I Can't Explain What Bitcoin Is to my Friends!
So today I found out that I really don't know what bitcoin is.
It's not so much that I don't know what is - I think. I mean - I have a basic and general understanding that it is a digital currency built on top of a technology called the blockchain. In my head - it all makes sense. But when I try to explain it to someone else - something gets lost in translation and the right words never seem to make it out of my mouth. By the time I finish explaining - I'm even more confused myself about what bitcoin is.
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So here I am - I buy , sell , mine, and lend bitcoin as well as a couple of other altcoins - but I still cannot explain comprehensively exactly what it is and how it derives true value. As such, I realized that I need to find a way to distill it down to something very simple that anyone can understand. I haven't come up with anything yet - but I'm going to develop it. In business we call it the "elevator pitch" - you should be able to explain your business concept to people quickly , concisely and in the time it takes for an elevator to deliver you to your floor - it's basically a 30 second pitch called the elevator pitch and I need to find a way to make bitcoin fit into a nice digestible soundbite.
I'm wondering if other crypto enthusiasts have the same problem. I tend to forget that what I know now is a culmination of reading up and studying many articles and getting on board to many different concepts to get to my current limited understanding of it - so to take all of that and squeeze it into a quick 1-minute lesson is not as easy as it sounds at first.
It's important that I figure it out though because when I talk to someone that doesn't know about it yet - this is my opportunity to expose them to something amazing - but if I flub it up - then I may turn them away from it for years. If I do it right , then I can help to promote the platform and bring more understanding to it. Also -it is very difficult to promote Steemit without being able to discuss what cryptocurrency is - so before I even begin a discussion about Steemit - I need to to know that they have a basic understanding of what cryptocurrency even is. So I am on a mission to find the easiest way to explain it to the non initiated in a way that doesn't confuse them or me.
If any of you have any ideas or suggestions for me - I am open to listening to all of them. In the meantime - when I finally develop what I think is a good elevator pitch for it , I will post it here for those of you having the same problem and you can use that as way to make it easier on your friends and family.
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Portable digital gold. Maybe that is too short.
It's a good start...probably too short to paint the picture - but it gives you a springboard to jump from!
Bitcoin is a digital asset that you can exchange peer to peer through a non-corruptible digital ledger system called a block chain. The ledger system is decentralized, meaning it is stored on multiple computers around the world, that must agree with one another on the transactions in order for the transaction to be permanently added to the ledger. Payments are made to a third party known as a miner for making the actual transactions. I'm working on my elevator speech too, so this is a fun exercise.
That's pretty good! It started slightly technical but it all came around to make sense
I run into this issue all the time.. i find that most people can't really comprehend cryptocurrencies with out hours upon hours of watching videos or researching.. so i now say to people that explaining bitcoin and blockchain now would be like explaining the internet and email to someone in the 90's.. its mind boggling.. then i say these alt coins are like eBay, amazon and paypal, u never could really imagine what they are until after they have been built.. i tell them the only way to look at bitcoin is a new store of value much like gold for the digital age, even tho that is a shit description..
truth of the matter is if they are interested they HAVE to look into it themselves at this point in time to figure it out..
there is no good answer as far as i know, so if u do figure out an elvator pitch please let me know!
thanks for the insight - it's good to now that it's not just me! I really like your take on it - I have also found myself using the pay pal example as the closest thing that they could wrap their head around - but I think something you said was key - to paraphrase " if they are really interested - they will do the homework themselves" - this makes a lot of sense - so I guess my job is to make sure that I explain it in a way that is enticing enough for them to WANT to to take the time to look it up. I mean - you would go to a dinner party - talk to a doctor and then start researching brain surgery -
One way , I thought about was to give someone some bitcoin and tell them it is worth money - then they would have a vested interest in figuring out what it is and how to cash in on it.
Yeah, the problem is that most people aren't willing to put their money into something they cant touch or hold in their hands, because it scares them. Also you have to do so much research to understand it that most people dont even bother. But the biggest problem is not knowing how to start! The whole process could be much more user friendly.
So what i have done is prepare a saved email for the occasion when someone is actually interested in bitcoin, and then i just email them right there on the spot when they are excited. Cuz i know most wont go home and look it up because people get distracted so easily. So my email has a few youtube videos explaing bitcoin, blockchain and cryptos. It also has a link to coinbase with the free $10 of bitcoin after sign up and links to bittrex and coin indexes to point people in the proper direction if they want to continue going.. its basically a beginners tool set to get them started if they are interested i will send it to them.
However i am done trying to force people into seeing this amazing opportunity, no one held my hand when i started and it made me love it that much more in the end..
But yeah, this seems to work realatively well for me, you might want to give it a shot..
-cheers
those are some really great ideas you have - I'll have to give it a shot - thanks!
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