Media psychology and the emotional rollercoaster ride of bitcoin twitter

This is an opinion editorial by Thierry Berger, a graduate of the University of Applied Sciences Zurich in Business Administration based on his thesis “Bitcoin: how social media influences private investors in their actions,

A friend introduced me to the basics of bitcoin years ago. When I saw the price rise over the past few years after our conversation I couldn’t believe my eyes and wondered: will this alternative currency continue to grow in value, or is it just a big Ponzi scheme that will soon end on its own Will you go?

I began reading up on the subject and quickly realized that influencers on Twitter were often playing with the emotions of their audience – with fear and greed, to name the most common. Some of the hyperbolic posts I could barely believe, and yet they intrigued me.

It was clear to me that social media influenced the actions of private individuals when it came to bitcoin. In my studies, I learned about several theories and models in media psychology that I can apply to the bitcoin market and that can help others do the same.

Media Psychology Concepts and Bitcoin Twitter

Uses and Gratifications Theory Assumes that recipients choose the medium that best satisfies their needs. Depending on the medium, a person may seek information, entertainment, personal identity (reinforcing one’s own values) or integration and social interaction (exchange between like-minded people). For me, I mix all four objectives at once.

The concept of involvement, which states that a recipient may still be involved even days after reading the content of an article, if that person is directly affected by the development or the ideas represented. However, this does not mean that attitudes can be permanently changed. The more involved a person judging a subject is, the less he or she can be influenced by the persuasion of other opinions. The interplay between feelings of greed and fear and the resulting experienced stress diminishes over time and with experience.

In my environment, everyone without exception confirmed this phenomenon. After your first bitcoin purchase, for example, you are easily susceptible to manipulation. With every additional hour you deal with the case, your opinion becomes stronger. You can more easily accept price distortions and, meanwhile, see an incentive to buy SATs at low prices.

Paying attention to why you’re on Bitcoin Twitter in the first place, and how the content there is affecting you, will help you navigate this.

how to handle bitcoin twitter

Huge price gains, in my opinion, is the strongest narrative that draws retail investors to the bitcoin market. The most common type of posts I see on Bitcoin Twitter are positive price predictions. These generate clicks, have the potential to trigger fear of missing out (FOMO) and entice private investors to buy in haste.

How strongly a person reacts to information with positive connotations or to information with negative connotations in the stage of strong value decay, and whether this leads to an action, ultimately depends on the recipient’s objective and experienced emotions, as well as consumption. The behavior of the doers. But the natural human trait of being guided by emotion means that new investors may pay the highest prices at the end of an uptrend and sell these positions at a loss when prices correct for fear of an overall downtrend. This is why anyone looking to enter the bitcoin space must take into account the psychological factors at play.

I have a suggestion to stay strong minded. If one’s investments take a beating, their mood usually turns sour. But if you don’t cash out then there is loss and no profit. But I believe four out of five people don’t stick to it emotionally. That’s where you have to be tough as nails. There’s an old wisdom that should be instilled in every private investor: You can never catch two things, the up and the down. “Just doing nothing” historically does best in a market that is going up over the medium to long term.

Another valuable lesson for me was to realize that, in today’s globally connected world, it has become increasingly difficult to separate clickbaiters and scammers from valuable content with strong communities. This means that anyone who wants to learn about bitcoin via Twitter should first do their research to “separate the junk from the good sources”. Never invest based on any one opinion or source.

media manipulation

Manipulation through media is not a new phenomenon and the history of media shows that it can hardly be eliminated by regulation.

But social media intensifies the impact of the contribution and amplifies the spheres of influence, exacerbating the problem. My goal is to inspire significant engagement with the media, knowing that this is a difficult endeavor globally. Ultimately, the ability to critically examine media and our own emotional reactions will be of great benefit in all areas of life.

This is a guest post by Thierry Berger. The opinions expressed are solely his own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.