I think there should be a focus on implementing certain social media exspects into the wallet as that will gain mainstraim adoption far more easy.
But think: what is the number one barrier to adoption in bitcoin ?
It isn't convenience, it's security. Ask any potential adopter what they think of bitcoin and the first think they'll mention is MtGox. They won't be complaining about the lack of a social media tool integrated in their wallet. They WANT it to be difficult to pay someone, not easy because that enhances their sense of security.
Facebook plugin for social media IMO. Wallets are wallets.
I don't think that's quite true. I remember starting here, and my fears were:
Losing my wallet.dat, so I can never access it again.
I could lose it by:
1. simply deleting it
2. getting confused and over writing it
3. having a catastrophic hardware failure at the same time jump drive failure
Having someone trojan my computer and grab my wallet.dat
Having the above happen then realizing I left an unencrypted version on my computer!
Sending funds to the wrong address because I inadvertently hit a key and changed a number/letter
^^^ because I copied the wrong address
I was pretty freakin scared, still am nervous, using the wallet.
With this system, you just have to remember your login information.
no need to backup
no fear it will be lost
can access it from any device
You can locate a person, and then pay them, by name, it's so much easier! But mostly, it feels less confusing = scary.
I think you're right about the facebook terminology though. Instead of "friends" maybe we should use "contacts" or "connections" or some such
Instead of "chat" we should use "messaging"
And finally, something that isn't there, I think a "partners" tab might be a great idea, where a combined multi sig account could be set up. You can access this "section" of your wallet from your account and your partners could access it from theirs, however, to spend funds, the partners have to agree. You could even set up the terms when setting up the wallet. 2/3 sigs to spend or 5/7, etc... stan.distortion was talking about something similar to me earlier. Not my idea, but I think a very good one.
So this structure could really expand in usefulness.
But also, one could have as many wallets as one wants, and be completely anonymous. Ratings can be used on accounts only when they are useful. They are useful in building a reputation. You can make it so only people who have transacted together can rate each other. Yes, some people will rate unfairly low (heck, some jerk rated my husband's book a 1 because they didn't like the funny "dutch" words used by the characters when everyone else rates it a 5 and a couple of 4 stars. People get used to a free rating system and take that into account. It will be what it will be, but on the whole, the more ratings, the more accurate it will be
Anyway, my knee jerk reaction when first presented with this whole concept was Noooo! LOL, but now it's really sinking in what this can do just scratching the surface, and I think it's brilliant! And it's not just social, it's functional in a banking, partnering, LLC type of construct way.
But
YOU Toknormal, are the one person I'm relying on to double check my thinking. I knew you wouldn't like it either, LOL. And now I watch and wait to see how you continue to digest the whole thing
Oh, and regarding "chat" (or I prefer messaging), I can see it being used, especially in partner situations, for discussing and coordinating payments among other things, and if it can be a tunneled, encrypted connection that is never recorded by a 3rd party, it could be a great tool, only face to face would be better!
).
