Diffusion and network effects Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Diffusion and network effects - Essay Example It starts with Innovators, who are the educated, risk oriented, information seeking people and who like to try new experiences. These roughly comprise of 5% of the population (Davidoff and Kleiner, 1991; Dewett, Whittier and Williams,, 2007). Next, are the early adopters, who are educated young and popular people and may be opinion leaders in their groups (David, 1985). Next are the early majority who are cautious and wait out to see how new products are reviewed by the early adopters. The early majority consist of a large number of people and these are also instrumental in propelling the late majority (who are older, conservative and low on social activity) into adopting the technology. The Laggards are the remaining people who missed out on adoption and may adopt the product toward the maturity of the product (Farrell and Saloner, 1985). Figure 1: Diffusion of Innovation Curve (Source: Rogers, 2003) In the case of Facebook, the adoption process started with ‘‘Innovators ’, but these e Innovators were the people who already had adopted older social networking versions like MySpace and Orkut. With the creation of Facebook, these ‘Innovators’ simply converted to Facebook and encouraged the early adopters to choose Facebook when they were ready to embrace the online social-networking concept (Fernandes, 2011). However, the diffusion of Facebook during the initial phases was also constrained by the diffusion of the Internet. Innovators and early adopters were therefore largely confined to the USA, Western Europe, Australia, and parts of India and China. As the Internet penetration increased with the development of broadband technology and liberalisation in other parts of the world, it spread to Middle East and then to the Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe and Russia (Fowler, 2012). So, while regions like the Middle East, Brazil, South Africa and Russia were now in the ‘Innovators’ and ‘Early Adopters’ phases, at the same time, the USA had and Western Europe had moved on to ‘Late Majority’ and the ‘Laggards’ phase as shown in the following figure. Figure 2: Stage of Adoption (Facebook) Source: CheckFacebook.com, 2010 3. Five Factors that Determine Success or Failure of Adoption Adoption, which is an individual process that depends on several attributes of the innovation like the relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability. Figure 3: Factors Determining Success of Adoption (Facebook) Relative Advantage Relative advantage, as the phrase suggests, is the perceived value added or additional advantage that a person thinks he can derive from adopting the new product (Haggman, 2009). In the context of Facebook, it offered the relative advantage over sites like MySpace and Orkut because of its higher level of security, the ability to limit who views the profile and ease in uploading and managing photographs. The user interface o f Facebook is also much more user friendly. Also, the spam prevention mechanism on Facebook is much stronger when compared to other social networking sites such as Orkut. So, users perceive it to be a more secure and private option than the existing ones. Compatibility Compatibility is the level of ‘

Teaching Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Teaching Practice - Essay Example Unraveling the idea about teacher efficacy however helps a lot in the process of developing a fine and efficient way of teaching students especially that of the second language education. (Milson, 2001, 32) Certainly, teacher efficacy in this sense is assessed as something that is most applicable in every sense of teaching even among age-diversified students. IT could be observed that there are indeed different factors needed to be given constant attention in considering cases of teaching students belonging to different age-bracket. Every factor though leads to the assessment of the efficiency of teachers to handle the situation in a much effective way that would be most beneficial to all the students that he or she handles in class. Education has and will always be an important aspect in the society. This idea is mainly true because of the fact that it ensures an individual sense of responsibility and it promotes independence by equipping individuals in the society valuable knowledge and skills for them to survive and become existent to their purpose. In general perspective, education significantly promotes the development and further advancement of the society as a whole by enabling the young people to become knowledgeable individuals capable of enhancing the current lifestyle and culture of the society (Campbell, 1996, 117). Thus, in like manner, the act and concept of teaching is indeed significant since it is one and the major link between education and the society. Teaching in either private or public educational institutions is always perceived to be a great and respectable profession however; challenges and problems also exist in this field (Colbert, 2006, 216). The recognition of the importance of the concept of teaching to the society is very important because of its significant benefits it offers for the individuals seeking knowledge and education. Secular teaching in the established educational institutions is generally considered by this author as a profession that is well honored and valued by the people. However, many problems and issues are still needed to be address and developed to fully recognize the significance of this concept for the society. Society has always been increasing and the population and likewise its number of students because of which, facilities in the educational institutions must also be expanded to accommodate the said increase. (Ross, 2006, 179) This author believes that every student has their own right to claim and have access to education thus they must be given a way for them to do so. Aside from the classroom, outside facilities must also be given to the student population such as laboratories, athletic fields and others. These facilities will greatly promote the enthusiasm and the educational pursuit of the students and also aid in their complete personal development in different humanistic aspect. DISCUSSIONS AND FURTHER IMPLICATIONS The Idealisms of Teacher Efficacy Teaching, generally also involves the professional and interaction between the students and the teacher wherein it is culturally perceived that the teacher has the authority over the situation (Guskey, 1993, 6). However, this