Intermediality and the Diffusion of Innovations
Published online on June 30, 2017
Abstract
Interpersonal and mediated communication both play important roles in the diffusion of innovations, as part of the process, as well as the content, of diffusion. Yet the diffusion of new media has blurred the boundaries across interpersonal and mediated communication, and emphasized the decoupling of media from their attributes, summarized in the concept of intermediality. This article briefly considers implications of this intermediality for new media as process and content in five major components of the diffusion perspective: sources, rate and categories of adoption, attributes, communication networks, and consequences.