Diffusion of Innovations

 Diffusion of Innovations of Facebook

    Diffusion of Innovations was a theory that was created by E.M. Rodgers. His theory explained how a new idea or invention gains traction and popularity over time. There are five categories of adopters:

1. Innovators

2. Early Adopters

3. Early Majority

4. Late Majority

5. Laggards

    In an earlier blog post, I discussed the history of Facebook. To review, Facebook was created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and a few of his classmates at Harvard University. They began to share their new innovation with other students at Harvard. These students who were the first to use the site would be known as the Innovators. They were the first to try out the new invention.

    Very quickly, the site became popular among the innovators. The next group of people to try the site were college students at other universities in the areas near Harvard. These people would be known as the Early Adopters. Then, the group of people using the site expanded even more to include all college students with an email. These people would still be early adopters, but the people joining would soon merge into the next category.

    In 2006, anyone with an email, whether a college student or not, could become a user. The people who joined Facebook around this time would be known as the Early Majority. 

    Facebook continued to grow and became an app on the iPhone in 2008. The company filed to become public in 2012. The people joining in the time after 2008 would be known as the Late Majority. These people did not want to join the trend in its earlier years most likely because of skepticism, but as the innovation grew in popularity, they felt the need to join.

    The people who joined much later would be known as the Laggards. Although Facebook today is used by many people who are a part of "older" generations, my guess is at the time, older people were the laggards. 

    People who were Baby Boomers or Gen X had a hard time getting on board with social media since it was something they did not grow up with and knew little about. It was very easy for college students and younger people to jump on the trend because Facebook was something new and exciting. I think older people tend to want to stick with what they know and not try new things, but it is easy for younger people to want to try new things. (Of course this is a generalization, and this is not true for everyone. This is just a trend I have observed with social media and older vs. younger generations.)

 

   Facebook was the first site of its kind, and at the time, nobody knew of the negative effects of social media. Today, we know that there are many social and mental downsides to this innovation. However, Facebook is still popular today and many people would rather be a part of the world of social media and deal with the negative impacts than be "left out" of the trend.

Sources for the Information on the History of Facebook:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2007/jul/25/media.newmedia  

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Facebook#:~:text=Facebook%20was%20founded%20in%202004,were%20using%20Facebook%20every%20day

EOTO: Theories

 Confirmation Bias

Britannica.com defines confirmation bias as, "people’s tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with their existing beliefs."

In 1960, Peter Watson created an early demonstration of confirmation bias through an experiment. In the study, the subjects had to figure out the experimenters method for sequencing numbers, and the subjects tended to find methods that supported their hypotheses. The idea of confirmation bias has been present in psychological literature for many years, but the term was not used until 1977 in a paper about a study. (simplypsychology.com)

Three Main Types of Confirmation Bias:

1. Biased Search for Information- When people search for information that supports their ideas/theories

2. Biased Interpretation- When people evaluate evidence differently based on their preconceived ideas/theories

3. Biased Memory- When people remember things differently in a way that supports their ideas/theories

(simplypsychology.com)

Examples of Confirmation Bias:

- A student working on a science fair project may look for evidence in their testing results that supports their original hypothesis.

- A republican may search for information that supports their beliefs.

- A person may interpret something one of their friend's actions in a positive light rather than a negative one because they do not want to believe someone they like can do wrong.

Examples were inspired by the ones on https://www.simplypsychology.org/confirmation-bias.html#Examples 

Willard V. Quine and J.S. Ullian described this bias in The Web of Belief as:

"The desire to be right and the desire to have been right are two desires, and the sooner we separate them the better off we are. The desire to be right is the thirst for truth. On all counts, both practical and theoretical, there is nothing but good to be said for it. The desire to have been right, on the other hand, is the pride that goeth before a fall. It stands in the way of our seeing we were wrong, and thus blocks the progress of our knowledge."

Why Confirmation Bias?

