(Harry's Happy Hive Journey)
DISCLAIMER
You can join Hive in about 5 minutes...
…but you’ll probably feel lost & confused. This guide answers the questions you may have as you take your first steps into the world of Hive. You can jump to a section using the Table Of Contents above*, but reading the guide fully is worth it.
I had a rough time learning Hive, so I made this to help others. (Also, it explains deep things in a friendly way, so there’s probably value in here for Hive veterans as well.)
Ready? Let’s go!
*This guide in an easier to read format here: jryze.me/hive
Do you like doodles, Harry?
“Um…”
“Weird question, I know. But I’m asking for a reason. Because my crypto guide showed how a blockchain is like an account-book tracking any (digital) transaction. Sure, most of us use it to track only ‘crypto’ transactions…
But what if we had an ‘account book’ that tracked all social transactions?”
“Yo… you high bro?” Harry's eyes widened.
“No, man, think about it…
Every like, comment, & post you make is a 'digital transaction.'”
It’s you investing your time & attention in a ‘product’ (someone’s post, for example.)”
“I guess. It’s mostly just me clicking around.”
“Exactly. Your ‘clicking’ around is consumerism. It’s you, consuming a product. When you consume something online, that is a transaction. Straight up.”
“So?”
“So for years, nobody really respected you for it. You didn’t get sh-t for investing your attention. Only the social platforms got rich from it. Same thing goes for content-creation. A post you make on most social platforms can go unnoticed and unrewarded. These social transactions can feel like a waste of your energy, right?”
“Oh, for sure. I’ve wasted energy posting, and I’ve wasted energy swiping.”
“Right. But what if a social platform rewarded you for every like, comment, & share?
What if they rewarded every consumer & creator on the platform in crypto? How great would it be if you were valued for every social transaction you made?”
“Sounds like a dream, homes. Never gonna happen. It’s not like Reddit will pay you to click that upvote button. Or Instagram will pay you to click that heart. Or WordPress will pay you to post a blog. These platforms simply won’t do it.”
“I know. But Hive will.”
"Why Hive?" Harry asked.
“Because social’s got everyone by the balls.
Traditional social platforms know your attention is their product. So they all fight to keep you addicted to their apps. They do this because whoever has the most data is the ‘sexiest’ to advertisers. And whichever social is sexiest to advertisers, becomes the richest. These social giants ‘steal’ people’s attention and sell it. But this has gone on for years, and people are getting fed up.”
“True say. And don’t get me started on their algorithms. They used to give me good recommendations, now they just decide what news I see.”
“And don’t get it twisted, I love all these social platforms, and use them. I don’t judge them or wish them any harm.
I’m just outlining how people are feeling about social in general lately.”
“Man, I hear that. I’ve actually felt all those things. I’m pretty pissed at social lately.” I could hear an edge creep into Harry’s voice. Time to change the topic to something brighter.
"Let's talk on Hive's benefits", I said.
“Well it sounds like I get financially rewarded just to click around and do what I’m doing all day?”
“Yes, you do. But there’s more.
Freedom:
Because Hive has no CEO, there’s no ‘god’ deciding what you can and can’t post. No one’s out there randomly shadow-banning people they don’t like.
Ownership:
Because every ounce of your data is stored on a blockchain, encrypted by your un-hackable key, only you own your data. Only you can delete it. Only you can edit it. Only you can sell your data to advertisers, or whoever. It’s yours.
Cryptocurrency:
Because the Hive blockchain tracks every social interaction, it is possible to reward every interaction. (Well, in crypto.)
You can read more about this stuff in my ‘Hive’s Invisible, Just Like Me’ post.
The takeaway here is that Hive solves most of the pain-points people are feeling from traditional social media.
That’s why all the Hive-hype, Harry.”
I relaxed my jaw and shoulders. Apparently I was more fired up than I thought. I laughed at myself internally. I just wanted to get my friend on Hive, lol.
"Alright, I'm psyched, how do I start?"
“That’s kind of a loaded question bro.”
“How come?”
“Because a noob like you doesn’t just ‘start’ with Hive.”
“I don’t?”
“I mean, you can I guess, but anyone I’ve seen try it just gets frustrated and bounces.”
“Why?”
