Jesse Stay's Blog, page 12

First the PC. Second the Web. Third the Cloud. And Now...The Chain - Why Bitcoin is Not Just a Currency - It's a Platform!

What if you could transfer stock to another individual, without a stock broker or stock certificate? What if you could sell your home, without a real estate broker or deed? What if you could sell your car without need for a title or vehicle registration? That's the concept of the technology behind Bitcoin, and why you need to be paying attention to why this is so much more than just a currency or investment, and why your brand could be disrupted soon if it does not adapt.

The technology behind Bitcoin, the currency that is making little-known software developers millionaires as the price has gone from less than $1 per Bitcoin to $800 per Bitcoin in just a couple years, has the potential to revolutionize the way the world authenticates human-to-human transactions within a matter of years. The technology, or protocol, is called "The Blockchain", and it has the potential to be so much more than just a currency-driven protocol. It's an entirely new platform. "The Chain", as I'm now calling this platform, is incredibly powerful, and I truly think it is a paradigm shift on par with the shift from the mainframe to the PC, the PC to the Web, and more recently the Web to The Cloud.

"Colored Coins"

I had the chance to sit down with some of these Bitcoin millionaires and soon-to-be-millionaires (I'm not exaggerating!) at a local event in Provo, Utah (organized by my friends from the upcoming documentary, "Life on Bitcoin") called a "Bitmob". The idea is this (in a nutshell): a group of Bitcoiners approach a local business and tell them they will bring x number of people willing to pay with Bitcoin if the business will be willing to accept it. It's a great way to get businesses to start accepting Bitcoin as a currency, brings a lot of new customers to those businesses, and overall improves the economy of Bitcoin as a whole.

It was at this meeting that my mind was enlightened that Bitcoin is not just a revolutionary, worldwide currency without central control, but it is so much more than that. A group of developers in the Bitcoin community have proposed an addition to the Bitcoin protocol (introduced by a pseudonomous developer named "Satoshi Nakamoto" in 2008, but with precedence in other standards and technologies prior to that), which allows each Bitcoin transfer to contain a payload of text. They call these "Colored Coins". This payload of text could be synonymous with writing on a $1 bill the words, "I'll give anyone who gives me this bill a car". Then, that person would be held to giving each person that gave them that $1 bill a car. However, attaching this to an encrypted digital transaction that can be guaranteed as authentic, traced between the sender and recipient (by code, not necessarily ID of a human - one fatal flaw in Bitcoin IMO), now you have an even more certain guarantee of that agreement that the entire world can audit and ensure took place. If it is dishonored, the entire world knows (instead of just the people that gave the individual the $1 bill). See this video to get a better idea of how their proposal works - it does a much better job explaining:


Bitcoin is Just One Implementation of The Platform (The Chain)

The power of why this is possible lies in a worldwide "ledger" called "The Blockchain", basically a ledger similar to an accounting ledger, that each bitcoin client has access to, can't delete, and proves the transaction takes place. Because the entire world has access to this ledger, there is no mistake in the transaction, and anyone can prove that the owners of the 2 sides of the transaction are in agreement with each other.

The power of Bitcoin is in a vast, worldwide network of connected computers that can all authenticate what agreements were made from which parties. Each of these computers performs computer algorithms to ensure the strength of encryption on each transaction, further ensuring its authenticity. I'm told that if you added all this computing power worldwide, it would equal the power of more than 500 of the world's top super computers. The number of trades on the network, today alone, outnumbered the number of transactions on Paypal, and are soon to outnumber the number of transactions by Discover Card.

The sheer number of participants in this worldwide peer-to-peer network, the value attached to each transaction (in Bitcoin - the Bitcoin-to-Dollar ration today is approximately 1/$700 and growing), and most importantly the openness of the network, the Blockchain, and the protocol behind it make this new network designed for commerce as scalable as the Internet, and perhaps even more valuable. As you can see, it can also be used for more than just monetary trade. One individual is using it for authentic transfer of files between individuals, for instance.

The thing is it's the idea of Bitcoin and the Blockchain that makes all this so powerful. There will be numerous additions to the protocol over time, and I'm sure other versions, making this concept more and more powerful. What's powerful isn't that Bitcoin exists - it's that this is the direction it is taking us as a society, and the technology exists today. For that reason this is a very large platform that will have many components to it, just like the web has HTTP and TCP/IP and MAC addresses, and even OAuth, and OpenID that all work together in one. We'll see the same with cryptocurrency and online commerce in ways that transform commerce and corporate structure as we know today. There are already other cryptocurrencies like Litecoin and Namecoin. Devs and businesses will create their own currency exchanges (I'll explain that in another post).

