Be patient, or at least check back here from time to time.
I will be launching a Layer 2 DV-free zone sometime in the near future.
Hive as a Layer 1 base platform is great, imho. By that, I mean it is more decentralized than any other blockchain with similar capabilities. Not perfect, by any means; but better than any of the alternatives I am aware of.
Hive (i.e. Layer 1) as a rewards-granting social media platform is not scaleable (imho) due to the toxicity (or perceived toxicity) of subjective DVs that essentially 'cost nothing' to dish out, yet are very costly to authors and their followers. This problem will NOT be solved via Layer 1 (at least not anytime soon).
However, a strong Layer 2 DV-free zone (properly done) can fix this problem, and that is exactly what I am working on.
So, by all means check out Blurt and other alternatives, but don't forget to periodically check back in here.