Diffusion of Innovation Theory

Snapchat

The Diffusion of Innovation Theory is a theory all the spread of new technology, Everett Rogers came up with the theory. 

There are four elements that influence the spread, which are the innovation itself, communication channels, time, and a social system

For the innovation of Snapchat, we first look at the elements. Innovation is a very unique innovation, we have never seen social media where you almost have to spend some time of pictures to communicate. Communication channels are definitely increased by this because not only are you having a conversation but you are more in person than any other technology because you are seeing what you look like, where you are, how you're dressed, and even your facial expressions. Next, the time is about the same as any other social media aspect so there is not a plus but also no downfall with this element. As for the social system it was widely used by anything which is a major plus because there is no social system against the idea.

There are five different stages of who and how society adopts this new innovation. 

The first is Innovators, this group of people wants to be the very first to try a new idea, they are interested and invested. Very little has to be done to appeal to this group. Snapchat won over this group because of the unique idea of sending a picture to communicate which has never been done before, so of course, someone has to try it. 

The second is Early Adopters, these people are the opinion leaders and embrace change. You should use how-to manuals and information sheets to appeal to this group but extra information is not needed to convince them of this change. This group liked how Snapchat showed you how to work the app when it first came into play, they gave a step by step tutorial which appealed to this group. 

The third group of people in the Early Majority. This group of people are rarely leaders but still adopt new ideas before the typical people. They need to see evidence that the innovation will work. Success stories and evidence appeal to this group. This group saw the evidence from there friend groups and success stories from them so they wanted to see what all the hype was about.

The fourth group is Late Majoiet, this group is skeptical of change. Innovation has to be tried by the majority for them to try it. Information on how other people have tried it and posted it successfully will appeal to this group. This group did not want to try the new app but saw a lot of people loving it and wanted to see for themselves. 

Finally, the last group is Laggards, these people are very traditional. They are very skeptical of change and the hardest group to adopt the innovation. Strategies appeal to this group by stat statistics, fear appeals, and pressure from people in the other adopter groups. This group was almost forced to try the app since almost everyone used it to communicate and how much everyone loved it which pressured them into trying it. 

Sources: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations
http://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/SB/BehavioralChangeTheories/BehavioralChangeTheories4.html