The diffusion of innovation theory is the theory that explains how technological advancements spread within cultures and adopt a wider audience than initially invented for. This theory attempts to explain how new practices evolve into societies and how individuals adapt to these innovations.
For my diffusion of innovation theory post, I found Facebook to be a perfect example. Facebook was started for one purpose and evolved to eventually connect the entire globe.
In its beginnings, Facebook was designed to be used on college campuses to connect students to each other, professors, and networking opportunities. Now, Facebook is used not only by college students, but by pretty much every demographic of individual and it’s even used for businesses. It’s become a platform for people to share their personal lives and their professional lives, and it has truly connected the world in an entirely new way.
Another remarkable thing about Facebook is that it really is the founding father of social media. While sites like MySpace came before it, these were used by pretty specific demographics and never really grew into a new technology. The invention of Facebook not only grew just the platform of Facebook, but created the entire concept of social media and from this invention, platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn have come about.
I firmly believe that Facebook single-handedly changed the culture of the world. While it is not the only media and way to connect with others, it created the concept of sharing your life on the Internet as a societal norm.
I really enjoyed reading about the history of Facebook on brandwatch.com. I had watched The Social Network movie all about Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, so I was pretty familiar with kind of the formation of the site, but this article does a great job teaching all about Facebook and different challenges and scandals that ensued.
It talked about an interesting aspect regarding the Facebook algorithm that changed in 2018 that directly affects all Facebook users. The algorithm focused on showcasing more of an individual's family and friends and less of companies, charities, and organizations, unless these businesses began paying for ads. I found this incredibly important to note in this blog post because this too was quite a diffusion of innovation. Now, on every social network platform, paying for ads has become remarkably mainstream. One can advocate for this being good or bad, but it’s real. This algorithm basically made organic advertising obsolete which drastically changes the way businesses move forward online.
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