“watching while being watched”

When I read the part with the subtitle “watching while being watched” in the “diffusion networks” chapter, the first thing that jumped into my mind was a popular tool on the Internet: the blog. Although other tools online are also charming, the blog is one of the best to let you watch others and be watched; the personal website has the same role in this aspect. The popularity of blogs results from their ease of use and the interactive characteristics which meet people’s needs.

There is little complexity in establishing a blog online. With just three steps, you can own a cyber-home on the Internet. Compared with the personal website, it is much easier to adopt without professional technological skills.

The difference between diffusing an innovation and diffusing an interactive innovation lies in the relationship between early adopters and the later adopters. In the diffusion of an interactive innovation, early adopters are not only the models for later adopters to learn from, but they are also influenced by the later adopters. Apparently, bloggers always log on, read and comment on others’ blogs. This interaction between early bloggers and later ones assists the continuance of blogging.

The occurrence and development of blogs is resulted from the needs of people. It is said that nobody knows if you are a person or a dog when you are online. Blogs provided the opportunity for people to share their personal things, such as personalities, hobbies, emotions, and even more personal information. In a certain way, blogs satisfy people’s curiosities about others and needs for communication with others in this world. No wonder the number of blogs has increased so fast in the past few years.