With the internet – and pop / consumer media, social media, etc. – so many things have such short product life cycles. They live and die very quickly, and many indeed have a lot of hype and never come to fruition. Its especially true with social media online. To me it seems way too time consuming to be an innovator here since so many of the “next cool things” never pan out. As an early adopter you can sort of wait a bit and have a better idea of what sticks, and what’s worth your time.

The ironic thing here is that I think its even possible to both two different roles for the same product category, in some rare cases. I had an MP3 player (Diamond Rio) 1999 before most people even knew what an MP3 was. The first iPod didn’t come out until late 2001. That said, since they shut down Napster (RIP) I haven’t really been into MP3s as much and so I haven’t used a “digital music player” since back when I had my 128MB one. I’m considering buying one now which would put me on the verge of late majority or laggard, whereas I was also an innovator in this same category.

Okay enough of the personal stories…

On another note, I see someone is doing a little personal brand optimization? One might also consider the Tim Staines bio, no?