I posted a 5‑slide carousel on Instagram today (I know… why even bother? Fair question). I almost never talk about Bitcoin there as I spend 95% of my time on Nostr, but since I still use IG occasionally for photography, I was curious to see what kind of reaction it would get.
And honestly, the responses were exactly what you’d expect from the mainstream crowd.
The divide is striking: most people on traditional social platforms have no idea how money works, what fiat really is, or what Bitcoin actually solves. The misconceptions run deep across the whole spectrum of topics around value, time, energy, and sovereignty.
Thought I'd share for an interesting discussion...
I've often wondered if there was much of a bitcoin scene on Instagram. It's pretty bad.
"An advertisement for Bitcoin" - sounds like they can't imagine anything outside of the things about which they've already made up their minds...probably they don't even realize that their minds have been made up.
It does make me wonder what sort of message would get through.
Well the fact that they were receptive right up until the mention of bitcoin shows that they at least see the problem. They just don't see or understand how bitcoin solves the problem. That at least gives us some hints on the intellectual barriers people face. It seems like the objections fall into 3 main categories:
That at least gives us some directions to focus our orange pilling efforts on
Instagram is a fiat consumption app, it curates the idea of how to spend, what to spend and selling people dreams of earning more/yield in order to consume more. No hope there
Great for commerce though, so if you sell a good or service you already have a primed auidence. Better approach to instagram is to sell something the algoholics can consume and sweep the profits into Bitcoin yourself
Well it looks like you have a lot of work to do educating these folks since you opened up pandora's box.
Totally shows lack of knowledge and education related to Bitcoin ecosystem. Most of the main stream social media users are not aware of alternate economy that Bitcoin has to provide.
I generally dislike trad social media and i do my best to steer clear of it, like you. That said, I think your message was probsbly a little aspirational for the audience there.
Do you think all of societies woes stem from the fiat monetary system?
If you do then do, then it sort of maks it sound like youre preaching a new age religion.
Man is bad, money is technology. Evil has existed long before fiat and will continue ling after.
so much cope in those comments
good job getting them to engage, at least
Thanks for poking the bears and sharing the reaction!
I saw this and was going to respond to a few comments but then got pulled away by other things. I could feel your frustration! I am by no means as educated on Bitcoin or as deep into the rabbit hole but I think about these issues often (how to shift the perception problem). Two suggestions that might be worth pursuing:
#1. The fact that Bitcoin is not political and is a global currency/asset being added to the balance sheet of states, countries and large funds around the world. Most people have no idea about this, that Bitcoin is here to stay. To the layperson it's an energy intensive thing they don't understand that is controlled by billionaires. So I think it's beneficial to provide examples that counter that perception, like:
France Welcomes Reserve Bill to Purchase 2% of Bitcoin Supply
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/france-welcomes-bill-purchase-2-114624954.html
#2. Bitcoin as a counter to inflation. The rising cost of living is very real for most people. When I was in England in September I was shocked at the price of fish and chips, which used to be around £8 at our usual spot was now £15. I pointed this out to my Dad who was keenly aware and I referenced Bitcoin being a solution to these issues without going much further. A few days later, unprompted, he asked me to help him understand Bitcoin further. Here are some great commercials by Coinbase that speak to normal people:
'Inflated' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlsIYfZQ2pk
'All There Will Ever Be' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oO7WYrekjKk
'Break The Cycle | Update The System' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4F9u8Z84YI
'Side Hustle | Update The System' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rZ9eqEm4L4
'Shrinkflation' : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCezgOM7pVw
So those are my thoughts and ideas for reaching normal people.
-Tom