by Matthew Russell - Posted 2 years ago
Welcome my CryptoComics Compatriots. I’m back with another blog post for you. This one is honestly going to be more of an Editorial opinion piece than your typical informative blogs.
Today I am dusting off my magical crystal ball and telling you your fortune. In the future I see many new tech advancements. I can see a world layered onto another called the virtual world. I can see innovation around every corner.
I have always been a fan of Sci-Fi. More specifically; Star Trek. I see a world where we are able to forget petty differences and embrace each other for a better tomorrow. The first major step in that direction is entertainment.
Yes, entertainment. We already have so many technological innovations that allow us more and more leisure time. How we spend that time will have a HUGE impact on the rest of our lives.
There will come a day (soon…very soon) when online stores, specifically comic shops, will be virtual. You will put on your headset and walk into a realistic comic shop.
You will see several comics matching your likes on digital shelves. You will be able to pick these comics up and flip through them. You can have a discussion amongst other patrons of the digital shop about the comics.
The cool thing is that each comic that you pick up will be an NFT.
I have heard many complaints about this new technology from some “nay sayers”. Let's take a look at the Innovation Adoption Lifecycle in order to explain how the adoption process works.
According to Google this is a sociological model that describes the adoption or acceptance of a new product or innovation, according to the demographic and psychological characteristics of defined adopter groups.
In other words, this is a relatively easy model based on how people have acted since the dawn of man, at least when it comes to new technology. Take a look at the chart below and we will break it down, explaining where we are with blockchain technology and NFTs.
How I wish I was one of the initial innovators with Cryptocurrency. I would be a billionaire by now. Alas, I was not. I had just started to hear about it after that initial HUGE spike in value. I sadly figured that the wave of skyrocketing prices was over before I had any money to invest.
Turns out I was wrong and it kept jumping up while I was trying to get my head around what it was. Thats just a personal story of missed opportunity.
When it comes to NFTs, sites like CrypotKitties hit it out of the park. They began to get the word out of what an NFT really was. These are the people that believe in the technology. They are trying to simultaneously get the word out and grab everything that they can.
WHAT IS AN INNOVATOR?
An Innovator consists of about 2.5% of the overall market. They are traditionally a younger group with more of a disposable income. Think of them as the group that knows and loves technology and is able to embrace it without restrictions.
Early adopters are the group that seems to shout the loudest on a new technology or product. They are the leaders in the normalization of an item.
They make up about 13.5% of the market share. They are slightly older than the innovators, and they tend to take the lead when it comes to marketing, promoting, and realizing the potential of the product in question.
Think of all the YouTube channels out there talking about various technologies. There are a bunch that are simply reporting on future Marvel products only. Let’s take a look at this group and see how they relate to this technology.
They will wait for any tiny announcement such as actor’s twitter feeds, IMDB pages, trailers, teasers, investment meetings and so on. They will scour the internet for any clues.
Although Marvel Cinemas has become mainstream cinema at this point, these people have taken it upon themselves to get it there. They have been reporting on this since the first Iron Man movie back in 2008. They have millions of followers at this point.
Even though we are further along the process with Marvel movies then we are with NFTs, we can still see the public turning to the Early Adopters for both advice and news.
This is where we see a product make or break. This is where the public looks for any cracks in the armor.
With NFTs, the real challenge has been 2 fold; understanding of the technology, as well as perceived value. There have been other concerns such as environmental impact, and general misinformation.
We, along with several other groups of early adopters, have taken it upon ourselves to both normalize the technology as well as inform the public. Once this is accomplished we will move into the Early Majority stage.
After the public begins to trust the technology of a larger scale and is able to work with it, we hit the Early Majority. This takes up about 34% of the adoption users.
With this group, we are able to see the technology flourish and reach new potentials. As we begin to experiment with everything that this can do, we begin to see more and more ways to be able to use it.
This group tends to be the first major sizable segment of the population. Although this group tends to adopt new ideas more readily than the average person, they tend to not be leaders.
These are people that quietly invest, take advantage of the benefits of the technology and keep to themselves. They will gladly follow the Early Adopters but they won't make big pushes that others will tend to make.
Yet another 34% of the population to adopt any new technologies. The Late Majority tend to be an older generation that still doesn’t understand the ins and outs of the new technologies.
This is not their fault, the biggest reasons for the lack of understanding is both time and lack of need. I still know people that only have a house phone and not a cell phone for this same reason.
They have been using their house phone for so long without any problems that there has not been a need to change, plus the learning curve seems insurmountable.
Now someone might show a person the benefits, or a need might arise that they are forced to adopt the new technologies. Once they do, they tend to wonder what they ever did without it.
These are the last 16% that wouldn't adopt new technologies if they had their way. They will actively resist this at any cost. There is just no convincing them.
This might be due to lack of interest, education, or pure defiance. Either way, this is the hardest group to get to invest in a new idea.
By the time they are able to jump onto a new technology, the technology might have evolved into something else entirely, as technology often does. New iterations that might apply to them might eventually peak their interest.
As I spoke earlier, we might be reading a comic in a virtual world. It might be in the new METAVERSE by Meta (Formally Facebook) or in another version of the Oasis (as presented in Ready Player One).
Either way, we will see a new era of comics. It will most likely not be referred to as another Golden Age, but will have the same results. My personal prediction is that it will be known as the Techno-Age of comics (the digital age was already taken).
This Techno Age of comics will lead to new innovations in entertainment far outside of comics. It will revolutionize how we read in general.
First Editions of books will become more popular than ever. Textbooks will be updated on the fly. Music rights will be both more complicated, and easier to navigate.
Technology will always advance. If we choose to advance with it, we could be in a new era of both luxury and ease. If we fight it, nothing will ever change. That will lead to catastrophic results.
NFT sales are on the rise. Indie books are taking over the comic market as fewer and fewer comic shops are refusing to get into the mix with the main publishers due to distribution issues. The blockchain can solve all these problems while also making it cheaper to distribute their comics.
Come back next week as we discuss Manga. I can’t wait for that topic. There is always so much to learn there. Also, while you wait for next week’s post; try the badge code “META” and see what you get. Until next time, take care.
