Bio: (1931-2004) American sociologist and communication theorist. Everett Rogers received a doctorate in rural sociology from Iowa State University. He has taught sociology and international communications at several universities, including Stanford. Rogers is best known for the theory he presented in his book Diffusion of Innovation (1962), and the book has been published in four other supplemented editions. His theory of the diffusion of innovation explains the process by which innovation spreads from the moment it is created, until the moment it becomes fully accepted. Rogers has researched the processes and contextual factors that influence the speed of adoption or rejection of innovations.

He introduced two new categories - early and late adopters. The focus was on the spread of commercial innovation in the modern age, so a lot of attention was paid to the commercialization and advertising of innovations. The center adopts innovations faster than the periphery. Rogers developed a two-step communication theory to explain how information about innovation spreads. At the first level, information about the innovation is created, as well as advertising materials about it. At the second level, people in charge of product promotion go to targeted communities and approach those who are considered potential buyers of innovation. The promoters then offer free product testing to those who are targeted. Finally, these early adopters of innovation influence their acquaintances to adopt the innovation as well.

Rogers concluded that the adoption of innovations over time has a standard variation (Bell curve). He singled out five types of technology adopters, in relation to the chronology of innovation acceptance: innovators (2.5%), early adopters (13.5%), early majority (34%), late majority (34%), and laggards (16 %). Rogers later applied his theory of innovation and communication to the areas of family planning, media expansion, and cancer prevention. The fifth edition of Diffusion of Innovation (2003, with Nancy Singer Olaguera) explores how the Internet spread, changes in communication, and the spread of ideas that it has brought.

Main works

Diffusion of Innovations (1962);

Modernization among Peasants: The Impact of Communication (1969);

Communication Strategies for Family Planning (1973);

Communication and Development: Critical Perspectives (1976);

Communication in Organizations (1976);

Communication Networks: Toward a New Paradigm for Research (1981);

Growth of High-Technology Culture (1984);

The Media Revolution in America and in Western Europe (1985);

Communication Technology: The New Media in Society (1986);

A History of Communication Study: A Biographical Approach (1994);

Silicon Valley Fever: Intercultural Communication (1999);

Diffusion of Innovation, fifth ed. (2003).