Airlines = sixty-eight years The internet = 7 years, but Pokémon Go—nineteen days! ------ 2 -> 1 connecgions 8 users -> 28 connections.
Jeff Desjardins’ 2018 blog article “How Long Does It Take to Hit 50 Million Users?” explains it well. It could take as long as twenty years to implement some new transformative technologies, like connected electric cars, in the market; however, in most cases, today’s digital technologies can hit fifty million users very quickly. Did you know it took airlines sixty-eight years to hit fifty million users? Automobiles, fifty-two years. The internet took seven years, but Pokémon Go—nineteen days! Sure, an app can’t be compared to a plane, but it still highlights the network effects. The more people are connected to the internet, the more connections exist. When there are only two users, you have one connection. When there are eight users, you have twenty-eight connections. And as a result, the adoption of an idea can be exponential. With the rise of our digital world, the power is no longer at the top of the hierarchy but across the network. Everybody who is part of it can start to drive a change.
Desjardins, Jeff. “How Long Does It Take to Hit 50 Million Users?” Visualcapitalist. June 8, 2018.
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