The Tipping Point

I'm late to the Macolm Gladwell bandwagon, but better late than never, eh? I just finished The Tipping Point and aside from being brilliant, it is also an endless well of party conversation starters. "Oh! I just read that George Gershwin wrote "Rhapsody In Blue" in my hometown of Asheville, NC...and Zelda Fitzgerald was totally institutionalized there too. Great town, great town.", or, "If you want to get a really good deal on a new car, you gotta go to a fleet buyer on the 25th of the month.  It's true, it's the word on the street."

Despite the inexhaustible sources of information available, we're now entering the word of mouth epidemic. The way we find out about new insurance plans, restaurants, or drugs for depression will be ruled by what we hear from people we trust, which will just happen to be one of three kinds of people: Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen.

Connectors are people who have a natural talent for making friends and acquaintances. There is a test in which out of 250 last names, randomly taken from the Manhattan phone book, you get a point each time you know someone with that last name. "Knowing" spans from being good friends to merely meeting someone in line at the grocery store. If you know multiple people with the same last name then you get one point per individual. What you score on the test should give you an idea of how social you are. Most people average around 21 points, a Connector typically score around 100.

In addition to knowing a ton of people, the types of people they know are spread over many different social circles. Despite the fame brought about by the game of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, Kevin Bacon actually isn't that connected in Hollywood--he ranks 669th out of all Hollywood actors. The most well connected actor is Rod Steiger who has been in all types of movies from On The Waterfront to the abismal Car Pool.

The Mavens are the information specialists. They collect information from all sorts of different sources and are socially motivated to share that info with others, they can't help themselves.  They are essential in the word of mouth chain because people trust them to have the low-down on a given subject and pass that along for no particular reason except they like you and want to help; they are the trusted unbiased source.

In a cultural epidemic the “mavens are data banks. They provide the message. Connectors are social glue: they spread it. But there is also a select group of people –Salesmen—with the skills to persuade us when we are unconvinced of what we are hearing.” When people interact they fall into a mutual rhythm of speech and movement—called cultural microrhythms. Salesmen possess the power to draw others into their own rhythms and dictate the terms of the interaction, which is crucial in convincing someone one way or the other.

Another facet to understand in order to make a cultural movement explode is the power of the group. If you want to change someone’s behavior or ideology, you need to create a community around them where those new beliefs will be expressed and nurtured.

Say, for instance, you’re trying to break a new band, I think all of this information is invaluable. It’s essential to identify who the Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen are and target them with info about the new musical group. On a national scale, I think the best way to identify these people is through blogs. Blogs such as Aurgasm, The Corner, or Said The Gramaphone are all written by total music mavens and contacting them would be my first bet. Locating the music Connectors is more geographically specific however, with a little research finding the local what’s-happening guides and their writers, and local record shop proprietors would be where I would start. Creating a community around a certain band or type of music seems to happen organically, but I think you can facilitate the growth through staging a series of house parties. The community that would arise through the house parties would associate the community with the music and continue on to support the band as they moved on to more official venues.

Just some ideas…