Every product or service goes through different stages of adoption. Geoffrey A Moore author of the book "Crossing The Chasm" clearly explains these phases and the likelihood of success. I'm going to look at what he proposes and where Steemit actually sits in the spectrum.
If you haven't read the book Crossing the Chasm, I highly recommend it, particularly if you are interested in the world of technology and startups. It is a fascinating book to read and is a must if you are involved in that world.
To kick us off I'm going to outline what Moore defines as the stages of adoption. Then I will discuss where Steemit sits and can Steemit cross the Chasm. Now 'Crossing the Chasm' is primarily a business to business concept, however the ideas can transferred across to B2C products/services as well. As the is still a leap that needs to take place.
The above diagram is the technology adoption lifecycle and how it typical takes place. A break down of each phase.
Innovators
These are typically tech-heads and are not afraid of potential, they are quick to want to try something out and generally speaking they are the minority. They will jump right in without dipping their toes and see how it works. They are the first people that need to be won over.
Early Adopters
These are classified as visionaries they are happy to give new technology a shot and they see the potential in the product and what it can provide them. They are more reserved in their decision making, but they have more influence than the innovators on a whole. As typically these companies/people are more established.
Early Majority
These are what we call Pragmatists they are the major portion of the market and they will only adopt technology once there is some solid evidence that it is going somewhere. They are more fear based and require recommendations/references to make the leap into the new technology.
Late Majority
These are rather conservative in their decision making, they make decisions only after actual hard evidence has been given it works - they want to see the results. Before accepting the technology.
Laggards
The skeptics! They avoid all technology and will only come on board if they must!
Makes sense right?
So the phases are pretty simple and each time a piece of technology goes through a particular phase they must take a leap from one stage to the next. However, one leap is bigger than all the other leaps and that is what Moore describes as the Chasm.
This is sits firmly between early adopters to early majority. Most high-tech companies actually fail to take the leap between these two categories of users/buyers, as they fail to identify a firm strategy that will allow them mass adoption.
Where does Steemit fit....well Steemit has passed the stage of....
These are the people who have dove in head first. We know them as whales, but they have got behind Steemit in a big way as they want to see it succeed. Prime examples of these innovators are 
Steemit is currently at the Early Adopter Phase.
We have seen the innovators get behind the product and they have crossed from Innovators to Early Adopter Phase. How do we know this?
We are seeing a number of influential people come onboard, they typically have greater influence on a wider scale, i.e they maybe someone who has a large fan base or has generated a following, or are known on a more public scale. We have seen a number of these types of early adopters coming on board - these are individuals like 
Crossing the Chasm
There are many methods of crossing the chasm These are outlined by Moore as follows.
Target a point of attack.
Segment the market into target niches and focus on a niche at a particular time
- Steemit has done this well, they have the cryptocurrency communities attention - a very particular niche. But, a niche none the less. However, they will need more niche’s to cross the chasm successfully.
- The next phase of this tactic is branching out into other niches.
Find allies to invade.
- This is when the whole product has been realised and you start to gain key partnership and allies which can allow growth.
It then requires defining the battle and then launching the invasion through a well planned out sales and marketing strategy.
This is just a snapshot look, at how a company/product/service goes into crossing the chasm. There is no steadfast rule for achieving the cross. But, it is without question as Steemit is sitting in early adopter phase and there needs to be a firm strategy to make the leap into the early majority.
This may infact happen organically as it is slightly different to a typical B2B situation but it is possible to have a defined target market to penetrate and go for it, then form great allies in the process. We have seen this with other cryptocurrencies, one that immediately that pops to mind is Expanse partnering with Centurylink.
Steemit is however different as it is a B2C focussed product - but I hope this gives you some understanding of where it sits in the big picture and I'm sure we are all hoping to see the cross happen successfully!
If you enjoyed this breakdown, I’d love to hear some thoughts and some love :)
#steemit #steem #crypto-news #chasm #cn