First adopters love a medium purely while second-wave arrivals follow profit
Evidence
It’s always that way, with new technology … the [people] who first get into, say, radio, love the medium for what it is. the second wave of [people] come because they sense a gold rush. it is the way of things. nobody will love the medium as much as the [people] who first found it, and invented it. you can sit around lamenting its demise, and drink cocktails and get misty-eyed about the golden age, but it’s not coming back. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 166
Categorization
- APHORISMS: A lasting observation about how every new medium’s first wave is idealistic and later waves come for the gold rush.
- XREF: Resonates with the authenticity-vs-self-branding tension this whole book examines. — connects to: The early internet’s value lay precisely in sheltering niche subcultures from mainstream attention; Media pioneers love the medium while later waves arrive purely to chase profit — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 166