Diffusion of Innovations Theory

The Diffusion of Innovations theory is stated as a theory that seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread. When I first grasped this definition of this idea, my mind automatically raced to social media. Although I think Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook sky-rocketed quickly, I believe that no social media app had more of an impact on our generation than Tik Tok did. 

I believe that Tik Tok had a major impact on our lives because of how popular it became in a short period of time. Although Tik Tok is its own social media app, it emerged from the app “Musical.ly.” Musical.ly launched in August of 2014 and shut down in August of 2018. Although it was only available to the public for a short period of time, the app accumulated over 200 million users during its time. It was popular for the 15 second to 1 minute lip-syncing and dancing videos. After four years, Tik Tok bought Musical.ly for almost 1 billion dollars. Tik Tok is ultimately the same as Musical.ly was, except for a few differences. Furthermore, Tik Tok offers up to 10 minute videos and people are more expressive and personal on the platform.

This is why I believe that there were so many early adopters for Tik Tok. Once the app shifted from Musical.ly, it already had so many fans and subscribers that most of them just carried right over. According to Pew Research Center, about ⅓ of adults under 30 use Tik Tok. That is more than any other social media platform. On the other hand, there are always late adopters to new trends. I believe that people who were late adopters to Tik Tok were either people who decided to quit Musical.ly once it got deleted, or people who were never on Musical.ly and only heard of Tik Tok once it got super popular. 

I believe that Tik Tok is a very creative social media app and has surpassed others in many different categories. However, one negative side of Tik Tok is that it has become extremely addictive and time-consuming. People will scroll on this app for hours and hours without even realizing it, including myself. Tik Tok can be a positive addition to your daily life, if it is used correctly and in a timely-manner. For example, Tik Tok is a great source to get your information from, as there are constantly new videos about the recent news in the world around us. I mentioned this in my first blog post, as I personally gather information through this app. To sum up, it is important to use Tik Tok in moderation, as it has overtaken many lives. It continues to build its platform day by day because there continues to be new users everyday. Tik Tok has done a great job at keeping its content fresh as new trends and ideas flow in everyday. 

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/03/6-facts-about-americans-and-tiktok/

https://www.failory.com/cemetery/musical-ly