Blog Post #7: Diffusion of Innovations

The Diffusion of Innovations theory talks about the effect of certain inventions or ideas on the general public and separates those who hop on the bandwagon into different groups based on when they join in. The groups consist of innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. 

I found an article that defines these groups in simple terms. Innovators are open to risks and are the first to try new ideas. Early adopters are interested in trying new technologies and establishing their utility in society. Early majority includes the general population and moving tech through mainstream society. Late majority is just the delayed version of the early majority, and laggards are self-explanatory: they lag behind the general population in adopting new ideas. 

I believe that social media follows the Diffusion of Innovations theory. Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube have been stealing ideas from each other for years. Below is an example of the theory at work.  

Snapchat released its "My Story" feature in October of 2013. With this feature, users could post pictures and videos they took onto a storyline viewable by friends for 24 hours. Later on in May of 2017, Snapchat released custom stories, to which users could add specific photos and videos and allow specific other users access to viewing and adding to the story too. Part of the custom stories feature is the creation of private stories, where only you can post content, and only those you add to the story can view that content. 

Instagram swooped in with its own story feature in the summer of 2016, with the same functions as Snapchat's stories. Users could share photos and videos with friends that would disappear after 24 hours. Adding fuel to the fire, Instagram then went ahead and launched a new story feature called "Close Friends Stories" in 2018, which mirrored the concept of Snapchat's private stories. Users could post content onto a story that only those who got added were able to view. 

Facebook was the next app to come out with a story feature in March of 2017, using the exact same concept as Snapchat and Instagram. Users could share photos and videos with friends on a storyline that lasts for 24 hours. 

YouTube released a story feature in 2019 where users could view stories for up to 7 days. The company got rid of it in the summer of 2023 due to a lack of popularity and community engagement. 

TikTok followed suit and launched its own story feature in 2022. TikTok stories have the same concept as Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook. Users share content that friends can view for up to 24 hours. 

In the example above, the idea of sharing and posting "stories" as a social media feature is a new, innovative technology. Snapchat stories are the innovators, Instagram stories are the early adopters, Facebook stories are the early majority, YouTube stories are the late majority, and TikTok stories are the laggards. TikTok eventually hopped on the story bandwagon, but since they were the last platform to do it, I consider them the laggards. As the idea of "stories" rose in popularity over the years, more apps chose to add it to their list of features in order to join in on what mainstream society was doing.