Remembering Q: Mainstreaming?

in #steem5 years ago

Over the last week or so I have noticed an interesting process taking place that I take as a positive sign, even though it might not lead anywhere. I am wondering if you have seen the same.

You might remember that a little over three months ago there was a push of references for initiative Q like I did, a project looking to challenge credit card transactions with a global currency. To be honest, I don't think it will do what they promise but, that is neither here nor there for this post.

What has been happening is that I have been receiving reference links through Whatsapp messages from friends who (like most of my IRL friends) are not into crypto at all. Some have even used the term "early adopter" under the assumption they are the first to know about it, but they are all taking the "doesn't hurt to try" approach. This is a great step in mainstreaming crypto but there are risks.

If anyone is old enough to be a html website designer, before people were really comfortable with having business websites, there was the attitude that their nephew who was a whiz on the computer, could create an ecommerce site for them. When it failed to deliver the millions promised from the internet, they thought the internet was a fad and once bitten became twice shy. The internet is still here. For the real designers, it was a bit of a hard sell to begin with because low-quality designers had been believed as authorities. These days things are very different as the industry has matured.

I said to a friend who messaged me about Initiative Q, that soon these types of referrals for cryptos are going to be commonplace, they are going to spread rapidly through social media platforms and they are almost all going to be scams and shitcoins. Some won't be though and some will grow to be legitimate projects over time. There are two notable things going on with this that I see of importance.

Firstly, these are very mainstream people shilling crypto reference links to their friends (at least they aren't hiding them under images like some users here) and taking a give it a go approach. This is obviously a good thing for awareness and at this stage, it is really any publicity is good publicity. Some will disagree with that sentiment, but all unregulated and emerging tech goes through this phase including the mobile phones or PCs you may be reading this on.

Secondly, Steem users were a full three months ahead of this at least. The power of a crypto-based open community means that opportunities can spread very quickly and since there are people on the look out for these things, will be ahead of the mainstream. This might be true now but the more people link their crypto life to their 'normal' life platforms, the smaller this gap will become until the first mover advantage is almost non-existent in these kind of deals.

This is essentially how mainstreaming happens in all industries and tech, word of mouth, not direct advertising. Social proofing is a much stronger influence than direct advertising of an unknown product but once the word is out, the advertising becomes a support line that pulls on the social hook. This is what we are seeing now in crypto, the word is getting out and later, it will be backed up by mainstream companies advertising their latest blockchain project.

Those companies are already in, they are already exploring, setting up trials, infrastructure, designing products and platforms and preparing while the social word spreads and begins to shift trends. At the point there is enough interest to support there project and give it a chance of success, they release. This is a risky game for them too as if they release too early there will not be enough to support and too late,competition will have released before them. The window can be very narrow.

A long time ago, there was a project at Nokia to release a what was considered a cutting edge phone model . It was in development for a very long time and was a very expensive process. The manager of the project kept delaying release because it "wasn't perfect" and kept wanting more tweaks made, even though it was pretty darn close to it. A rival released their version and even though they rushed and released 24 hours later, it was too late, the competitor had first mover advantage and millions in development costs were lost. Timing does matter.

But this is what I see on Steem too, there are some people wanting mainstreaming when the platform is nowhere near ready and, others who will never be happy enough to release it. Luckily though, development continues even if people aren't completely satisfied because in a decentralized environment, there isn't one decision maker to hold back or release projects, it is more organic.

It doesn't matter how we look at the current state of Steem or of the cryptopshere in general, mainstreaming will happen and a whole host of projects will benefit. Our goal is to give Steem the best chance of being one of them. What will happen though is that like all industries, our current vision for the future is likely somewhat wrong and as more people come in and the market population changes to "normies", the push on demand will mutate the form and drive a whole slew of new innovations and opportunities we haven't even considered yet.

So, anyone else getting reference links from non-crypto people shilled to them on other platforms?

Be patient with those who are doing this as essentially, we are a bunch of crypto-freaks that can't be trusted due to our dreams of Lambo! blindness. It is they who will eventually act as our social proof and push us into the mainstream.

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]

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Initiative Q is everywhere. I've had half a dozen facebook friends post a link; non-crypto types who just want to throw their hats in the ring. I think they'd be better off getting into steemmonsters, personally; but you gotta start somewhere :)

I agree that it is not the greatest project to mainstream but it is a step in the right direction. Once they see the possibilities, more will look deeper and find the real world of crypto. If timing is perfect, there will be a host of SMT platforms and apps to receive them :)

I logged on to Facebook yesterday, and what do you know, some of my IRL acquaintances were giving out Initiative Q referrals. I could only smile. Three months ahead of the curve.

They seemed to want to get on board. I'm betting this will not be the last time we will see something like this.

