Blog #7 Diffusion of Innovation

    People naturally seek human connection, it's a basic human need. We look to connect to people in many ways, and now we have so much access to technology that allows us to communicate and share in just seconds, we now almost need a break from the constant attachment.  The cornerstone of this new access to instant connection is social media. While there were many early forms of social media like Six Degrees, it was Facebook that took it to a whole new level. 

Famously Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes created Facebook in 2004 as students at Harvard. The platform took off and was originally supposed to be only for Harvard students to have information on classmates. However, History Channel reports that it had over a million users by the end of the year with a $500,000 investment. 

Now considering, the Diffusion of innovation, which explains how and why ideas spread, Facebook flew through the process. The innovators are students like Mark, Eduardo, Dustin, and Chris who built the platform and had their friends try it to see if it worked before launching it. The early adopters came from the original Harvard and Ivy League students who were joining the platform and creating portfolios. College kids were eager to be early adopters because they are in a stage of life that revolves around being social. The Early Majority came as it started to spread outside of college students and into the surrounding communities. By 2009, 350 million people were active members of Facebook. Currently, if you are just joining Facebook you are considered a laggard.

This platform put the diffusion of innovation on an expedited timeline, considering the first year one million people had already joined. This was so successful and had such an impact because it was a completely new way to connect with people and see their information and profiles online. In today's world, it's completely common, you have multiple social media platforms. However groundbreaking this innovation is, it still has its downfalls. This platform is a fully integrated part of our social media world, but it has the harmful effect of spreading fake news, hurtful speech, and other socially questionable information. It is the prime hot spot for mis, dis and mal-information. Yet, it sticks around with us because the positives and the connection are greater and more addictive than the harmful effects appear to be.