The reward is exciting, as it is a gamification layer - even small amounts earned create that excitement. For people looking to earn for a living here, I think that most (especially at these prices) are fooling themselves unless they live in a place where it is very, very cheap. 

>So you get the "social" side from the interaction. You do get to meet and know people and that is also good.

This generally goes a long way toward the earning. If you think about it in terms of celebrity actors, through their movies they create a relationship with the audience and in time, a studio can "bank" on them attracting viewers, because of that relationship. They don't personally know each fan, but they have generated a narrative. 

>Other social media platforms are much less work and I use it to keep in touch with family and friends.

Yes. For me, I far prefer the interaction on Hive and I would never spend this much time on Facebook, especially now that I am acutely aware of the damage they do. It is incredible that after all that has come out in the media, people still are there daily, adding their data and being manipulated through their feeds with every click and glance. 

Perhaps it is like child labor, no one approves of it - but everyone likes cheap products.