“It’s Hive’s fault, to be honest. No new platform is perfect, and for all it’s amazing traits, a big issue with Hive is that it’s not user-friendly.”
“Ah, I see.”
“I’m serious, it’s brutal. Like, not easy… at all.”
“So Hive’s user-unfriendly?”
“Yeah, but it’s worth learning. In fact, it’s not just ‘unfriendly’, it’s user-enemy, or anti-user, at least for the average person. Which is a shame, because it really is revolutionary. I want people to benefit from it. I know it can help them. I know it can send a message to Facebook, Twitter, and the rest. But only if people can actually use it. And to be honest, I don’t see the average person being able to use it. It feels like a chemical engineering test or performing brain-surgery just to sign up.”
“Can’t I just Google it?”
“Hahah, I wish. Googling it will turn up a few decent guides. And I’ve read some great materials that help beginners get started on Hive, and they’re great. But none of them have covered it simply enough for you, trust me. Or they do, but there’s always some stumbling block that’s unaddressed, or key info left out. This means you try to join, encounter a ‘seemingly unbeatable’ obstacle in your Hive journey, and give up. So until the devs make it easier, I’ll walk you through it myself.”
“Wow, this feels like personal tutoring.”
“It is! It’s your lucky day, I’m giving you a total beginner’s A-to-Z guide to Hive…
…You’ll go from Hive sign-up to Hive superstar!”
1. SIGNING UP
"Isn't it like joining any site?
Like I’m asking, isn’t it just like every other social platform? I just sign-up with my email and password, add a photo, and voila, right?”
“Not exactly.” I say, “Because Hive isn’t ‘one thing.’ Hive is, um… at least two things.
Using Hive means using:
- The Hive.io blockchain, and
- Also an app to access Hive’s social media (such as PeakD or Ecency).
Just like using the internet is two things:
- Your internet service provider and
- A web-browser (such as Chrome or Explorer)
“OK, I get it. Just like I need AT&T before I use Chrome, I join Hive.io before choosing an app to browse their social media platform, right?”
“Yes! But unlike AT&T, Hive is free! So head over to signup.hive.io, let’s go!”
Signup.Hive.io
“OK, I’m there. I found the sign-up button. Er, buttons. There’s another one. Wait… there’s one more. And another. WTF?”
“Oh, yeah, I should’ve mentioned.
Turns out Hive has like 9 different ways to sign-up. It’s cray.”
“Why?” Harry squinted.
“Sigh. It’ll all make sense, soon. Just get your Hive.io account and bear with me on this, ok? “
“Fine. But which button do I press? There’s Ecency Signup, 3Speak Signup, HiveOnBoard Signup–“
“That one! That one’s fine. HiveOnBoard. It’s fast and they’ll verify you by phone. Click it.”
“K, I clicked it and it’s warning me that I need to install the ‘Hive Keychain Browser Extension’ first. Uh, dude…
...why do I need a Hive Keychain extension?"
“Because signing up for the Hive.io blockchain isn’t just an operating system.
It’s also like getting a bank account at the same time.
If you want to earn by scrolling your Hive feed, you’ll need an account, which Hive calls a ‘wallet.’ And just like a bank doesn’t give you a wallet in real life, Hive doesn’t give you one either. You create your own using a free ‘wallet service.’ The ‘Hive Keychain Browser Extension’ is my favorite Hive wallet service, because it also keeps track of your Hive usernames, passwords, etc., which makes logging in and earning crypto on Hive easy.”
“So you’re telling me I’ve got to open a new browser window, install this Hive Keychain thing, set it up properly, then come back and reload the HiveOnBoard sign-up page, which is really just a service helping me get my Hive.io account?”
“Exactly…
Although now that you say it out loud, it sounds pretty silly for a sign-up process.
And, uh, there’s a few apps that refuse Keychain, and require another sign-in app, HiveSigner.com instead. But don’t worry about that, you can cross that bridge later, the Keychain Extension does most of what you need.”
“Sheesh. Whatever… it’s just a chrome extension, I got this.”
Harry Googled it and clicked the first result, then clicked “Add To Chrome” and voila, Keychain installed. He made sure to setup his usual easy-to-remember password on it. It was nice. It gave me a breather to stop explaining. Eventually he made it back to HiveOnBoard.com and refreshed the page.
