MediaTheory: Diffusion of Innovations (W9-P3) F18

Everett M. Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations

Diffusion of innovation: “the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system.”(Rogers).  

The graph below shows how people in a society over time adopt an innovation.

At first nobody had a TV in the U.S., but over time...


How does this theory help us understand how media technologies develop?  Does it help us understand the future of media technologies?

Source: Diffusion of Innovations, 5th Edition

In his book, Rogers explains the process people go through when adopting an innovation, more specifically the decision process.

See below.

Source: Diffusion of Innovations, 4th ed.


We can boil the decision process down to just five steps.


Rogers’ model for the adoption decision process

What are the steps in the adoption decision process?

1. "Knowledge - learning about the existence and function of the innovation
2. Persuasion - becoming convinced of the value of the innovation
3. Decision - committing to the adoption of the innovation
4. Implementation - putting it to use
5. Confirmation - the ultimate acceptance (or rejection) of the innovation”

Think carefully about the most recent new tech you bought, I mean adopted.  Did you go through this process?  Review the process above and think about it.

What was the tech?  How did you learn about the new tech?  How were you persuaded to get it?  What about the rest of the process?

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