Bitcoin is Much More Than Just a Currency

For that reason I see Bitcoin as much more than just a currency. Bitcoin is an open platform designed for commerce. It is the architecture and Infrastructure for all transactions that Jeremiah Owyang mentions in the Collaborative Economy philosophy. Whether in "colored coins", or another standard, Bitcoin, and cryptocurrency in general, are the platforms that will power every guaranteed human-to-human transaction on the planet. It's already globally recognized. Each transaction has an intrinsic value (Bitcoin itself is limited in number, giving it rarity, similar to Gold). Each transaction can be proved, with 100% accuracy. And it's near impossible to forge, unlike traditional currency. And what's even better is this is all a platform which will evolve and grow, just like the internet.

Bitcoin is what happens when you apply digital and cryptographic principles to accounting. This is as big a change in technology to come to the world as the PC, the Web, and most recently the Cloud. We are entering a new era of human-to-human commerce where the brand, and the government is no longer "the middle man" in these agreements. Is your business ready to handle it? Are we pushing our governments to adapt? I'll do some articles shortly on ways brands can adapt, and what I'm telling my clients.

Want to know more about Bitcoin? This video will get you started!:


Like this article? It's freely shareable and can be copied and distributed (or linked to) via Creative Commons Attribution license. Or, just send a tip via Bitcoin!:

Address: 19AdCAbjshRuEFhx4py1Ny7i48s1d6RFi

First the PC. Second the Web. Third the Cloud. And Now…The Chain – Why Bitcoin is Not Just a Currency – It’s a Platform!

What if you could transfer stock to another individual, without a stock broker or stock certificate? What if you could sell your home, without a real estate broker or deed? What if you could sell your car without need for a title or vehicle registration? That’s the concept of the technology behind Bitcoin, and why…

How Your Cub and Girl Scouts (and Youth) are Being Cheated in the Personal Manufacturing Era

Our youth are in for a wake-up call when they grow up. Gone will be blue-collar work. Gone will be factory and manual labor jobs. Gone will be construction and mechanical jobs. The fact is, machinery, robotics, and computer programming are replacing all of this, in favor of devices average families can buy and set up in their living rooms. It is so important that we get these skillsets to our youth so we can survive as a society as my generation retires and our kids take over.

For long-time followers of this blog, you are well aware of my passion for 3D printing, and predictions for the disruption of modern manufacturing within just years from where we now stand. Within 5 years, it will be very possible for entire, room (or larger) sized manufacturing processes to be taken over by a simple machine in your office through 3D printing. It's already happening in fact. I call this "The Personal Manufacturing Era", because it's the closest disruption we have in modern times to the Personal Computing Era and what it did to the mainframe.

Of course, all youth are affected by this, but there's one group I want to address more than any, and I think they have the greatest potential to make a difference in this new era of manufacturing - it's the Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts of America (of course, I'm talking to mostly a US audience here, but you likely have equivalents in your country). Both groups are missing out on a HUGE opportunity here to prepare their youth for the future.

Currently my wife and I volunteer for the Cub and Boy Scout organizations in our area. Each year there is an annual competition - usually it's the Pinewood Derby. Some times it's the Space Derby, or Raingutter Regatta. The thing is I've always hated these competitions because they focus on skillsets (woodwork, mostly) that are hardly valuable to the boys as they get to be our age. Not to mention that the dads do most of the valuable work for them anyways.

I propose that these boys, and in equivalent activities for the Girls in Girl Scouts (I'm mostly familiar with the boys organizations because most of my service has been there, but girls need it even more than the boys), be exposed to more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) related activities. True, Pinewood Derby does have some engineering that applies. But how much better would it be if the ENTIRE activity was centered around logic and engineering? How about a computer programming competition? Or what about a robotics competition? Kits could be provided to give boys a basic start, and understanding of these, and a fair base to start on.

My concern today is that we're perfectly okay asking boys and dads/moms (and girls and dads/moms) to build a car they can race from scratch, many of those dads/moms not having previous woodworking experience (I'm one of those), but when we propose that we do a "computer programming competition" or "robotics competition", two activities that really aren't much harder to do if a kit is provided to show them how to do it, people say, "It's too hard."

We need to get away from this notion of woodworking being seen as a "manly" thing to do and computer programming and robotics being seen as "too geeky" or "too nerdy". The fact is, our childrens' futures depend on it! Every "too geeky" statement you make hurts your children and the future of this country, and the world in general.

I'm very worried about the future of our children, and the future of this nation. Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Girl Scouts of America all have a HUGE opportunity here to fix this. They are making steps with new computer programming merit badges, and computer safety programs. I'm concerned they're not moving fast enough though. To change, these programs need a complete overhaul of the system, one focused on STEM as a main, core component of each program, and outdoor activities to balance it all. Right now it's much, much too heavily balanced toward the latter.

If you have kids. Take a stand. Reach out to your local Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts, or Girl Scouts organizations (to have the most effect you really need to do this at the district or council level), and let them know you share this concern. Am I alone in this? Are our youth missing out?

How Your Cub and Girl Scouts (and Youth) are Being Cheated in the Personal Manufacturing Era

Our youth are in for a wake-up call when they grow up. Gone will be blue-collar work. Gone will be factory and manual labor jobs. Gone will be construction and mechanical jobs. The fact is, machinery, robotics, and computer programming are replacing all of this, in favor of devices average families can buy and set…

The Perfect Use of Custom Audiences Through Facebook Ads

Custom Audiences are a terrific way to build Facebook ads that convert and bring strong traffic back to a site. The way they work is this:




You have an email list
You import that email list into Facebook's Power Editor
Facebook matches those emails with Facebook users that also use those emails
You target ads to that email list or exclude the people in that email list from your targeted ad campaigns


I've been encouraging my clients for awhile now to look inside their existing user databases and find ways to segment users to better target ads back towards those existing users to get new sales. One way to do that is to look at users that have not completed a full transaction, and remind them to do so through a simple non-intrusive Facebook ad. The potential for the completed sale goes up significantly when brands do this.




I saw this in action today as I went through the process of adding flower bulbs to my Shopping Cart at Brecks.com, but not completing the purchase. Within minutes, I was seeing ads on Facebook reminding me that I had not completed my purchase, and even offering a further discount to get me back.












Having worked at a few e-commerce companies in the past (my college minor was e-business), I can attest that it's difficult to get customers all the way through the sales process. Previously there were few ways, without outright spamming them and driving them further away, to get those customers that never completed their purchase.




Now, with custom audiences on Facebook businesses can remind the user very quickly after-the-fact, when they're still in purchasing mode, further increasing the likelihood of the sale. This, to me, is the perfect use of custom audiences on Facebook. Well done Brecks!




Wanna learn more about Facebook ads? I just finished a course you can take to learn about my own secrets to success with Facebook ads. I promise you'll learn something new in this course. If not, let me know and I'll refund your money, 100% - go get the course here!

The Perfect Use of Custom Audiences Through Facebook Ads

Custom Audiences are a terrific way to build Facebook ads that convert and bring strong traffic back to a site. The way they work is this: You have an email list You import that email list into Facebook’s Power Editor Facebook matches those emails with Facebook users that also use those emails You target ads…

Your Constantly Evolving, Constantly Changing Social Media Plan

When I was younger things were simpler. TV, Print News, and when the internet, even websites would remain pretty static. My, how things have changed! In a world of "Generation Me", with Millenials being raised on the internet and using technology and social media for most of their lives, marketing, and technology is so much different! As a marketer, your audience expects change, and they expect it fast.



It's for this reason that social networks evolve so quickly. I remember numerous companies rising up on the backbone of Facebook, only to find out Facebook's rules for their platform changing and completely going out of business as a result. I learned this the hard way with my service, SocialToo, which, based wholely on the premise of a user's social graph on Twitter alone, and the ability to auto-follow, was quickly overrun by changes in Twitter's API policies which rendered my business model obsolete.



Am I bitter? Maybe a little, but the fact is I've learned my lesson. In this ever-changing world of social media, marketers and business owners need to be willing to adapt very quickly, and look to the future, expecting these technologies to change fast, and the rules that go with them. What works today will likely not work tomorrow.



Facebook is already making this evident in their changes in News Feed policy, suggesting they will begin punishing "memes" and "calls-to-action" in posts on Facebook Pages. In the past, this is what performed best because it produced the greatest engagement, and in fact still does! Marketers are looking towards a sore wake-up call if they are not preparing for these changes.



