UPDATED 10:29 EDT / OCTOBER 31 2014

Bitcoin News For 2015 With SiliconANGLE NEWS

How Avatar X hit 10k members : Q&A with Google+ Bitcoin Community owner

Bitcoin News For 2014 With SiliconANGLE

Bitcoin News For 2014 With SiliconANGLE

The most prolific and populous Bitcoin community on Google+ is hosted by Avatar X, an interesting individual who runs the blog Appatic. He brought the Bitcoin Community into being in 2012 with co-founder Cameron Ruggles, and it has almost been two years running—this month made the milestone of 10,000 members.

As a result of this success, I have decided to interview him about his experience and his interest in Bitcoin. Running a community is no mean feat and keeping one going for two years and reaching over ten thousand members could mean he’s doing something right.

Without further ado, I present you with Avatar X.

When did you get into Bitcoin and what brought you into it?

I have answered that in detail in a blog post.

The TL;DR answer on that would be:

Read about it in late 2009.  But did not read the paper or used the software which now of course makes me cringe not having done it right away. 2010 and I read the paper, tried the software. But stupidly didn’t mine. Just tracked its progress.

2011 and I was into it as I recollected bitcoins from faucets and those who gave it away. Including from Gavin Andresen’s faucet.

2012 and I was fully into it.

You started the G+ Bitcoin Community in 2012, why did you choose to use G+ and how did you get things going?

It is important to point out that I did not found it. It was Cameron Ruggles. We both had the same idea. He just beat me by some hours; and instead of me going my way, I decided to join him as one of the first founding members. Then 2 months later he made me moderator as I nagged him about spam posts. Then 3-4 months after that once I felt I was more or less managing the community I asked him to be owner and he happily upgraded me. 10 months in and he started to take a step back on G+ as he was more hands on with The Facebook Bitcoin Group from where he is also an owner, founder and lead admin. And where I am a secondary Admin. Cameron is also part of the BitWasp project.

Looking back I would have to say it was the right call for me to not compete with him in G+ with another Bitcoin G+ community. Even If it would had happened right away. But because the community was set up within the first day Google+ introduced Communities on December 1st of 2012. It is also why I safely state that it is THE Bitcoin Community on G+. It is not just a spiel, it is a fact.

It’s been two years and the community has reached 10,000 members, what’s your takeaway from curating and hosting the community?

Almost 2 years. And one takeaway is that I have to give credit where credit is due to Google+. Their Content Filtering Algorithms, Unwritten Content Rules and their smart moderation filter is what makes it possible for me to do it all on my own without much effort now everything is all set up.

Another takeaway is that Strong Moderation is necessary to have a good community. But also as important is transparency about the rationales of the moderation which is why Clear and detailed Community Guidelines is from where a moderation style must be set up. That way there is no need to be confrontational or opaque.

What do people want to talk about on a G+ Bitcoin community?

The news, articles, videos, photos and of course novelties and memes.

G+ makes it so that visual content has more emphasis, so posts with photos and videos have an easier time getting more engagement no matter who posts them.

Do you have plans for the future of the Bitcoin Community? What are your expectations for 2015?

I had made projections back on early 2014 and so far I have nailed the medium target that was 12,000 for the 2 year anniversary. I think It still can make it to 12,000 with 33 days left.

My projections for 2015 for the community are:

Minimum: 20,000
Median: 25,000
Maximum: 30,000

So, we will see. Would love to hit 30,000 for the 3rd anniversary. But it is a tall order.

Photo credit: Avatar X, Google+ profile

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