This section starts with a brief history of advertising, rise of mass media, and how marketing has changed in the digital age. Next, we’ll cover the core theories of the online world like Metcalfe’s Law, Everett Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations, Adoption Curves, Dunbar’s number, and Moore’s Law.
Goal: Understand how marketing has changed and the fundamental laws that help shape the online world.
Chapter 1: The Rise of Mass Media and Changing Marketing Mindset
- Before Microsoft there was RCA: Radio and Rise of Mass Media
- Staring at a plywood box: Rise of Television as a Marketing Medium
- Why Consumers Endure Advertising: Chapter Summary
Optional Handout: Rethinking Marketing from Harvard Business School (free registration required).
Chapter 2: Laws of the Online Universe
- The real social network: Social Network Theory and Metcalfe’s Law
- Early growth is hard: Facebook and Metcalfe’s Law Explained
- The only constant is change: Moore’s Law and Technology Growth
- Craig’s List: Tying Moore and Metcalfe’s Laws Together
Chapter 3: Becoming Popular is Hard
- How we evaluate new change: Diffusion of Innovations
- Not Everyone Can Be First: How Innovations Get Adopted
- Apple knows we’re lazy and stupid: Factors that Influence Adoption Rates
- What this all means: Mashing Up Social Network Theories and Adoption Curves
Chapter 4: Nobody Cares About You, Until You Screw Up (and what to do about it)
- The true currency online: Earning Attention
- It’s the experience, stupid: Gratitude
- Dell Hell: What Happens When Companies Don’t Listen