Diffusion of Innovations

 The Diffusion of Innovation theory is comprised of the percentage of people who adopt an idea or buy a new product over time. The person who popularized the theory, Everett Rogers, defines it as "the process by which an innovation is communicated over time among the participants in a social system." This is a common happenstance when it comes to new inventions. The innovation's release will initially start the rise of popularity. This will be accessed by a small group of people who have a jump start to the new piece. This small group is called innovators. Innovators have more risky behavior and are willing to to help an idea they agree with. Generally, they have the highest social status or at least a higher up social status. Being higher up means that they have more money to invest in these risky ideas. As the communication channels begin to publish ideas and reviews of these new innovations, more people and groups will become more open to partaking. Early adopters are the next group to participate in the new product. Early adopters are usually younger, more wealthy people who want to be on the front end of a trend. They are more socially aware and can help push the product to a higher popularity. Using a social system, as well as time, the product will become much more mainstream. 

Early majority will follow the early adopters. It will most likely take some time before the early majority is fully developed, although this will bring the most popularity to the subject matter. The early majority normally have a somewhat high status, but definitely have connections to early adopters or each other. Once the item hits it's most popular state, it will start to decline in the amount of adopters. The late majority is then accounted for here. These are the people who join in once it has become a lot more common. It is the new trend that everyone is involved in, so everyone wants to join in as opposed to being left out. Late majority is mostly seen as the average person. They do not jump the gun to join in on the craze and instead wait to see if it will be worth it. By this time, other companies have most likely developed similar products if it is an item. The late majority then slows down the popularity as the laggards finish off whoever is left from the fad.  Laggards are the very last people to join in. This group most likely would include older people who are used to sticking to traditions and have little connection to other groups.

Let's use an example to better explain the process of this theory and further understanding of this. For this example we will be using the invention of the radio. The radio was a major step for the progression of communication. It enabled new ways to listen to music, hear news, and advertising capabilities were increased. The radio was invented by Guglielmo Marconi in 1896. However, the radio was not popularized in the United States until the 1920s. The early 20s, maybe even a few years before, are when the innovators were actively buying these new radios. The early adopters would then follow, giving the radio more popularity with the communication transferred by the adopters. The early majority was probably achieved around the early 20s. This began to give rise to music like jazz which was very popular at the time along with speakeasies which were illegal bars. The radio made music very popular and vise versa. The late majority was around the mid 20s where almost everyone had one. The laggards were those in the late 20s who hesitated to get a radio or never did. For some people, there was no reason to get the radio. Live music may have been preferred for some people or maybe some people did not like to listen to music.