In the article Rethinking ‘Crossing The Chasm’ by Alex Iskold, the author discusses the idea that the vast increase in high-tech products and rapid technological advances threaten the traditional view of a business ‘crossing the chasm’. He argues this by stating an abundance of products compete for the early adopters attention. And the attention of the early adopter segment is crucial as they are essentially the chain that links to the early majority and mass market.
The mention of the rapid growth of technology and competition for attention got me thinking, how do these early adopters discover new products and what makes them actually adopt them?
Sticking with the theme of rapid technology growth, I think the boom in the use of social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram has even further widened the competition for attention but at the same time has developed a platform for members of ALL segments in the technology-adoption curve to discuss and promote a new product. But the question remains, is discussion and ‘hype’ of a product enough? And how can this ‘hype’ be transformed into actual adoption of a new product, instead of merely discussion?
The Hype Cycle
One way to answer these questions is to examine what is known as the Hype Cycle created by Gartner Research. To my (very limited) knowledge of the hype cycle, the main purpose is to decipher the hype of new technology and to weed out the losers from the winners. The cycle consists of five parts as taken directly from Gartner’s website:
Technology Trigger: A potential technology breakthrough kicks things off. Early proof-of-concept stories and media interest trigger significant publicity. Often no usable products exist and commercial viability is unproven.
Peak of Inflated Expectations: Early publicity produces a number of success stories—often accompanied by scores of failures. Some companies take action; many do not.
Trough of Disillusionment: Interest wanes as experiments and implementations fail to deliver. Producers of the technology shake out or fail. Investments continue only if the surviving providers improve their products to the satisfaction of early adopters.
Slope of Enlightenment: More instances of how the technology can benefit the enterprise start to crystallize and become more widely understood. Second- and third-generation products appear from technology providers. More enterprises fund pilots; conservative companies remain cautious.
Plateau of Productivity: Mainstream adoption starts to take off. Criteria for assessing provider viability are more clearly defined. The technology’s broad market applicability and relevance are clearly paying off.
So as shown above, it is often the case that hype can over exaggerate a new technology before it is proven. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it can potentially eliminate the weaker technologies and concentrate user focus on the more appropriate technologies. Another positive aspect of ‘hype’ is the abundance of information it can provide. As I mentioned above, social media has drastically enhanced the ability to discuss and promote a product. Using this hype, businesses will be able to better detect whom is more likely to become an early adopter of their product and therefore better target their needs via segmentation and forming persona’s.
Conclusion
So, is hype really all a new technology needs to cross the chasm? Probably not. But if looked at correctly, it can serve as an opportunity to target early adopters and concentrate their focus, which is a necessary step in creating a successful link to the mass market.
Sean McArthur
On a side note, here is an interesting (but terrible quality video) of a visual representation of crossing the chasm. Check it out!
Ooh, this video is soooo funny! Ya, being an entrepreneur really takes guts! U need to be confident about what u r doing, and tolerate some misunderstanding sometimes! U r waiting for the Early Adopters to come first, and then attract Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggers. It takes some time, and often u will suffer loneliness and confusions at the first stage, however, once it takes off, u’ll embrace enormous fun, and a great sense of Success!! Entrepreneurship is Great Challenge and Fun!
oooh and I forgot to leave my CUNo.100918172
I love BUSI3204:D
I believe that you are correct – that hype is not the only thing a technology needs in order to gain a public’s interest and for a consumer to actually buy and use the product. However, I do believe that it is necessary. Without the hype most people would probably not even know about the new technology. Yes, hype will most likely exaggerate what the project will be and might give people’s hopes up. But I also believe that hype could be another way for the company to hear what people expect and therefore understand what they would want in the future. In my theory, I believe that hype can actually start creating the next version of that product, if it is over-expecting what the current product would be.
Hype will make most of the population aware of the product since that would be the “talk” going around. It may not convince everyone to buy it, but certainly the early adopters as they would probably wish to see what all the hype is about. Then they would mention it to their friends, family, and colleagues, which in turn would make them more aware about the products and more of its features and specific details. Then they would most likely be more interested in the products than they were when it was more just a hype.
I also forgot to include my student number: 100796580
Interesting post Sean! I agree that hype can be good but also it can potentially be bad for new technology. While on one hand it can promote the technology and get people really excited, but on the contrary it can also over hype the technology and the product can fail to live up to the hype. Although any attention is good.
I also agree that technology does need to rely on more than just hype to promote a successful product. While an initial hype can be crucial for a product, they need to continue to promote the product in order to guarantee it will ‘cross the chasm’.
Also, nice video, very interesting!
- Cailin