The Late Adopter

In my perfect world, I would be a courageous person, willing to brave new trends and products well before the rest of the general public. I would be one of those elusive "early adopters", the people who start word of mouth excitement or dread for a new entry to the marketplace. My friends, family, and co-workers would value my opinion on this new product, and always seek out my opinion before diving into something.

However, once I shift back to reality I realize I am much more likely to be on the opposite side of the life cycle of a product or trend. This isn't always bad, as it can lead you to not suffer too much embarrassment. However, it often leaves me sitting on board just as everybody is getting off, and I suffer by not getting the maximum value I could have received by adopting earlier.

A big example of this are the various internet phenomenons. I was very late to the game with MySpace, only joining about the time that Facebook became the go-to place. Instead of jumping over to Facebook at that time, I instead waited until this month to join the "fun". I apologize to any Facebook shareholders I may have damaged by using their product, thereby rendering it likely to become eclipsed.

I have many excuses for not getting involved in these sites sooner, none of them really valid. Mainly, it was a combination of obstinance, laziness, and apathy. After all, I was still calling blogs "weblogs" well after the shorter term became the norm. For a long while, the term blog just seemed too much of a vapid marketing buzzword, something created by a dead-eyed MBA. At the time it was not a good sound to my ears, being on the same level as baby-mama and adding "zz"s in the middle of words*.

Unlike the latter examples, which I only tolerate these days, I've come to use blog as the standard term. Weblog sounds far too technical, like something out of Star Trek. Also, it seemed kind of insane to keep calling it a weblog when the site I was hosting my blog on was called Blogger. Its actually a decent word that expresses specifically what it is. Its certainly better than crap like "marketecture" and "innovation teams".

COMING JULY 2013: I explain my love for words and phrases like "Marketecture" and "innovation teams".

*The Exception that proves the rule: Rocket Fuel Malt Liquor: It's Crazzapy!-Bill McNeal (Phil Hartman), Newsradio