"Now I choose a username and password?"
“Sort of. You choose a username, and Hive.io will create your account. It will also give you a master hive.io account password. This password will be ridiculously long and unreadable.”
“Do I have to type it in?”
“Not if you setup the Hive Keychain properly.”
“I thought I did!”
“Well, you got it installed and ‘ready-for-import’, but once your Hive.io account is finally created, you’ll have to…
Import your username and password into Hive Keychain, once.
Then you probably won’t need to type them often again.”
“Sounds good.”
“Yeah, but there’s more. Hive.io gives you more than a username & password.”
"What else does Hive give me?"
“You get 4 ‘Private Keys,’ which are kind of like keys in real life. The right key lets people get into the right room, or operate the right vehicle.”
“Wait, there’s rooms and vehicles on Hive? I thought it was social media.”
“Haha, no I just mean that your 4 keys can be used to access different ‘tools’ of your account. This way if someone steals one of your keys, they may only have posting privileges. If they steal another key, they may get wallet privileges.”
“So it’s like my own social media ‘house.’ I have many keys on my Hive keychain, & lend keys to who I want.”
“Yes, great metaphor! As the ‘owner’ of all the keys, you’ll probably hold onto the important ones like the vault-key where you keep your last will & testament. But you may let your kids borrow the car keys sometimes. Because you have separate keys, you feel secure knowing that people can only use the parts of your data that you allow them too. Imagine if you just carried one ‘skeleton key’ around, you couldn’t lend it to anyone to do stuff for you without worrying. Because they could just steal that and take your whole online identity.”
“Hmm… so it’s a security thing?”
“Yeah, most of this stuff is. Hive and the crypto world in general are obsessed with security. I guess it’s good, but it does make teaching crypto tricky.”
"What are these 4 keys exactly?"
“They’re the owner key, active key, posting key, and memo key. They’ll look something like this:
Owner Key: 5KA3mcNgaHrtabqRjjZJ7uiet67vgPhVvNNYMRmh3B3ccojTEg5 Active Key: 5KJsx5CzBzAwbpFjoNzWN4FBSeTy6X3GRkp19GG3de7deo6fNko Posting Key: 5Jp1f6pf5Y1Q1AuFstK86NkBZkhK5ViAmUaM65ZeAjfwAYqynfx Memo Key: 5KWg94DPBXSWiVVMpj9VM7tAjYeLLGh6GWYCnoCwpFhbnSBGwCt
NOTE: THESE ARE NOT REAL KEYS. NEVER SHARE YOUR PRIVATE KEYS IN A PUBLIC POST.
(And remember that you have a Hive.io master password too, that looks like this: YvwBqeGEH6yuChjxLaJLXtY9Heat6kav, and gives you access to all your other keys. )
I know you’ll ask what each key does, so I’ll explain:
Owner Key: It’s like the key to a house-safe, where you keep all identity documents and bank-codes. It lets anyone who has it change your password, recover your account, even alter your keys. (Top Tier Access)
Active Key: This is like your house-key. It lets anyone who has it get in a do a bunch of stuff in the house. In Hive it lets you transfer funds, buy influence-points, even vote on the future of Hive, since as soon as you sign-up, you’re now a part-owner. (Second Tier Access)
Posting Key: This is like the key to your media-room, or living-room. It lets anyone who has it post, comment, vote, share, follow, manage profile, etc. (Third Tier Access)
Memo Key: This is like the key to your mailbox. It lets anyone who has it send/read/receive encrypted messages as if they were you. (Fourth Tier Access)
“Cool, so on Hive, I use different keys for different levels of security. And if I’m getting it right…
I don’t want to give out anything higher than the posting key, right?”
“For the most part yes. There are some apps (like ‘HiveSigner’) where you’ll want to give them your Active Key, but mainly you’ll give the Posting Key so apps and plugins can do cool stuff for you, without giving them access to your wallet.”
“Whew, aight. Got it. So I signed up as ‘@HarryDresdenIsTheBest, what do I do with my keys?
"You backup your 4 Keys & Hive.io main password!"
“Wait, you mean write all five of those crazy-long codes down?”
