Diffusion of Innovations

The theory of the Diffusion of Innovations was popularized by Everett Rogers in his book Diffusion Innovations and explains how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technologies spread. In his book Rogers argued that diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated over time among the participants in a social system. This process includes five main elements that help the spread of the new idea: the innovation itself, adopters, communication channels, time, and a social system. For the innovation to be self-sustaining, it must be universally embraced. Rogers continues by stating that categories of adopters include innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. He continues by explaining that diffusion manifests itself in multiple ways and is extremely subjective to the type of adopter and innovation-decision process. 

A specific innovation I wish to discuss today is the social media app TikTok. TikTok was first launched by the Chinese technology company ByteDance in 2016 and is a social media outlet that users watch, create, and share short videos online. Many of the apps first adopters were of the younger generation Z. Young teenagers and adults were drawn to this new app due to its similarity to an old app called Musically that many of these adopters enjoyed. TikTok rapidly started to grow as the years continued and began to become the birth place of all social media trends. The app today has around 1 billion global daily users and is still growing. 

TikTok's fame and user activity continues to grow because of their major influence on modern social trends. Many early adopters began to realize how much of any impact this app had on social norms and they wanted to understand them. TikTok had started to reach more viewers and those viewers would take the content they experienced into the outside world with them. Others who were not involved with app were starting to feel left out and wanted to join on the "band wagon." This social media app was starting to become extremely invested in peoples' everyday lives and those who did not have an account were being left behind. 

However, there were still late adopters and laggers even over the course of the past six years. These late adopters or even those who still do not have the app are probably of older generations. This is due to fact that in its early years TikTok aimed at younger audiences giving no appeal to older viewers. Majority of the content produced by those on the app would not be understood by most older audiences. Another reason for this lack of an older demographic is due to TikTok's technology which is unlike any other social media outlet and can be confusing to some. Furthermore, some audiences today might not see a purpose in establishing an account or any social media account. 

Even though staying off social media especially TikTok might seem more appealing it however, can lead to a lack of awareness in the social world. One maybe able to stay update to date with events in the world off social media through the news and internet. However, one may find it more difficult to stay in touch with the social world without being on social media. In today's world social media has rapid become invested in our every day world especially in business. In the recent years TikTok has become heavily invested in advertising and for a brand is the best place to be connect to. Advertising methods have shifted to more visual and influencer elements and TikTok is the perfect outlet to express that. Influencers who gain a steady audience on the app offer snippets of advice and tips along with self promotion. Brands can then reach out to these creators to help draw attention to their brand and further gain revenue. 

TikTok has not only grown in its viewership in the fast six years but also in its own brand. The app has shifted from just a comedy app to the main creator of business trends. Staying off social media can be relaxing but in our modern day of business staying off these apps can also mean great loss. The social media world is expanding and becoming more heavily invested in our reality making apps like TikTok more popular than ever.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VXsrkWks8DTB3tPQlrtGfln-vnLyrJOyhsqFgEFLj-w/edit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations