Diffusion of Innovations

The diffusion of innovations is a quite simple really. A theory from communicatoins scholar Everett Rogers, it explains that society will adopt new technology after putting it through this process:

diffusion_of_innovations_theory-1.png

The amount of convincing that a person needs to adopt the technology places them in 5 categories:

  • Innovators: those that are on the cutting edge of technology.
  • Early adopters: not as extreme as innovators but adopt quickly
  • Early Majority: Pragmatically view new the technology. They look at the tech logically and assess the damage it will make on their pocket
  • Late Majority: ‘On the tail-end’ of the adaptation scale. They tend to be more skeptical of the tech
  • Laggers: Will only adopt if the rest of society has them and they become outcasts

Personally, I side with the early adopters. I’m willing to risk a little green on something new and shiny but not so much that I’ll stand outside for 3 days for it. As for risk taking in the endeavor, just take a look at my ebay account. I’ve shown my faith in God many a time over there.

No Comments Yet

No comments yet.

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI

Leave a comment