Much Drama, So Wow

Everyone loves drama and luckily, the internet encourages and rewards it - not necessarily money - but attention - people like attention too. That is okay, I am people - I like attention also - after all, we are in an attention economy - the economy. The entire economy is driven by attention paid to products, services and whatever else can be traded, which is why marketing is a thing at all.

If advertising didn't work, people wouldn't advertise - and this includes the advertising via virtue signalling, social advertising. You know, the pretty girl in the low cut top that doesn't want to be looked at, and the guy who keeps mentioning his job and car -but is looking for a girl that doesn't care about money. They are doing it for themselves of course - social capital doesn't even come into play.

Perhaps it is that so many people are bored in their lives or feel that they deserve more than they have that they seek for additional value, the attention of others that they might not actually care much for in any other respect - validation through the eyes of strangers.

When I used to go out to bars with my friends (my friends are almost exclusively female) when in our twenties, they would be annoyed if random guys hit on them - if they considered those guys were below their rank. If they were guys they were interested in though - all was well. However, as we got older, this changed and they were far more annoyed if no one approached them, no one offered them a drink. It seemed to me, the attention of the unwanted is better than no attention at all. People like to feel wanted - even if they aren't going to reciprocate the desire.

Online it is no different, people look for attention - on Hive they also look for votes of course - but getting feedback from the audience is a vital part of the retention of creators and those who don't get feedback generally don't last too long. Those that do get significant feedback become retention nodes, meeting points where people come together under a post to interact with each other and split off into new directions, find new people to checkout and open into new connections and friendships.

I remember some time in mid-2017 getting invited through a comment on my post into a Steem.chat server - something that I had never done before - you would recognize many of the people that used to frequent that chat room way back when, as witnesses, whales and a lot of the most active accounts still on the platform. Many have gone their separate ways, many have ended up in public conflicts since - but it was a meeting point - off-chain where people would actually have fun, talk shit, tease each other and of course - talk blockchain. Whale and minnow alike - people were just people hanging out and having a good time, though there was some drama from time to time too - drama aplenty on occasion. still -it was fun and in general, very amicable despite a massive difference in who people were - A melting pot.

One of the great things about Hive is that there are essentially no bounds, no walls on information, there is transparency. There is transparency on content, activity, voting behavior, payouts and all kinds of things. This is great, but it also creates conflicts between people and often gives those who like attention no matter the cost ammunition of various kinds to leverage. That is okay, people like drama - it should be good for the chain - create some conversation and therefore some transactions.

But, it can't all be drama, as it gets tiring as the more there is and the ramping up it takes to get a reaction desensitizes us and eventually, just gets boring. While drama creates points of high interest, it doesn't last long as the next drama comes along to take the attention away - it is kind of like terrorist attacks which might be massive interest new stories - until the next mass shooting comes along.

However, what does keep people coming back and engaged is familiar, fun, relationships, discussion, real-life, help desks - you know, the every day grind that doesn't necessarily require a great deal of thought to interact with or, it offers something of value - something that helps an individual feel or act better for an improved result.

What drives people away is incessant drama and whining. You know that friend that you always go out with who gets sloppy drunk and starts fights? Or that one that you spend all of your spare time with who continuously complains about everything in the world? Yeah - most likely, you don't spend that much time with these kinds of people. Most likely, you at least try to find people who's company you enjoy, who motivate and inspire you, people you actually like.

Do you do the same on Hive? Where do you spend your time?

You know, birds of a feather flock together and all that, but at the same time, people like to watch and participate in the online drama, they like to see some people suffer and put a boot in when they can - or perhaps, defend also - and take the other side of the drama equation. with the potential for financial reward, some people will spend their time with people they don't like, discussing all kinds of stuff they aren't interested in - as there is incentive to do so.

You see many of these kinds of people on the posts of whales - hoping for a vote. But it also happens where people post content that doesn't interest them in order to attract the attention of those same groups, just from a different direction. A lot will aim to create drama, to polarize the audience in some way, as that is what the internet encourages. Some do it for economic gain, some for social gain - some because their ego wants to be fed - and they will feed it through the drama they can create as it makes them feel important.

As I have said before several times over the 3+ years I have been writing on blockchains, Drama is Good - but if there is only drama, eventually the audience will move on and be lost. Some people in the quest to satisfy their own drama quota needs, will drive more users away, despite the attention they might get in the moment - short term validation, long-term cost. But, the view of the attention in the moment is acute, but the loss over time is much harder to identify and attribute to a key cause - people like what they can have now and favor what they can see.

For me, I probably create a bit of drama from time to time when I feel that something is important enough to mention - but if that was the only move I had, it probably wouldn't be sustainable long-term. The reason is, a lot of the drama types others might create, just doesn't interest me and if it doesn't interest me, why would i spend my time caring about it? For votes? - Meh. If people aren't writing about what they actually care about, the authenticity shines through - yeah, people might vote - but is there value for the audience?

Ah, the audience.... The almighty audience, something that I think has the greatest value on the platform. For those who read my stuff regularly, out of the account I have created through the content I deliver, which content do you think helps you the most, which do you engage with the most often and what do you think adds value to your life? While I am not the greatest poet in the world, I am guessing it isn't my poetry.

The content people engage with the most that I deliver is almost without exception, platform related or, platform adjacent. The reason is simple, people are invested into Hive the platform - not any specific form of content itself. Communities and engineered experiences like games, might change this model through SMTs, but all in all, the platform is a unifying factor that affects us all.

I heard a funny comment yesterday about my audience saying that I get a lot of comments from the same people - as if this is a bad thing. Isn't this obviously good? We have built connections and relationships on and off chain and not only that - these people are STILL HERE. 3+ years and still engaging, still commenting, still creating, still voting, still powering up... but of course - I should write for the attention of strangers, rather than those who actually appreciate what I do. BTW, I get a few comments from randoms too - some of them become friends also - some of them are now holding a fair bit of HIVE power too - after making it through a two year bear market.

The funny thing is that people seem to get upset, jealous, angry or whatever because an account has built a following, as if having a group of core audience is negative for the platform, when actually, it is the thing that accounts *should be doing' in order to retain users long-term. Long-term engagement and retention is required for most people to turn from a consumer/contributor into an investor. It took me ten months on the platform in 2017 before I bought my first crypto. Ten. Since then?

But, the drama queens of Steem might have become the drama wives of Hive and therefore, the same conversations and activities are going to keep coming up and while it might be great to discuss from time to time, it isn't what retains users on the platform. It is the community that retains users and the community is represented through posts and comments, engagement, interaction and relationship forming - actions that lead to long term support, of the platform and individual accounts alike.

Not all content is attractive for all consumers, in the same way that many guys who talk about their car and job will get rejected at the bar. Your personal business might be creating drama - but it doesn't mean it will attract the attention of the future you might want. But hey, everyone is free to do as they please, write what they want to write, vote or downvote as they choose. It is your prerogative - and while some will change their minds over time, some will just keep doing what they do out of habit. Some habits lead to better outcomes than others.

Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]