Blog Post #8 ~ Diffusion of Innovations

Diffusion of Innovations

The Diffusion Of Innovation theory is a theory that explains the rate of new ideas and how technology spreads. 

When something brand new comes out the reaction from most people are not going to use it immediately; they're going to wait and see how other people respond or how it's going to be used. Take the first computer, for example, in its very early stage. Computers were just blocky, stationary pieces of wire and electricity. A common person is not going to think much about it. One thought they may have might be how can this help us, advance us as a society, and how will it affect me specify. A lot of ifs and how it will really help; that's why you have to keep improving the product and innovating in a way people will care about and can use. 

Once you present the product well enough for people to become interested, some people will try it. Let's look back at personal computers, for example. The reason why they catch on is because personal computers have many features that are useful for increasing productivity. Using programs to conduct searches, calculate numbers and problems, being able to watch/display something, play games, and so much more. Of course, seeing all that is going to want people to have a computer. 

However, there will still be people on the fence. How convenient is this going to be? Will it change my daily life?  How much will this cost? Will this benefit me? Is it really worth it? Many questions that people are going to have. There are also types of people that don't care, think this is too much to gasp, or (Here's the big one!) being too expensive. All of these reasons are what can hurt a product, but realistically, a product is never going to capture every individual, just a huge majority. 

There are also sometimes situations where you know a product is good but people still don't use it or suition where see a bad thing about it. Computers, for example, you have to worry about not getting viruses and be safe in invaginating the internet and downloading programs. You could just say it's stubbornest from those people, but people still just don't see the benefit or reason to use it, even if it has a bunch of upsides. 

Lastly, you have people who can't at all benefit from the products, mainly because they can't afford them or they don't have access to them. Electronic things are pretty expensive; the cheapest good working personal computer pretty much goes for $200-400.