TikTok Downloads Spread Faster Than COVID-19 - Diffusion Theory

    Having the ability to adapt, introduce and learn new technology is an important part of making progress in society, technology, science, and anything really. The continuity of adapting to an intellectually progressive era comes in waves. To laggards, innovation is the probable cause for every problem in society right now. In the eyes of the early to late majority, it is a blessing disused as change. To early adaptors, it is the gift of a lifetime. I believe it is just that; a gift that we are so commonly given. We forget how often innovation unfolds right before us. And maybe you feel neutral accepting innovation is a necessary evil, we simply have to have it. Adopting new ideas all settles differently from person to person. American sociologist, Everett Rogers, conceptualizes the thinking behind why some are eager to accept change and others hesitate to ever make the shift. He wanted to unmask why people adapt the way they do. Rogers' curiosity theorized what is known today as Diffusion of Innovation, the answer to why your venturous brother might have downloaded TikTok four years ago but your traditional parents vow to never. Or why all you have ever known is an iPhone and your grandparents still use a landline! Timing matters with the law of diffusion of innovation. 

    The Diffusion of Innovation theory focused more on the fundamentals of behavior change. This requires looking at innovation as a product that is trying to be sold almost. How would you make the advertisement reach the maximum amount of the public? In terms of innovation, deconstructing and understanding why a change is going to be appealing to everyone helps with adoption later on. 

    Take 2019 when COVID-19 was thriving and the lockdown was the new normal, there is one social media app that gained popularity exponentially fast. Take a guess...if you thought TikTok then I know we are on the same page. This app became the place for people to connect and bond when the options were limited. Would TikTok have diffused as widespread if it weren't in the midst of quarantine? Probably not. This is the acme of the Diffusion of Innovation Theory. 

    Before TikTok, there was Musically the same app that reached about as far as the early adopters (younger generations) before it merged with TikTok in 2018. Up until pre-pandemic it coasted to the late adopters. The introduction of COVID-19 allowed the app to diffuse without question for the late adopters and even coerced some laggards! It is hard to resist an arguable good laugh or an irresistible new fad to try! Especially when it's one of the few ways to get some human interaction. A great example is my mother who said to me today as I was cutting the skin off a kiwi, "Oh you're supposed to scoop it out with a spoon that's how they do it". I say "Mom who?" and without hesitation, she responds "The people on TikTok". Okay, so this is what happens when TikTok diffuses to my typically laggard mother.  

    It is hard to say with a successful app formulated to hypnotize users and steal their attention for as long as possible how many people would argue the bad outweighs the good. Users are eating the TikTok algorithm UP! Myself included, I am on it more than I ever thought I would be. Every day I have a condescending voice in my head reminding me I am glued to the most mundane app out there. 

    Though the app is not all bad, it informs me with real-time news updates and is a great place to learn the kind of hack that only a stranger's mom's best friend's grandmother knew! Either way, it is a place for someone with a sponge brain like myself to absorb and absorb and absorb. The cost outweighs the benefits when the information users choose to absorb is mindless entertainment and clickbait. Creators feed into the negative frame when they make videos with the intent to leave viewers at a cliffhanger for "part 2". This incentive to reach for more views and steal users' time to go viral and earn a desperate dollar is poison on the app.  

   The trajectory for TikTok is promising as it can serve as a new marketing tool, a fast track to being an A-lister if you're lucky or a place for never ending information. However it is key to remember that with any new communication technology, it is easy to get carried away and become addicted. A little thing called instant gratification has been a rising concern as communication technology advances. It comes down to the user knowing their limits and being mindful and self-aware when the line between positive and negative becomes washed.