Honoring Everett Rogers, The Father of The Tipping Point Meme

As I'm writing this post and just about to hit publish, I find via Google News that Everett Rogers, author of The Diffusion of Innovation (1962) and communications professor at the University of New Mexico, died last month (also [1] [2]). Rogers important theory of how new ideas are disseminated and accepted both interpersonally and through a culture, have been the impetus and catalyst for popular books from The Tipping Point, The Influentials, Crossing the Chasm, The Anatomy of Buzz and the advent of word of mouth marketing.  You've all seen the innovation adoption curve charting innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards (and variations thereof). That's Rogers handiwork, not Geoffrey Moore's as many technology marketers wrongly assume.

In reading the story in the college newspaper where he taught, I found it touching to learn that in his classroom this communications professor was an avid storyteller. Ah, storytelling, the oldest form of sharing ideas. How easy it is to forget. I hadn't realized his background was in the larger arena of communication which by definition can never be a unilateral spreading of ideas, but is in essence a mutual communal learning.

And I learned he joined the UMN faculty because he wanted to establish an international intercultural communications Ph.D. program. His deep interest of late had veered into multicultural communications. It's fascinating because of the trajectory of his interests in communication nearly track my own. I too am much more interested in a multicultural, worldcentric dialogue than the diffusion and adoption of innovation within a culture.

Thank you so much, Everett Rogers. It feels a bit odd to go on with the post as I originally crafted, and so I've made it a separate post, demonstrating that his legacy lives on.

Comments

[Valdis]

Yes, one of hy heroes when I started in social network analysis. His "Diffusion of Innovations" was one of the most influential books early in my career.

He was great... and a very nice person to meet F2F!

[Andy Bergman]

I am currently studying Rogers work within my masters program. It is amazing, and thanking you for making me realize that Everett's points were placed within the tipping point book!