Bitcoin Forum

i'm sure there are other threads touching upon this, but I want to ask again:

what methods have you guys found effective to get family and friends interested, and beyond that ACTUALLY USING (installing a client, going to the faucet), Bitcoin?

my best one so far:

"HOLY SHIT IT WENT FROM LIKE 75 CENTS TO $6 IN HALF A YEAR!"

this has indeed turned some people :-)

I found that telling my friends that my $50 investment has multiplied to well over $1000 in under a year turned them from "It's a scam" to "How to I buy these things again?" a rather effective approach ;)

Easy peezy.

I simply show them weusecoins.com's video to start with... http://weusecoins.com (http://weusecoins.com)

And then I show them bitcoin.org's "reach" graph at http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/bitcoin.org (http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/bitcoin.org) and explain that not many websites fizzle off after they begin to look like that.

That's another good way.

If you find any doubters. Tell them the current value, and then talk to them in another month.

Oh, and also ask them if they hate banking fees.

How can I teach my dad that it is okay. He doesn't under stand the mining part. He says if they are using your computer that it must be for something bad. (I wonder what would happen if I told him about folding@home) I am currently just mining without his permision, but I want to explain to him why the gpu is better than cpu and etc. I think he realizes that I am mining but I think he realizes he cant do anything about it because he wouldn't be able to prove it.

maybe what we need to create is some kind of Bitcoin "gift package". the weusecoins video is still not good enough for the 'everyman'. We need something that says "THIS is what it is, here's (generally) how it works, and hey, here's a few free coins and an easy-to-understand app".

Yep .. Sounds familiar.

I've only been able to 'convert' only the most tech savvy of my friends.
And their interested has been the same as mine (sort of like a passive hobby, not really playing the market at all).
I think 'most' of my family will be on board with the idea as soon as one of their frequented 'shops' starts to accept bitcoins as 'legal' tender (ie Amazon, Steam, etc). Until that happens it seems to be pure speculation (hopefully it happens eventually  ;D)

My friends still can't get it through their heads that bitcoin is not paypal. At least it's better than when we get a package and my step dad says, "Wow! You bought this all on your own? Did you buy it with that funny-money stuff?"

"No, I didn't use any funny money, I used bitcoins."

Uh... The electric bill will prove it, be warned.

On the original question, I think BitBills as gifts for birthdays or whatever would be a good introduction.  Once they have something physical they hopefully won't throw it away.  Especially if you periodically remind them of the worth.

I think Bitbills is cool, but not a good introduction. It looks like they have an issuer and confuses the point even more for people who aren't 'getting it'.

One reason I went with the high end coffee was because I wanted to offer a product that the average person would actually appreciate. Let's say you have a relative over and you offer them a cup, they say, "Hey, that's good coffee. Where did you get it?" You say, "It's BitBrew, only available in exchange for bitcoins," and then you introduce them to bitcoins and their value as a digital currency, emphasizing the ease of transaction, lack of intermediary, etc.

Ya, but I only run at night when I am normaly on my computer anyways. I'm not going to use it 24/7 and if he realizes I will cash out and pay him everything I got from mining.

It all started like this 5870 = free beer (http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7886.0)
And we just ordered parts for our second rig. This mining stuff is addictive.
Also told few of my relatives about bitcoin. After little time researching, they bought some. Unfortunately, in EU for non-technical people there's little to spend bitcoins on, but I believe this to be temporary.

Well yeah, if your goal is explaining how the distributed system works, bitbills would be pretty bad.  But I was assuming that battle was already lost, and you were just trying to sell people on the idea that bitcoins were real and tangible.

I have spent a great deal of time and effort trying to get friends and family to take a look at this since I bought my first coins at 74cents.  I have had very limited luck.  A few came around and though a few hundred $ at it in the $3-6 range once they saw how much it was going up.  But what that really amounts to is getting them to gamble on something they really don't know anything about.

I think the bottom line in getting people to pay attention to it is making more available to buy with it.  Speculation is great fun and mining offers an great excuse to go shopping and fill my place with even more computers than I already had, but for everyone else who doesn't get a kick out of playing stocks or tweaking their computers the only real seller will be what can I do with it?

Those sites offering to sell mdma pills and acid sheets for bitcoins raised a few eyebrows, but as it turns out not a lot of people feel all that good about that kina thing being sent to their front door.

I've spent very little time on this because I don't think most of my family will bother. My mother will just not be interested, and my father is kind of technophobic and will probably go the "it's a trap!" route. I told my brother and he didn't seem interested in the slightest; I told my cousin and he seemed a bit more interested, and I may talk more about it to him if I can. Really, I don't have the sort of "soft skills" people keep talking about.

I think the best way might be to buy them something. I really like the fancy coffee idea in particular. I'm trying to do most of my "cashing out" by buying stuff rather than exchanging for USD.

I think the thought of buying my mom some cofee with BTC might help show my dad what this could do for me. I am the type who will either be working on something of intrest or slipping back into my normal emo mood. I always have a project to work on, or I will just completley pissed due to my lack of good friends.

I have gotten some of my friends intrested by asking them to receive payments for me, as I won't be able to receive them myself(stupid dad, I will have him beleiving). I think the best way to get people intrested honestly is a extreme level of being vague.