“Basically, yes. Store them however you want, I’m gonna trust you know how to back something up safely. Whatever you do, a backup is the main thing. And extra important is that your backup is very safe.
Because no one on earth can recover your account if you lose your keys. It’s like owning the worlds most secure safe, no one’s getting in if the sole owner forgets the code. And you might have a lot of money in there. So treat your backup with respect. Besides, these keys are also how you operate any app on the Hive.io blockchain, including it’s social media apps.”
“Ugh. Fine, if it’s to keep my cash safe, I guess it’s worth. But can’t I just use my normal password, ‘Har0ldDresd3n’?“
“That’s what the keychain extension is for.
You set that up with your normal password, right?”
“For sure.”
“Ok, so once you’re done with this HiveOnBoard sign-up service, and you have a proper Hive.io account, complete with your 4 keys plus long Master Password… you go back to your Chrome extension (hiding in the little ‘puzzle piece’ icon in the top-right of Chrome), and ‘import’ your keys. That way, from now on, all you need to do is unlock your Keychain with your normal, easy-to-remember password, and…
Your keychain will automatically enter those keys for you wherever they’re needed on Hive.”
“I get it. But I still have to backup my keys in case I move to other devices, other browsers, or Hive Keychain stops working or something, right?”
“Yes! Your keys are insanely important, back ’em up! The cliche ‘Not your keys? Not your crypto!’ is true. Once that’s done, click ‘Create Hive Account’ and you’re part of Hive!”
Harry clicks the fuchsia-colored button with glee.
"Note: keychain can pop up asking for 'authorization', Harry."
“It totally did!”
“Don’t worry, the keychain just wants permission to start ‘opening locks’ for you. It wants to automatically sign you in to Hive.io and perform digital transactions for you like ‘commenting’ and ‘posting’. It just needs permission first.”
“So I should grant it authority?”
“Yeah, but to do that you have to:
- Enter the (‘easy-to-remember’) password you chose when you first installed Keychain.
- Then you have to click Keychain’s ‘Import’ button.
- Enter your Hive username and Posting Key. Once done, it will import your keys, and Keychain will have them from now on.”
"Woo! So now I can post?"
“Unfortunately not. You now have an account on the Hive blockchain, Hive.io. Remember, it’s like signing up to an internet service provider like AT&T. You also have your very own Hive Wallet for storing crypto-currency. That’s like having an account at a bank. But just having internet and a bank account isn’t enough. Now, you have to actually ‘go’ to the social platform that’s running on Hive.”
“Let me guess, it’s another seven-thousand steps, right?”
“Naw, it’s way easy.
Just go to peakD.com & let your keychain sign you in.
You may have to click ‘confirm’ or something.”
Harry did so. “I’m there!”
“See? Now that everything is setup, you can use any Hive.io app, such as PeakD’s Hive Browser app, and your Hive Keychain will sign you into it.”
“Oh wow, I’m in! Did it auto-select dark mode? This looks cool!”
“Yeah, I knew you’d like it.”
2. PREPARATIONS
"So what do I do first?"
“Whatever you want. Some people like to explore, vibe out the platform, see what people are up to first. They might lurk for a while, or test out small actions like voting, re-blogging, or commenting. Others love to create first. They don’t care about all that other stuff, they just want to make an ‘introduction’ post and make themselves known on the platform. Some do a combination of both.”
“Hmm, I want to do both.”
“Sure, but choose one to start with, you can’t do two things at once bro.”
“OK, I choose create. Let’s post!”
“Sounds good. And don’t worry, I’ll teach you all the ‘content consumption’ stuff later. We’ll explore how to earn with your clicks.”
Harry flicked his mouse over to the little ‘pencil’ icon, and I knew he was about to start writing, but I realized I hadn’t explained ‘resource credits’ to him. Dammit, that’s pretty important. I don’t want to crush his excitement with yet another explanation, but he’s gonna have a rough time if I don’t.
"Wait! Let me explain 'resource credits!'"
“Chill homes, we good. What are resource credits?”
“Well, you know how the Hive.io blockchain tracks every digital transaction made, down to the shortest comment, or tiniest upvote?”
“Yeah…”
“Well, tracking all that stuff takes a lot of computing power. And like ev