Blog #7 : The Diffusion Theory

 

The Diffusion Theory was created to help analyze and understand how new ideas and technology spread. This theory was created by professor Everett Rogers in his published book Diffusion of Innovations. I was introduced to this theory through a lecture that my professor held, where he explored Apple products through the Diffusion Theory. Once introduced, I realized that most of the technology that I am familiar with has been through each stage of this theory, and therefore I decided to look into my most commonly used app Snapchat through the lens of the Diffusion Theory. 

Nearly twelve years ago, Snapchat began as merely an idea when founder Evan Spiegel was sitting in his class at Stanford talking with his friends. So the question is how did a small conversation with friends lead to one of the most popular apps with nearly 360 million active monthly users? Perhaps because it was different from any other type of social media at the time. It was a social media creation that was most similar to face-to-face communication, for the whole purpose was to send pictures back and forth. In a 2013 interview with The Telegraph, Spiegel explained why he believed the app was so popular with the young users, “Snapchat changed that perception of deleting something as bad,” he said. “Online, typically you delete something if it’s bad or if it’s really embarrassing.”

This was the main reason that people became users of Snapchat. Young people wanted to try this new and unheard of type of social platform to communicate with others. When Snapchat was created in 2011, it was originally named Picaboo.  Yet, after the switch to the name Snapchat in 2012, the app’s popularity began to rise. The early users of Snapchat were all teenagers, which is how and why the platform became so popular. Young adults love social media, and during this time, they were moving away from Facebook due to parents and adults heavily utilizing this app. With the help of teeneagers connecting on Snapchat, the app had 10 million users within just the first year. In 2013, Snapchat created an update that offered a feature to not only communicate with one another, but post a story that all their friends could view.  By August 2014, 40% of 18 year olds in the US were using Snapchat on a daily basis. In 2015, Snapchat released Snapchat Discover, where you could say the “late adopters'' of the app came into place. Further, the MainStream Media outlets began to join the app, such as National Geographic, Vice, and ESPN. Influencers and celebrities could also post within Snapchat Discover, creating a place where all current events could be explored. 

Despite Snapchat’s huge popularity and growth, there are some downsides of the technology. The real downside is that Snapchats disappear. Stories on Snapchat only last for 24 hours and Snapchats sent between users disappear after opening. This leaves room for illegal activity, since nothing is being stored. One of the biggest issues is child pornography, due the fact that most users are teenagers. The “disappear feature” in Snapchat has allowed for illegal activity to occur without consequences in many situations. It also has deceived young adults into thinking that sending explicit pictures is not as serious a matter, due to the disappearance of Snapchats after opening. 

The majority could agree that the positives of Snapchat outweigh the negatives. It has established a new form of digital communication unlike any other messaging platform. It does not have any censorship within the app, which allows one to post anything for friends to see. This app gives users complete freedom to express themselves in whatever way they please. It also gives more privacy than most other applications, since you can only become friends with people on the app if they know your username. Snapchat’s cost to benefit analysis is also very impressive, from an app that was developed to just allow others to communicate, it has now grown to a strong company. In 2014, shortly after the launch, Snapchat made only $3.4 million and lost $500 million that same year. Yet, despite the company’s loss, they continued to advertise and create updates, which led to generating $4.1 billion in revenue in 2021.

It is clear that Snapchat can be named a historic technology advance, initiating from a small conversation within a Stanford classroom and growing to a multi-billion dollar technology company. Snapchat is something that all of you have heard of and the majority use on a daily basis. This app has been extremely influential within young adults’ lives, creating connections and relationships unheard of prior to its development. Overall, Snapchat is an extremely successful piece of technology, and will most likely continue to experience growth in the future.