Some of my friends might know that I’ve been working hard on two fronts. First, trying to onboard as many people as I can. Second, building Hive Snaps—together with my brother and my wife—a front end designed to make newcomers feel right at home.
The idea has always been simple. Or maybe I should say the goal has. It has to be easy to use, and it has to feel familiar. That’s why I’ve focused not only on making it look like Web2 (which might be the obvious move) but also on integrating some Web2-style features.
Take sharing a YouTube video, for example. It just makes sense. Most people still use YouTube. Sure, we have alternatives, and no, I’m not exactly YouTube’s biggest fan—but I’m trying to operate in reality.
One of my recent onboards pointed out that these days, most people use Instagram. I don’t have hard numbers, but that sounds about right. Truth is, I’m guilty of doom-scrolling Instagram myself. I’ve been known to send videos to friends and family—not the most productive activity, but let’s be honest, one a lot of us share.
So with that in mind, I decided to add a feature to Hive Snaps (to Snapie, as I like to call it) that doesn’t currently exist on any other Hive front end: rendering Instagram posts and videos. When I mentioned this, my wife raised a concern—that some people on Hive won’t like it. Some want nothing to do with Web2, and I get where they’re coming from. But they also need to understand what Hive Snaps is aiming for.
I call it an experiential soft landing. That’s the best one-line description I’ve got. If someone coming from Web2 can easily figure out how to use Hive Snaps—how to share their favorite memes, videos, and engage with others—then I think we’re on the right track.
And honestly, the more features we add, the more likely it is that legacy Hiveans will join in too. After all, they won’t get the same experience anywhere else, unless another front end copies the idea. Which, to be fair, I’d actually encourage.
The day is ending with four pull requests waiting for my brother to review. We had originally planned to submit to Apple this morning, but between fixing two reported bugs, catching one more on my own, and sneaking in a couple new features… well, the day slipped away. A productive day nonetheless, but I’m too tired to push further tonight.
So yeah... Hive Snaps will render Instagram. I think that’s pretty cool. Hopefully, you all think so too.
MenO