An introduction to a workshop on social media's impact on the diffusion of innovations.

1. Social Media’s Impact on the Diffusion of Innovations Nine Open Questions Emanuel Rosen Celebrating the Mentorship and Scholarship of Dr. Everett Rogers Ohio University, March 4th, 2011

2. Everett Rogers 1931 - 2004

3. Facebook is not changing human nature, but…

4. Agenda 9 Concepts in Diffusion Theory Small-group discussion: How is each concept affected by social media? Reports from groups Conclusion

5. “Innovations that are perceived by individuals as having greater relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, observability, and less complexity will be adopted more rapidly than other innovations.”Everett M. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations

6. Guidelines for group discussion Think about three points in time: 1991, 2011, 2031 Assume that social media will continue to grow Find an example Tangible innovations as well as virtual ones. Don’t assume that we know every tool. Explain. Go beyond “It will speed up diffusion” Be specific

7. 9 Concepts Perception of relative advantage Compatibitity Trialability Observability Complexity Homophily and tie strength Re-invention Opinion leaders Diffusion categories and S-curve

8. Do we know more about the relative advantage of an innovation? 1. Perception of relative advantage

9. With previously introduced ideas (p. 243) With past experience With needs of adopters With values and beliefs 2. Compatibility http://www.mathlete.com/portfolio/wakeNbacon.php

10. 3. Trialability Is it easier to “try” products today? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf3z935R37E

11. 4. Observability Social media give us more opportunities to observe others. What are the implications? Items described as “my new gadget” on Flickr. Notice some home-based products

12. 5. Simplicity vs. complexity Now that so many people can explain stuff to us, is simplicity still important?

14. 7. Re-invention Co-creation is an important part of social media. How does it affect diffusion? West Coast WikiConference in San Francisco celebrate the 10th anniversary of Wikipedia.

15. Rubik Cube Solver

16. 8. Opinion Leaders Will opinion leaders become more or less important with the rise of social media? New Quora users in 12/10 1/11. Source: Quora + Techcrunch http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/05/quora-surge/

18. Some thoughts about the future Connections Noise Things connected Smart help

19. Keep in touch emanuel.rosen@gmail.com www.facebook.com/AnatomyOfBuzz www.emanuel-rosen.com @EmanuelRosen Don’t miss tonight’s film!