In every presentation I make, even in my recent course on Facebook Ads (you can download it here!), I always tell people not to believe me. Always test, test, test. What works for me may not work for you, and most of all, Facebook is in a state of constant flux and change due to the ever-changing attention spans of its users. Marketers need to study these early, and study them often, and continually test the strategies they employ on social networks or their social strategies will not work.



The strategies and techniques I share in my courses and consulting and speaking work - I've tested them, and they have produced results for me. But a Social Media Marketer needs to be on their toes. What works for me may not work for them. A good Social Strategy needs to be constantly evolving, constantly changing, and forever in flux. There should be no end in technique and growth of that technique. That is where you will see your greatest success - constant change.

Your Constantly Evolving, Constantly Changing Social Media Plan

When I was younger things were simpler. TV, Print News, and when the internet, even websites would remain pretty static. My, how things have changed! In a world of “Generation Me”, with Millenials being raised on the internet and using technology and social media for most of their lives, marketing, and technology is so much…

YOU Get a Free Book! And YOU Get a Free Book! How to Use and Make Money Using Facebook Ads

I mentioned last week that I was launching a new webinar on Facebook ads. In this webinar I'm going to be showing you one of the biggest questions I get in my consulting and coaching for my clients - how you can MAKE money instead of SPEND it on Facebook ads! From my experience, so many business owners are afraid of Facebook ads, or seeing little success because they're focusing solely on fans and traffic and not revenue. In this already successful, pitch-free course I'm going to show you how to focus on revenue, and increasing that revenue by thousands to tens or even hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars by utilizing a strong Facebook ad campaign. And if you order this week I'm giving you a few perks - FREE stuff!



I've spent my career learning how to build massive audiences for multi-national organizations and growing some of the top presences on Facebook. I've learned a lot over that time, and it turns out you don't have to spend much to build an audience on Facebook. And even more - you can use Facebook to actually MAKE money instead of just grow audiences through ad spend. I'd like to show you how.



I don't want to do it like just any other webinar out there though. In many of the webinars I've seen, you pay $200, $300, or some times more to get a little information only to get a big pitch at the end for more information, asking you to spend more to get the full picture! This webinar is going to have NO PITCH. I'll add you to my list and you can learn about future events, but I want this webinar to be 100% CONTENT. The focus of this webinar is VALUE, and MAKING YOU MONEY through the use of Facebook ads, not pitching you on other products! Not just that, but I'm only charging $150 for what could be THOUSANDS of dollars in revenue you generate from Facebook ads!



This week I'm adding a few more perks though. First, for every person that registers for the webinar by end of this Saturday (Mountain time), YOU GET A FREE COPY OF MY MOST RECENT BOOK with Jason Alba and Rachel Melia, "I'm on Facebook--Now What???" 2nd Edition! On top of that, for all those that register by the end of this week I'll WAVE THE WEBINAR DOWNLOAD! For those that already purchased the download and would like to upgrade to the live webinar let me know and I'll arrange an upgrade for you to get both at the $150 price. For those that purchased the download and webinar together I'll refund your download immediately!



LARGE GROUPS - I can give you a group rate if you contact me. Just contact me at jesse@staynalive.com and I can arrange a group rate for your organization.



There's ONE MORE THING. I want to let everyone have a chance at hearing this message - it's important to me. I know there are individuals and businesses that can't afford this course right now. Or, maybe you know someone in this situation. For that reason I want to choose 5 individuals to give the webinar and download, and a digital copy of I'm on Facebook--Now What??? FREE OF CHARGE. All you need to do is pitch why you think you, your business, or your friend needs to take this course, and post it somewhere that I can see. Post in the comments of this blog post. Post in the comments on my Facebook posts. Write a blog post and tag me in it. I want to hear your stories! Consider this seed money, a gift, to get you going in making THOUSANDS in revenue from the knowledge you'll learn off this course! So let me know your story!!! This will expire the Wednesday before the webinar.



This webinar is the best way I know to impart knowledge to as many people as possible and get the word out to as many as I can. I want all of you to learn what I've learned. I truly believe that ANYONE can be a Marketer! I want you to learn too, so GO SIGN UP NOW! (and share this and tell your friends!) I need your help to make this a success!

YOU Get a Free Book! And YOU Get a Free Book! How to Use and Make Money Using Facebook Ads

I mentioned last week that I was launching a new webinar on Facebook ads. In this webinar I’m going to be showing you one of the biggest questions I get in my consulting and coaching for my clients – how you can MAKE money instead of SPEND it on Facebook ads! From my experience, so…