Throwback to 1997 – Jerry Yang defending the internet and an illustration of the technology adoption “chasm”

Ran into a fun episode of “Politically Incorrect” with Bill Maher from 1997, in which Jerry Yang (founder of Yahoo) was one of the panelists. Watch from 9:30 on to skip to the good parts.

The interview is an good illustration of the technology adoption curve . Yahoo had about 700K DAUs (innovators) and was in its ascendancy. There was a chasm it would need to cross into the early adopters/majority, however. 

Concerns that the early adopters/majority segments typically have are well reflected in the panelists’ comments:

“I am MADE to feel I am one of the last people on the internet”. Social proof via other users is very important to the early majority.

“It’s isolating, wont need to go out and meet people”. Another panelist brilliantly identifies a niche customer segment, for whom this is actually a pain point. “Conspiracy theorists dont want to go to the library <and discuss ideas in public>”.

Jerry Yang presents a rational productivity argument as to how online services (like buying movie tickets) can save time. A panelists counters saying how it takes hours to download anything and it is frustrating. This is characteristic of disruptive technologies – they are often broken and clunky initially. The innovators do not mind this, but crossing the chasm into the early majority often requires some mitigation.

And this is just entertaining: “I am not jacked into the net…I already have three computers and the last thing I need is another one…It takes over peoples lives”