One of the main reasons confirmation bias occurs is because it makes it easier for humans to process information. The human brain works hard to process the information we receive, and it is easier for our brains to connect new information with thoughts and ideas we already have. Sometimes this connection seems accurate in our brain, but it is really biased and may not appear to be connected to others.

Another reason confirmation bias occurs is because our brains want to make decisions based on survival. This causes us to take shortcuts to conclusions, one of those shortcuts being confirmation bias. Shortcuts allow us to conserve energy, a survival tactic.

According to Britannica.com, self-esteem is also a reason behind confirmation bias. People tend to feel badly about themselves when they find out that something they believed was true is actually false. Subconsciously, people want to create higher self-esteem by convincing themselves what they believe is true, even if there is evidence it is false.

How to Reduce Confirmation Bias:

In order to reduce confirmation bias, we need to challenge our own natural thought patterns. This does not come easily and takes conscious effort. In order to do this, we need to look at beliefs and ideas that contradict our own. This does not mean we have to abandon our own beliefs but to just consider other points of view. By comparing our own beliefs with others, we can potentially notice biases in our beliefs.

What I have Noticed About Confirmation Bias:

- I have noticed confirmation bias can be a source of arguments and tension between people. When two people interpret information differently because of their own biases, they may feel the need to convince the other person that their interpretation is the correct on. This can cause social issues amongst people.

- I have also realized that social media has played a role in confirmation bias. Social media algorithms tend to show you things you want to see. This can lead to confirmation bias because you are constantly seeing things that align with your currently beliefs on your feed and rarely seeing things that contradict your beliefs.

Confirmation bias is something that naturally happens within the human brain. However, if we are knowledgable on what confirmation bias is and how it can affect us, we can better learn how to combat our own biases and be aware of the biases of others.

The Progressive Era

 Anti-War

    When we discussed how the government is always pro-war in class, the discussion was really an eye opener for me. I am not heavily involved in politics, and to be honest, I never really even thought about current day negative affects of war. Sure I learned in history class how past wars had negative affects on our country and the world, but I never thought about the negative affects today. I am also so used to hearing pro-war voices from the government, social media, and people I interact with that I never really thought about anti-war points of view. Because of this, Pur discussion in class as well as the websites Antiwar.com and Theamericanconservative.com offered me a new perspective on war and politics.

Anti-War March at the University of Michigan 1969

Antiwar.com and Theamericanconservative.com

    When I entered the Antiwar.com website, I immediately saw a bunch of articles about the war between Israel and the Hamas. I clicked on one article entitled US Weapons Shipments to Israel Are Enabling War Crimes. This article discussed how sending weapons to help Israel defend itself has led to the killing of innocent civilians in Gaza. The writer of the article, Stephen Semler, clearly expressed that he disagreed with President Biden's choice to send weapons to Israel. Similarly, an article from Theamericanconservative.com had an article entitled Endgame for Gaza. A portion of this article also discussed how aiding Israel in the war has had negative effects for innocent people in Gaza. 

People in Gaza after an Israeli Airstrike

    However, if you were to view the U.S. Department of Defense website, you could find an article on the same topic that supports President Biden's point of view. Another article from AP News detailed what types of aid the U.S. has sent to Israel in the war. Neither of the websites explained the repercussions of sending aid to Israel like Antiwar.com or Theamericanconservative.com did. 

    I found it interested that both a website run by the government and an independent news organization never mentioned the negative effects of the U.S. government's involvement in the war. I found it equally interesting that I had never heard of the two anti-war websites provided for this assignment, but I have heard of both of the websites that seemed to support the Biden Administrations decisions in the war. I think there is a reason I had never heard of these websites. I think the government intentionally tries to keep people from finding these anti-war websites because the government is pro-war. The government wants Americans to view websites that support its decisions, not go against them. However, it is our right as Americans to have our own political view points, and as Dr. Smith would say, it is our duty to criticize the government. 

