Diffusion (anthropology)
The diffusion of ideas or artifacts from one culture to another is a well-attested and uncontroversial concept of cultural anthropology. For example, the practice of agriculture is widely believed to have diffused from somewhere in the Middle East to all of Eurasia, less than 10,000 years ago. Other established examples of diffusion include the smelting of iron in ancient times, and the use of cars in the 20th century. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_%28anthropology%29 [Oct 2004]
Adoption rate
Relative advantage is the degree to which an innovation is perceived as being better than the idea it supersedes (Rogers, 1995).
An individual may perceive an innovation to have a relative advantage if the price drops for a new and higher quality product. For example, according to Rogers, the cost of a VCR dropped in price in 1993 to $200 from an initial price in 1980 of $1,200. This made adoption favorable and increased its relative advantage.
For others, the opportunity to raise one's social status may increase its relative advantage. A fad is an example of an innovation which diffuses rapidly and is fueled by an attempt to gain social status. It is difficult to assess just how important social status is because most people will not admit to adoption strictly for that reason. --http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:LVvjtwv4qkYJ:www.arches.uga.edu/~bhummel/6200Project/ROA_RelAdv.html+vcr+adoption+rate+diffusion&hl=en [Oct 2004]
Adoption rate
In the last century, the adoption rate of new technologies into mainstream society took 30 years. (Think radio, TV and cable) The rapid adoption of the Internet has been unprecedented — taking only about seven years --http://www.mediacenter.org/content/1520.cfm?print=yes [Oct 2004]
Penetration (business)
In business, penetration is often short for market penetration, the degree to which a product or service is known and/or used among potential customers. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penetration [Oct 2004]
meme: (pron. 'meem') A contagious idea that replicates like a virus, passed on from mind to mind. Memes function the same way genes and viruses do, propagating through communication networks and face-to-face contact between people. The root of the word "memetics," a field of study which postulates that the meme is the basic unit of cultural evolution. Examples of memes include melodies, icons, jokes, fashion statements and phrases.
1987: VCR penetration passes 50% --http://www.wsiu.org/digitaltv/timeline.shtml [Oct 2004]
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