Blog: Diffusion of Innovations - TikTok
The diffusion of innovations is a theory thought up by Everett Rogers. This theory is the reason that our society and world keeps experiencing these technological changes. Since the start of the 21st century, we have already seen tremendous growth when it comes to technology. I mean, it feels like just yesterday I was giving my AIM account name out to my friends in elementary school, now we have hundreds of different social media and messaging platforms to choose from. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, all of them have experience with this theory. When these platforms first started, they were new and fresh. Something to try out and explore. Everyone was using MySpace. It was time to switch over to the new Facebook, complete with messaging capabilities so AIM quickly became obsolete as well.
Now, we're seeing this cycle take place all over again with the rise of new social platform, TikTok. Originally marketed as "Musica.ly" this app launched in 2014 but grew extremely popular by Gen Z users, back in 2017. The app made way around the world for a year, having young kids dancing and lip syncing to popular songs. Then, the company switched developers and changed their whole branding strategy. The app was relaunched as TikTok. And, as someone who has worked a couple of roles in marketing now, I think they had a much stronger marketing campaign this time around. They were able to reach new audiences and capitalize on the second step of Rogers' theory, persuasion. Practically overnight, Gen Z's and Millenials worldwide had their social feeds flooded with TikTok videos. Advertisements, paid sponsorships with influencers, and more tactics were used to reach as wide of an audience as possible. This was new, fresh cool, and looked fun. Success, everyone now was moving into step three, deciding to download the app for themselves. By doing this, they're willingly moving this platform towards a new norm for our society. Think about it, there was never a law or a ordinance put out saying everyone had to start making TikTok videos, people just sort of did it. As a society, we are collectively fueling the power behind this new TikTok platform, thus furthering the integration of TikTok as a norm in our society.
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