Diffusion of Innovation

A professor within the Department of Communication and journalism at the University of New Mexico, Everett Rogers, promotes the theory of “Diffusion of Innovation” in his book, which carries the same title. Essentially, the Diffusion of Innovations is just the theory which aims to explain how new technology spreads over time.

Roger’s idea is that there are four key elements that influence the spread of not just technology, but an idea in itself. The four key parts are: innovation as its own entity, communication channels, time and some form of social structure. In order for an innovation to sustain itself, it must be adopted by many different groups.

This graphic shows the standard deviation of a hypothetical innovation of people adopting a new innovation. The graphic is divided into five groups: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. The rate in which an innovation is adopted and the amount of people use it dictates how successful an innovation is. 

A perfect example of a Diffusion of Innovation is the Nintendo Wii. Nintendo was the first company to release a gaming console designed for wireless play and motion sensing. Soon thereafter, Microsoft and Sony both released their own version of the technology after the immense success that Nintendo had with their product. The Wii revolutionized gaming for a time because it made the player feel more a part of the game as opposed to just sitting on the couch and playing. Granted, this technology isn’t as popular in homes as it once was, other game companies are utilizing the same technology to create new, more immersive games.