ABSTRACT
Users have lately been confronted with an increasing number of new media for both interpersonal and mass communication, namely in the context of the World Wide Web and mobile communication devices and services. To investigate why users choose a specific new medium for the first time, how these choices spread within a social system, and which choices follow in the course the implementation process, this chapter draws on Diffusion of Innovations Theory. After an introductory overview of this approach’s historical evolution, central elements of diffusion research are explained, and their strengths and drawbacks are discussed. The critique leads to three recent advances, namely 1) the integration of Social Network Analysis (SNA) to describe diffusion, 2) the complementation by social-psychological behavior theories on individual adoption decisions, and 3) the complementation by Uses-and-Gratifications Approach (UGA), Cultural Studies and Sociology of Technology as analytic responses to the discovery that users actively reinvent innovations. The following empirical overview gives insights into relevance and findings on the adoption and diffusion processes involving media choice. Finally, prospects on the approach’s further development will be outlined.
