Blog Post 5: Diffusion of Innovation

Social Media blew up in popularity in the mid-2000s with the release of Facebook. Since then, several social media sites have been released that have overtaken Facebook in the younger generations, such as Instagram and Snapchat. These platforms have become an essential part of communication for younger people.

Social media caught on because younger people wanted an easier way to keep in touch with friends and acquaintances and show off exciting or interesting things that had happened in their lives. The early adopters of social media were younger adults and teenagers. Still, some late adopters, the older generations, ended up becoming more numerous on Facebook while younger people moved on to other platforms. 

As social media became more normalized by the youth, older people grew interested and started making accounts to help keep up with their family and friends. As more and more platforms cropped up, early adopters of each would hop over to a new one and start building popularity and some noticeable age groups that used each one. For example, TikTok and Snapchat are generally used by children and young teens, Instagram is mainly used by older teens and young adults, and Facebook is used by most people older than Instagram users.

Social media has many good effects, such as people maintaining friendships more easily over distances and time, connecting with people they would never have met otherwise, and exposing people to varied opinions outside of their immediate circle. However, there are plenty of negative effects as well. Social media can become addictive; some platforms are prone to creating rabbit holes into extremism, and some people crave validation from posting on social media.