Bitcoin Forum

I've noticed that since the first couple of things that went viral (think "Charlie bit my finger") nothing on the net has really "gone viral" because of censorship.

One of the last video's on YouTube that I remember going really Viral was called "the YouTube Dictatorship by DireBoris... it had millions of views very quickly and he was accused of using bots... yeah right lol... I was one of them.

over the next few months his channel got progressively harder to find in search results despite using his exact name... then 3 months later his account was deleted by YouTube.

This kind of censorship really sux... and YouTube has become such a pathetic add driven machine, it's impossible to really have "viral content"

This is where Bitcoin comes in... is it possible that this will be the first thing to really "Go Viral" in a decade? is it possible that our collective consciousness has actually forgotten what "Viral" looks like because it's been so long?

I'm going to answer this poll by saying "bitcoins will go viral" but I'm going to allow people to change there answers to this poll so that over time we can see if there is eventually a consensus that we have really achieved "Viral" status.

Any comments in support of your answers or related discussion is welcome :)

When considering relative scale, universal worldwide adoption will look slow, like a galaxy moving through space. Galaxies move pretty darn fast, though.

Bitcoin is subject to what we business theory calls "positive network effects". It has the exact same nature as Facebook, which also is highly subject to those effects.

So yes, when it hits a big enough group using Bitcoins and there is a huge incentive to use it (let's face it, currently there is not for most people), it will have a growth curve like Facebook and similar services and "go viral".

The problem is the incentive to use it: Most people are quite happy with their credit card and cash.

Why don't you start BitTube.com (well, that domain is taken, but...?)?  Sounds like you have some experience.

Integrate a bitcoin tipping mechanism like on reddit, and send invites to the YouTube content providers.  And get one of the bigger bitcoin ad providers on board.  I'd imagine that getting paid for ads plus getting tips plus no censorship would appeal to a lot of the content people.

You never know until you try...

What evidence do you have for this claim that self censorship is done out of fear? Does their submission to the threat of being closed down justify their use of censorship?

I would argue they have chosen a side.

I have observed that ribuck is defending the position of sites to give in to the fear of being shut down. While I'm not surprised that some Bitcoiners are still Statists, I hope to see less replies from Statists in the future.

"feel free to operate a truly uncensored site, and see how long it lasts" - this has the tone of someone who wants you try only because he expects you to be crushed by censorship.

I don't need to try... Satoshi is the Cyberchrist and his code will make everyone free :P

Please remember that facebook going viral means: people go on the website and register

For bitcoin it is entirely different, people must understand how bitcoin work, understand how to not lose them. Merchants need to setup their websites. Infrastructured need to be built. All of this takes time.

Exactly. Bitcoin will have an easier time becoming "viral" through middlee man services that let you interact with the coins when you want but don't require it (like BitPay).

It's getting to go viralzoarzles

Bitcoin WILL go viral.

Wow some fantastic artwork guys :) I don't know if I was the first to coin the term Bitcoiner as I'm sure others will coin the term independantly. Bitcoiner has a nice ring to it and I especially like the art with the German... "I be a Bitcoiner" :)... Is that a correct translation?

All of the pics are inspiring... I love you Bitcoiners.

I'd love to see more photo's and creativity like this... also links to any songs that have a Bitcoin theme.

Here's one from ZhouTonged... I don't know the history... but I love the track

Enjoy


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pID03RrmKow

 ;D

It's 1% viral

bitcoin is over 4 years old.

the term viral is where there is a sudden and unexpected growth.

eg.. medically a 24 hour bug which transmits person to person within hours
eg.. on youtube where something gets 100 hits, 300, 900, 2000, 6000, 18000, 54000, 162000 in a small space of time.
(also note "charlie bit me" is not as viral as gangnam style or kony2012, guess the OP missed those)

bitcoin is on a steady growth, which banking industry would consider more of a cancer then viral. taking month's/years to grow to a point that its effects become noticable. and then in some cases too late to keep under control.

Well played sir, well played.

Holy crap!
I don't know where you get your internet from, but many many things went viral before "Charlie bit my finger" annd many many things went viral after "Charlie bit my finger".
Have you been living under a stone?

Anyway, who cares about viral shit? It's a waste of perfectly good neural real estate.

Right on,

The discovery of what unites our shared consciousness is surely the realm of dreams. Bitcoin? what is that. It means nothing. It cannot save us from the arm of righteousness that denies evil exists. Search alone I must, until others discover the glory of Satoshi. A true saint as long as we never know who he is?

Unfortunately most viral's tend to cater to idiots, I can't see the people who are entertained by viral trends getting excited about the blockchain and cryptography.

To be honest viral might not be that great for Bitcoin anyway, how many viral's last over a year? Most last a few months before descent into oblivion. Also imagine a load of lemmings pouring into the Excahnge systems too lol, unencrypted passwords, lag and scams would quickly damage Bitcoins reputation. My point is not that these issues don't already exist, but viral does not leave much room for the user to get acquainted with the technology. 

I would rather a slow gradual process where Bitcoin slowly becomes the norm, this would actually attract a lot less issues in regards to legal pressure I assume.

Yea, I don't think "Viral" is the appropriate word. Paypal didn't go "viral", but everyone enjoyed using them and eBay allowed for them to have a *reason* to use them until they grew so large that eBay had to buy them. I guess the real question is, when will something *important* use bitcoin. Donations are not important in my book, neither is *anything* the bitcoin community creates for other bitcoiners. Amazon using it (never happen, they have Amazon coins that make them a profit), eBay using it (never gonna happen, too many issues with user fraud), Apple using it (never gonna happen, they have iTunes credits they make a fortune off of and enjoy controlling) would all make bitcoin a success in terms of the average household holding bitcoins within a few years time.

Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive:

• Moving wealth privately from one country to another (happening)
• Allowing wagering on non-state-approved lotteries (happening)
• Allowing purchase of non-state-approved substances (happening)
• Allowing storage of wealth in non-state-controlled fiat (happening)

Thanks, The most positive thing so far... a whopping 90% of you you think Bitcoin is already Viral or is going to be. Of that, 60% think it's not there yet... a good sign that while some of us are surprised that this new technology is not being embraced by Zombies, eventually even the Zombies will want Bitcoins... Zombies learned to use email too

Bitcoin will go viral, we just need to bombard services like Dropbox with "Hey, why don't you take my bitcoin???"

I think you're confusing 'viral' with 'rectal prolapse by mass advertisement"

Bitcoin DID go viral. http://www.google.com/trends/explore?q=bitcoin#q=bitcoin&date=today%2012-m&cmpt=q

Infrastructure and transaction-flow will rise steadily (let us hope), and there will be periods of virality like the peak in the link above, spurred by spectacles of different kinds.

Viral periods will increasingly focus on more narrow themes. For now, the focus is on Bitcoin as a phenomena, and cryptocurrencies more generally. In the future, we should see single videos spiking 50-100 million hits on youtube.

If Bitcoin is adopted by Silicon Valley or some poor country, a decently crafted video concerning the situation could go apeshit virul. Consider the Kony video. The Kony video has close to 100 million views.

(Anyone know of other examples of activist videos with near that amount? We should think here with examples and by analogy to get a grip on the future of cryptocurrency virality.)

I joined their site today, Purely to check out their forum poll... I downloaded the free one. Dropbox might convince me to upgrade if they take BTC.

Otherwise it's not an option, my spending money is BTC... heck my only other option is Gold and silver... anyone want to exchange for BTC?

Anyone from Coinabul on Bitcointalk?