The Role of Social Media in the Diffusion of Innovation Theory

    The Diffusion of Innovation Theory was developed by E.M. Rogers in 1962. The theory explains how a new idea is adapted by different people who use the idea as well. The main people in the diffusion of innovations are:

• Innovators: These are the people that are risk-takers. They want to try the idea first.
• Early Adopters: These are the people that are interested in trying out new ideas.
• Early Majority: These people usually wait until the idea has been tried out first. 
• Late Majority: These people wait until a vast majority of the population tries the idea first before becoming interested in trying. 
• Laggards: These people are bound to tradition and it's hard to get them to try out new innovations.

    Social Media does play a huge role in the Diffusion of Innovation Theory. Social Media can help draw new ideas and share new information with a lot of people. Social Media can also help people connect and think of new innovations together. When you hear the words 'social media', do you think of it positively or negatively? I believe many people would portray it negatively with how badly social media is talked about as a whole. But, viewing it as a role of the Diffusion of Innovation theory I believe many could view it positively. 

    The first thing I do when I wake up is grab my phone and scroll through all of my social apps. I hate to say I do that, but I do. I believe a lot of people do it as well though. I am saying this because the first thing I see in the morning is new ideas and thoughts. For example, the TikTok algorithm has become insanely correct lately, and it always shows me new things I should try out (that I personally would be intrigued by.) I am always eager to try something new, and I get very excited when I see the algorithm work in my favor. 

    Social Media also helps small business owners connect people with their new ideas and innovations. Small business owners are always looking for new outlets to help promote what they are selling and I think Social Media plays a huge role in getting their word out. For example, in college, I had a small business creating graphics for people's birthdays. The first thing I did was create an Instagram page for my small business. I would share the page on all of my socials, and I asked my friends to share as well. My page had grown a good following and I was building interaction for my small business just because of Social Media. I intended to only make graphics for people locally, but then I eventually had people reaching out from many different states. Instagram was a game changer for my small business. 

    All of this goes to say I do believe social media plays a huge role in the Diffusion of Innovation Theory. Many ideas are shared daily on social media and being able to be connected to many different people can also help us try out new things. 

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