Topic: How would you convince a newbie to use BTC? - page 3. (Read 2696 times)

I use political arguments. BTC is a currency outside the control of any government. To most of the people I'm hanging out with, they appreciate.

This. Set a wallet up for them on blockchain.info and send them $20 in BTC, not 10 cents.

The best way to introduce bitcoin to a newbie is to setup a wallet on their phone and send them some btc over a meal. You cannot convince anyone to use bitcoin without them having some bitcoin to play around with.

That's the problem, too many focus on the cool technical aspects of the technology rather than on the actual utility of the technology.  And as you can see by the responses to this thread most people are consumed with BTC as a commodity rather than as a currency.  

If you introduce something new to someone they are very likely to associate that thing with the initial introduction.  So if you introduce BTC as a 'great investment' they will keep looking at it as a commodity.  It should be introduced as a currency NOT as a commodity because it is as a currency that it will have long life and higher value.

The best way to learn about any currency is through use -- buy things with it, not buying and selling it.



 

I did it only a few times. Mostly after some of my friends had issues with slow and clumsy legacy money transfer methods (with high fees). Bitcoin is a lot less hassle.

I don't think most people understand enough about electronics or circuitry but they can use their computer and phones just fine. Bitcoin is a hard sell to newbies because at the moment I don't think it is much use to them especially as bitcoin's biggest positives seem to be political or capitalistic (if you're in it to try make some money which could be a 'hook' but as we have seen recently it's not a sure thing and people seem to have lost money rather than made it but the potential is still there). Most people sadly don't seem to care that much about economics nor do they understand it enough to see the benefits of bitcoin and get involved with it but maybe they will over time.

Convincing them that bitcoin is an online payment system that is most convenient, fast and cheap. And also, bitcoin can be used to make money.
Especially if it is supported by video and blog post for sure they will be more understanding about bitcoin.

Honestly, this is literally one of the hardest questions there is
It requires people to understand the concept of the blockchain which is best explained in Satoshis Whitepaper

Once people get that it all makes sense but it requires reading lol...

The other approach in words is to say, its a new way of storing and transferring data securly and transfering value at low cost.

I'll tell them what is bitcoin & how to use it
And, i'll help them to use bitcoin

Honestly, it's very difficult to do it

i think in these days it is not hard to introduce Bitcoin to newbies because now bitcoin has more merchants and global acceptance and much informative materiel available like videos blog and etc, i think now easy to introduce to others. 

Give a small amount of BTC as free (may be BTC0.001 or BTC0.002). In 2013, I convinced my cousin to use BTC, after giving him BTC0.01 and then explaining the benefits.... but that was when BCT was trading at $10.....  

Except that they probably can't do anything with that $5 you just sent them because almost nowhere offline no where accepts bitcoin!
I don't try to convince people about bitcoin, if they want to use it, I will help them, but I don't want to be responsible for them losing money if they make a mistake or the price crashes.

I don't give stock tips either!

The number 1 best way to get people into bitcoin is show them.  Get them to download a mobile wallet and send them $5 bitcoin or something, this will get 90% of people interested.  They have a reason to now be interested.

I have convinced one my friend to start use (also) bitcoin due the lowest fee and the rapidity/irreversibility of the transaction. She is using it to sell their technical stuff online (on their platform) and she is happy to have discovered it. At the moment I am discussing with my other friends and maybe they will start to use bitcoin (or at least I hope to convince them).

The important things are :

- Lowest fee,
- Irreversibility and rapidity,
- Don't need any document to "open" or better create an public address.

How and why would you "convince" anyone to use, or invest in a foreign currency?

Well there are a couple reasons:
1)   as a commodity in 2015 BTC is growing in value (same could not have been said for 2014)
2)   as a currency it is a digital currency, modern lightweight, no footprint,
3)   as a currency it is a medium of exchange but also a way to move money very fast, relatively safe, at very low cost even over boarders.
3)   as a currency it is growing in adoption / utility  ...


A project called PICISI (in development) will be a crowdfunding site that will accept fiat as well as cryptocurrency.  I think PICISI will add a whole new perspective on how BTC and CC in general will be viewed.  

PICISI will allow people to see CC in actual action as a currency, just like they see fiat in action at all other crowdfunding sites.  They won't have to be concerned with the exchange value, and won't have to be bothered with downloading a wallet, most of that just confuses people.  

Let's look at an ordinary person seeking to CF a project that was never involved with CC, how does PICISI convince them to want it, get it, and to use it?   Well first of all  we know their primary motivation for visiting the site -- to get money, so we give them money via our sponsors.   The will have many opportunities to receive money for their campaign simply by asking for it.  What do you think will happen when they see those funds coming in?  The will want to know it's comparable value to the fiat of their nation, they will want to know how they could convert it or how to use it.  When they see that they could use it to help them develop and/or market their campaign they will have a well rounded appreciation of the currency.

When someone is gently immersed into a positive environment it will likely cause them to want to know more about that environment.  

Current List of PICISI Sponsors:

Simple just explain bitcoin same as like token, but its decentralization, limited and have significant value. First to explain bitcoin to newbie is tell them bitcoin is worth, especially with the price i also explain about bitcoin to my friends and people around me, they interested but not much who learn depper about bitcoin, just few of them.


~iki

I use comparison to the internet in 1995 and another comparison to gold.

After all, what was gold before it became precious metal? Just some shiny yellow stone.

I explain the way a bank work to them first.. {Some people think, a bank keep all the money that is deposited, in their huge vault} ...When they understand that banks use a ledger to keep track of all transactions.. I start talking about the Blockchain and they grasp the concept quicker.

The only difference being, the lack of physical paper money and coins... like having virtual money, controlled by a ledger.

When they do get this... I get the "Ah ha" moment, and then the obsession starts. 

I would explain commissions. I would ask them how they would send 5 cents to one hundred people spread across the globe - I might even introduce the notion that wikileaks or some governments cannot receive paypal/mastercard but Bitcoin knows no borders. I would focus on these things. Newbies do not need to know how EC cryptography works on Day One.

If the person is having lots of trouble converting to other currencies, or sending money to other people outside their country or using Paypal then that's usually a great place to start. With paypal I got so frustrated once that I actually went an bought some Bitcoins in the same amount I was going to give a domain host I use and used that instead just because it was far easier than having to write out tons of personal information all the time and make an account I'd never use.