their opinion* and we will have set expectations. Food is pretty simple, Hive is not and a lot of people doing the onboarding have either already overcome all of the hurdles to be well versed and therefore forgetful of the challenges of the technical side and the paradigm shift required, or not have much of an understanding past "get paid". Either way - it can make *trying Hive* difficult. 

>Should people join and try? 

Of course! But it isn't as easy for many people as some people might think. I remember posting my first post and the trepidation I had at the time. It was a piece others had seen and liked, but when I put it here, *it felt different.* The only difference? 

*There was the potential for it to earn something.*

It changes things dramatically.

Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]

I am very interested to hear your own experiences and opinions around this area.

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