Diffusion of Innovations

 

Facebook

Facebook caught on because it’s a simple and straightforward way to keep in contact with friends and family. It started when Mark Zuckerburg was in college, along with some of his classmates; Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes. Another reason why it caught on is because it was first meant for Harvard students, and it was called Facemash, but it was taken down after 2 days because it violated some rules in the University. So, when the site got taken down, Zuckerburg noticed that it was a success on campus and he registered the URL, thefacebook.com, with his buddies, making an entirely new social media platform. At first, it was only for Harvard students, but people started talking about it and more people became interested in Facebook. On the website, they could only post pictures on their page and other forms of personal information, such as their class schedules and clubs they had joined. After learning the popularity of “The Facebook,” people from different universities were allowed to join the website. By June 2004, over 250,000 students from different universities signed up as well as major companies, like MasterCard.

Many people became early adopters because it was a new means of communication that new college students could use to stay in touch with each other. Became popular with a certain college base. Another reason that for its popularity is because it was opened to people who are 13 years old or older, creating a wider audience. Some people can be late adopters because they prefer other social media, it’s not as appealing, and annoying notifications. It’s also similar to a lot of social media that are popular right now. Some people aren’t into social media and never got into it and don’t know how to use it. They try learning but it doesn’t click with them.

Of course, there are downsides and consequences to all technologies. Specifically, some negative consequences to having Facebook are that you can become addicted to using Facebook, experience loss of productivity, and identity theft. In my personal experience, I don’t go on Facebook very often. I only have it because of the people who choose to communicate on it for clubs and internship opportunities.

If it was a non social media related website, the negatives would outweigh the positives because there are a lot of factors that are important to consider. For instance, there is a lawsuit against Facebook because the Federal Trade Commision feels that the company is illegally monopolizing social networking. Another negative that can outweigh the positive is when you have an individual conversation with one of your friends on facebook, and it could be public so everyone who goes on their page can see the post.

There are so many pros and cons to using new communication methods. The positive things are that you can stay connected with friends and family at the tip of your finger. Another positive thing is that you can see what they're up to on vacations or in different stages in life. The next thing you can do is promote your business and have a business page so people can follow and buy things from your business. Another pro is that you can discover where people can sell and buy different items on a marketplace, such as vintage style classic rings, or even microwave ovens.

The cons of starting to learn a new technology is that it can be very distracting to one’s life. Another con could be that there can be cyberbullying directed towards individuals. For instance, you can have a very successful business and someone could put nasty comments on the business page. The next con that manifests is that a user might feel isolated from the world if their whole persona is linked to an online image. For instance, you can look at other people on social media and it can look like they are living up their lives and having fun, which may not be the case. You could wish that was you, which can mess with one’s mental health. The last con that can come along with the use of communication would be comparing yourself to others. For example, if you look at a model’s profile and compare your body to theirs, it can create the feeling of being self-conscious in your own body.

With considering all the pros and cons, there are different stages of the diffusion theory of Facebook. There’s the pioneers/inventors, early adopters, early majority, late adopters, and laggard. Pioneers/inventors are the people who made the product. Early adopters are when people are interested in the product right when it comes out or launches. Early majority is when the majority of people come around and eventually start to like the product. Late adopters is when the product or technology has been around for a while and gets into it. Finally, the laggard is when you have no desire to use the product or technology but you get it anyways because everyone else is using it or it’s mandatory to use it.

Personally, I am an early adopter for most things like technology, but for Facebook, I was a laggard. I adopted Facebook because I had to for a class and to stay in touch with members from clubs that I’ve joined. However, I don’t use it for anything else, which is my chosen social media preference.