Facebook Groups are definitely the best part of their service. But can Hive copy that? I don't think so. 500 likes feels better to people than a mere $10 bucks in silly money that they have no idea how to move to their bank account. If Hive had more users then maybe we could compete with that, but we are bleeding users, not getting more, and certainly not getting the number of new ones we need daily to compete with Facebook.

It goes back to the grandma test. Signing up to Facebook is super easy. So easy that anyone could do it, even a grandma. Of course FB is also super aggressive and build shadow profiles of even people who haven't signed up yet, but that aside, the service is super easy to sign up for. But Hive? Couldn't be harder! Some communities let you do it for free, but not all. That sign up screen alone is confusing! Are all of the sign ups to Hive? Why do some charge and others not? Of course you and I can easily figure it out, but even that sign-up screen fails the grandma test. Then when you do get signed up, you are given these keys in addition to your password. Even I was confused by that back 6 years ago when I signed up, and my major was computer science!

If Hive could be made as easy to sign up for as FB, I think we would be growing much faster. As is, we are shrinking, with fewer new users coming in than the number that hive watchers chases away.

I've been harping on this for the past 6 years. People keep telling me it's not a problem. Yet we get fewer and fewer users every year. I think it is a problem.