Diffusion of Innovations- Blog Post #7

Diffusion of Innovations looks to explain how an innovation gains momentum overtime and whether or not that innovation will be successful or not.  According to Wiki, "Everett Rogers popularized the theory in his book Diffusion of Innovations. The innovation must be widely adopted in order to self-sustain. The categories of adopters are innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.  When I look at my EOTO presentation it made me think about where pigeon carriers end up on the diffusion of innovation model. 

Due to the fact that carrier pigeons dates back to 5th century B.C, the original innovators would be credited to the Persians. However, the carrier pigeon started to pickup traction during World War 1, where they were used by Europe and the U.S. Navy. Although carrier pigeons were able to gain early adopters rather quickly their popularity would soon start to fizzle due to the fact that it was easy to kill them. Since carrier pigeons had the primary job of delivering messages, if they were not able to do that soldiers had to find other useful ways of getting and receiving messages. Unfortunately for the carrier pigeon this is where they stop on the diffusion of innovations model. The telegraph and the typewriter would eventually prove to be better forms of communication to receive and send messages. 

However, diffusion of innovations helps marketers in today's society be able to determine if their invention will be able to survive. Throughout time we have seen through technology that we must be able to adapt. Adaptability allows for new and updated versions of previous innovations. By understanding the trend in which people pickup innovations, it can help companies determine whether or not a product will not only be successful but have longevity.