Blog Post 8

Diffusion of Innovations:

 The diffusion of innovation is divided into six categories: Pioneers (these are the people who are the first to use the product, usually selected people), Early Adopters (these would be people or companies who invest in the company), Early Majority (these people would be one of the first people to sign up when it goes public), Late Majority (these people are the common people who are not that into technology and up to date usually get the product once it's been out for awhile) Loggards (are people who do not use the product or are very late to join) Lastly, the Longtail (these would be people who use the product or service even though many people do not use it anymore).

   

 When looking at the diffusion of innovations, I immediately thought of Facebook. Facebook was launched in 2004. When it first came out, it was only available to Harvard college students. The people who signed up during this time would be known as the pioneers. After some time and the success of the platform, PayPal invested $500,000 into Facebook for 10% of the company. These would be considered to be the early adopters because they were the first to invest in the company. Facebook then shifted its focus to other colleges and universities. They allowed any students with a .edu email to sign up for facebook. In 2006, they opened their platform to everyone 13 years and older with a valid email to sign up. This allowed for the growth of the company, ultimately resulting in many more users joining. Many of these users who joined would be categorized as the early majority. 

Since Facebook was becoming very popular, many older people and people who did not join in the beginning also started to join. They realized that Facebook would not be going anywhere and that it was better to start using it now, or they would be left behind. This group of people would be known as the late majority. Loggards are special people because they have either never signed up for Facebook or have signed up very late compared to the rest of the world. Lastly, you have the longtail group. These people will be using Facebook forever; they will either have to shut down Facebook completely or until they die. 

Facebook is not the only company that has experienced this. Many other very successful companies have also gone through the same thing. Apple is a great example of this. Before the iPhone came out, many people either had a Motorolla or a BlackBerry. It took people a long time to switch from Blackberry to iPhone. I remember my mom got the first iPhone and then switched back to Blackberry and then to the iPhone later. Today, there are only two real phones that people use today. That would be Android and Apple. 

I think people are sucked into getting these because that is what everyone has. My grandpa had a flip phone for the longest time, but my aunt bought him an iPhone when it broke. He hated it because he didn't know how to use it or cared how to use it. To this day, he still has no idea how to use it and never charges it. I think Apple really secured the younger generation with iMessage. There are many memes of people who have the green bubble and how they are"broke" and should have an iPhone. I think people only get the phone because they do not want to be different.