    I think it is definitely a flaw in our system that the government can censor what we view.

EOTO: Instagram and Facebook

History and Origin of Facebook 

    Facebook was created by Mark Zuckerberg. At the time he began creating Facebook, Zuckerberg was a student at Harvard University. He is now a world renowned billionaire and CEO. Prior to creating Facebook, Zuckerberg created two other online programs called Coursematch, a site for students to see who else was studying their major, and Facemash, a site for people to rate the attractiveness of others.

Mark Zuckerberg

    Zuckerberg launched Facebook in February 2004 with the help of Harvard students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes. Their fellow Harvard students were among the first to sign up. However, the app quickly took off reaching students at other universities near Harvard and later all universities in the U.S. (I found this information interesting because today many people in Gen Z view Facebook as a platform that older generations utilize more so than those in college.)

In September 2006, none-college students and anyone with an email could become Facebook users, greatly expanding the platform’s audience. In 2008, Facebook, which originally was only a website, became an app on the iPhone. This was a result of Apple creating the App Store that same year. The company continued to grow and filed to become public in 2012.

    According to A brief history of Facebook as a media text: The development of an empty structure by Niels Brugger at the Center for Internet Studies at Aarhus University, the “two main elements of Facebook” are a person’s profile and their network. He wrote that a profile displays a user’s information, and a network is the group of other users a person can connect with on the app.

    Facebook today is known as a space where people can post photos, videos, and life updates on their feed. They can "tag" people in their posts, and tagged people can allow posts they are tagged in to appear on their own feed. Facebook has grown to include new features that were not a part of the application's original design, such as Facebook Marketplace. Marketplace is a spot on the app where people can buy and sell items, similar to eBay or Craigslist.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2007/jul/25/media.newmedia 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Facebook#:~:text=Facebook%20was%20founded%20in%202004,were%20using%20Facebook%20every%20day

History of Instagram

    Instagram was created in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, two Stanford graduates. The idea for Instagram started with a platform created by Kevin Systrom called Burbn, and yes it was named because of his love for the alcoholic beverage. Burbn allowed users to post “check-ins” with photos based on their location. Kevin along with Mike Krieger reworked the program into what we know today as Instagram.

Mike Krieger (right) and Kevin Systrom (left)

    Unlike Facebook, Instagram started as a mobile app from the beginning. Facebook was not originally created as an app because the Apple App Store did not launch until 2008. Instagram was created two years after the App Store's launch.

The Instagram Icon Over Time

    Although Instagram and Facebook had similarities, Instagram was much more focused on images. (Keep in mind that today people associate Instagram and Facebook together because they are now a part of the same company, but at the time, they were two completely separate applications.) Instagram was created with three main features surrounding user’s posts, which were photos, comments, and likes. Users could post a photo, and other users could like and comment on the post. Instagram did involve a profile and network like Facebook did, but they were slightly different. Facebook was more focused on personal connections, and Instagram was a place where people could have lots of followers that they did not even know. (Facebook refers to connections as "friends," and Instagram refers to connections as "followers" or someone they are "following.")

    In April 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for $1 Billion.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Instagram

Meta

    In 2021, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of the Facebook company, re-branded the company under the name Meta. When he announced the creation of Meta, Zuckerberg said, “Right now, our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can’t possibly represent everything that we’re doing today, let alone in the future. Over time, I hope that we are seen as a metaverse company, and I want to anchor our work and identity on what we’re building toward.” Metaverse refers to a virtual 3D space companies are looking to grow in the future. This rebranding was seen as a way for the company to grow and expand.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2295438-why-has-facebook-changed-its-name-to-meta-and-what-is-the-metaverse/

Meta Icon

    Today Facebook and Instagram are both owned by Meta, and Zuckerberg is still the companies' CEO. I look forward to seeing how the company grows and evolves in the future, and I hope that you learned something new about the history of Facebook, Instagram, and Meta.