Comments on: Adoption Graph you must look at. http://barbaranantz.wordpress.com/2008/02/25/adoption-graph-you-must-look-at/ Just another WordPress.com weblog Sat, 03 May 2008 14:47:20 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Nate Lowell http://barbaranantz.wordpress.com/2008/02/25/adoption-graph-you-must-look-at/#comment-155 Nate Lowell Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:23:56 +0000 http://barbaranantz.wordpress.com/?p=119#comment-155 The graphic is a *bit* misleading on the line labeled "internet" ... I can't tell if it's because there's some threshhold that they're counting or - more likely - the authors have made the typical mistake and equated the internet with the web. The internet has been around since '69 and when I first signed on in the early 80s, there were 10million people world wide. It's *possible* that the scale of the graph rounds that to zero until the web browser made the internet more accessible. It's worth noting that the scale on this graph IS misleading in terms of numbers because it's stated in percent of households. The number of households has been going up steadily. In 1915 the US population was about 100M. By 1968 it was 200M and it went over 300M around 2000. That actually would make those curves steeper if expressed in numbers of households instead of percentages. What you're seeing is a classic adoption curve based on standard distribution. What varies is the speed with which the early adopters influence the general population. You're also seeing the effect of the Boomers as they all left home to start their own households. Not only did they adopt the technologies they knew at home, they took advantage of new products that were targeted directly to them. Interesting graph. The graphic is a *bit* misleading on the line labeled “internet” … I can’t tell if it’s because there’s some threshhold that they’re counting or – more likely – the authors have made the typical mistake and equated the internet with the web.

The internet has been around since ‘69 and when I first signed on in the early 80s, there were 10million people world wide. It’s *possible* that the scale of the graph rounds that to zero until the web browser made the internet more accessible.

It’s worth noting that the scale on this graph IS misleading in terms of numbers because it’s stated in percent of households. The number of households has been going up steadily. In 1915 the US population was about 100M. By 1968 it was 200M and it went over 300M around 2000.

That actually would make those curves steeper if expressed in numbers of households instead of percentages.

What you’re seeing is a classic adoption curve based on standard distribution. What varies is the speed with which the early adopters influence the general population. You’re also seeing the effect of the Boomers as they all left home to start their own households. Not only did they adopt the technologies they knew at home, they took advantage of new products that were targeted directly to them.

Interesting graph.

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