In chapter two of Malcolm Gladwell's book, The Tipping Point, he explains there are three key types of people that cause epidemics to cross a threshold and tip: Connectors, Mavens and Salespeople.

Connectors

Connectors are the people that are naturally social. They know many people, and furthermore, they are the people that help others generate acquaintances. These people hold "weak ties" with their acquaintances, so they do not carry the obligations of being a good friend, yet they can still ask for favors and maintain communication between people. They create acquaintances instead of friends, which means they occasionally see them or communication with them, but they don't get too close. The connectors are the ones that drive word-of-mouth epidemics. I believe they play a crucial role in tipping trends and social behaviors into epidemics, because they can naturally spread messages faster because of the way they communicate. They know the right kinds of people: other people that are also connectors, so they instantly build a tremendous network of acquaintances.

Mavens

Mavens are the people that are naturally smart. They know everything there is to know about a particular subject. They always help people make the right decisions. When they are around you, they constantly give you suggestions to help you make better, more educated decisions. They are people who want to help and educate others. They don't try to persuade you to believe what they do, they are just out to make the world a better place by sharing their own knowledge. The example Gladwell uses in his book is about a man named Mark Alpert. As Gladwell interviewed him, Alpert would notice the smallest details and try to make them right. He would tell Gladwell when his tape was empty. He was telling a story of how Consumer Reports had the wrong information, and he set out to correct them. Mavens are not out to claim credit for all their knowledge, nor do they want to be the know-it-all that always sits there waiting for you to make a mistake. They are simply there to make the world a better place by sharing their own knowledge.

Salespeople

Salespeople, as we all know, have the power to convince you to believe or agree with the ideas the present to you. What gives them this sort of power? To find the answer to that Gladwell tells of two very interesting stories. In the first story, a research study compares effects of media bias. They find that even though Peter Jennings is the prime time national news anchor
most critical of Ronald Regan, the viewers of seem to be mostly Republicans in favor of Regan. This is because he would smile ever so slightly every time he discussed something about Regan. These slight changes in behavior can have a huge impact on how people take in messages. Another great example was about the company that claimed to be testing headphones to see if they were durable and high quality, when they were really using the results as part of their experiment. Most of the people that were nodding while listening to the audio recording agreed with its ideas and the people shaking their heads from side to side usually disagreed. Kind of scary eh? It sounds almost like subliminal messaging. These examples just go to show that it's not about how you word your message, it's about how you deliver it. During the interview with a salesperson named Tom Gau, Gladwell noticed Gau would be in physical and aural harmony with him, and would be mimicking his motor movements.

Why do they matter?

You may be asking yourself: Why did Gladwell choose these three? Logically it makes total sense. You have the people that hold all the knowledge, or the Mavens. They may pass some of that knowledge on to a Connector, who can then spread the message extremely quickly. Eventually the message will be in the hands of Salespeople, who can easily convince people to side with their opinion. The more it spreads and the more people that are convinced, the more widespread the epidemic becomes. Gladwell's ideas make total sense. I believe these are essential in starting an epidemic. I have done a fair share of trying to start epidemics of my own, and I've realized each time that there are the few that can make all the difference. Sometimes I have incredible success and I wonder how things happen. There isn't much to explain why things came out the way they did, but obviously there was something small that caused the idea to tip. Other times I do a ton of work, and still for some reason things don't turn out the way they should.

Posted in Posted by Umang Patel at 7:10 PM