It's funny how one guy jokingly said after saying that he had claimed some tokens that now he's in on the pyramid too. I retorted that this was an airdrop and that you did not need to invest any money. I also said that, at worst, Initiative Q was a scam to collect the email addresses of a large number of gullible people, in which case the perfect way strike back would be to join because by doing so you'd be diluting the list of gullibles with one sceptic!

It is going to get interesting because there are going to be some successes and a lot of failures and stupid money will pour in.

Yeah, this is the thing to look out for - a recommendation from a friend. I'm still living in hope that one day someone will ask me if I've heard of steem, or maybe one of the steem dapps will be first to be mentioned..?

To your point, I don't recommend much in the way of the crypto yet as it's still too much like the wild west! Too early for most. Including steem, in my view.

The only crypto that I've seen land in my inbox is dock.io which is a kind of networking dapp I think. Not one that I've explored yet I must confess.

It will be exciting when the infrastructure is more fully developed to have all these recommendations coming in, although steem has a fair few to keep up with in its own right already. Exciting times ahead.

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To your point, I don't recommend much in the way of the crypto yet as it's still too much like the wild west! Too early for most. Including steem, in my view.

Me either. I stopped onboarding here a long time ago but as more consumer friendly apps come online, I will start again

It will be exciting when the infrastructure is more fully developed to have all these recommendations coming in, although steem has a fair few to keep up with in its own right already. Exciting times ahead.

Yep, there is a lot going on that it is difficult to keep track of even the most obvious one. Lots more to arrive.

i wouldn't know. i don't talk to non crypto people - can't trust them! lol.

If they aren't willing to sign a smart contract, they get no love. :D

I'm looking forward to SMT's having some decent referral models.

I think they are going to have some plus, they are going to be able to offer tailored content so it could be easier to target with referrals. Looking forward to all the referrals on Mainstream platform feeds saying to leave them :D

Here in Venezuela the reference sites have become very common. The problem is that there are many who are scam, so for me, particularly when they talk about referrals, here in Venezuela, I do not take them into account because the scam has proliferated.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the time of your delegation. Thank you very much for having me taken into account. :)

The benefit of being on Steem is that if you keep an eye out and follow the right accounts, they don't advertise scams.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the time of your delegation. Thank you very much for having me taken into account. :)

You are most welcome, I hope that it has helped you over the last few months. I run these things from time to time so keep an eye out :)

if you keep an eye out and follow the right accounts, they don't advertise scams.

And what accounts would you recommend me? or what reference sites could you recommend me?

I run these things from time to time so keep an eye out :)

I will be attentive :)

Well, follow @acidyo as he often mentions decent projects to look into.

Ok, thank you very much. :)

I was surprised to find out Steemmonsters had one, seems some people are making good money on it.

It is going to be a big part of the process to incentivize the crypto crowd to share outside their crypto circles. Many of the crypto crowd are going to have to go and make some friends to share with though :P

Many of the crypto crowd are going to have to go and make some friends to share with though :P

There's optimistic, and then there's downright delusion, mate!
lmao..

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I was really surprised yesterday when my girlfriend - who isn't into crypto at all - asked me what InitiativeQ was.
She found it on her Facebook wall and got curious

First thing that came to mind was that they seem to know how to play the game, if they can get people interested who have no experience with crypto. Second thing that came to mind was the question why I didn't put more effort in it, lol.

I can see the risks you're calling out, but there's no way to ignore this is a huge step towards crypto going mainstream.

So, anyone else getting reference links from non-crypto people shilled to them on other platforms?

Three close friends (all from outside the crypto world) in the last 2 months have asked me to sign up to initiative Q with their affiliate links. I had to tell them that I signed up 6 months ago 😂

I asked all of them what made them sign up and go sharing the link. In one case the person said that it was because of my 'crypto story', she thinks I've made a bunch of money on crypto when that couldn't be further from the truth. The other two, said it was the strap-line they use about - not missing out on the 'new' bitcoin. I think this prevalence of initiative Q sharing by people speaks to how well they have conducted their viral marketing more than anything else. I used to work in marketing for a while but couldn't stomach it.

mainstreaming when the platform is nowhere near ready and, others who will never be happy enough to release it.

A realisation I've only come to in the last 2 months. It's looking like years, maybe even a decade, for crypto mass adoption. Although I think that the fact that some mainstream entities are now building their own blockchains/cryptos suggests it may be closer than we think. Also, that they are looking to corner use cases and markets for blockchain projects we have already invested in. I see it like a double edged sword, mainstream will both embrace and try to appropriate blockchain as a technology but if people choose to use other tokens/coins/blockchains then they will have no choice but to share the new emerging market through the process of mass adoption. It will be interesting to see how it pans out :-)

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