Blog Post 2: The Diffusion of Innovation Today

According to the 1963 study conducted by Katz, Levin and Hamilton, The "Traditions of Research on the Diffusion of Innovation", there are seven components to the process of diffusion. The components are: 1) Acceptance, 2) Time, 3) A Specific Item, 4) Units of Adoption, 5) Channels, 6) Social Structure and 7) Value Systems. In 2015, I believe that this seven-step process is still relevant to digital communication and its diffusion in our society today.

Generally, I would say that society, for the most part, accepts digital communication as the chosen means of today's age to remain in contact with one another. For instance, almost everybody today now has a cell phone and uses it as their primary point of contact -- and some even no longer have a landline telephone at all. As for time, digital communication spread throughout our society rather quickly. However, cell phones specifically gone through many phases since making their first debut a few decades ago. But, since then, have evolved tremendously.

In regards to a specific item, once again, cell phones have had a tremendous amount of attention paid to them over the diffusion of digital communication process. For units of adoption, I think digital communication has paid a close amount of attention to this aspect. For instance, with the various forms of social media platforms, each one seems to have a very specific target audience in mind -- (i.e. Facebook started out as a way for college students to keep in contact.)

As for channels, this has played a very key part in the diffusion of innovation today. There's word of mouth -- people tell their friends how great their new iPhone is, which causes said friend to go out and buy one themselves. Then, there's also television advertising, online advertising, etc. In regards to social structure, I believe this is another big factor for the diffusion of innovation today. There is definitely a structure for how our society accepts and embraces the latest forms of technology. You have the early adopters, who will be first in line for the latest product, and you have the laggards who will wait until their old and loyal form of technology dies on them until they embrace something new.

And, finally, value systems are also important in regards to the diffusion of innovation today. There's the group of people who absolutely have to own the latest form of technology because they view it as a status symbol, and there's also those on the opposite spectrum who refuse to allow materialistic possessions control their lives -- and will purposely avoid the adoption of new innovation.

Overall, I feel that people are willing to accept and integrate digital communication into their life quite easily. Since our society today is so heavily digitally communicated based, I believe that if you refuse to accept the diffusion of innovation it will almost restrict you in everyday life -- as it is guaranteed that almost everyone around you has already adopted these forms of innovation. Cell phones have replaced home phones, email has replaced regular mail, and so on. Digital communication has integrated into all of our lives in some way or form, whether we like it or not.