The Tipping Point : How little things can make a big difference. By Malcolm Gladwell

The three characteristics of an epidemic Contagiousness Little causes have big effects (cumulative impact) Change happens in one dramatic moment – aka the ‘Tipping Point’ Ideas, products, messages and behaviors spread like viruses do! 2

The three characteristics of an epidemic The best way to understand the emergence of New fashion trends The sudden uptake of new technology Phenomena of word of mouth advertising Social marketing and bookmarking on the Internet is to think of them as ‘Epidemics’! 3

Three rules of the tipping point The law of the few The stickiness factor The Power of context Offer a way of making sense of epidemics 4

The Law of the Few The 80/20 Principal Social epidemics are heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts. Connectors Mavens Sales People 5

The Law of the Few The tale of Paul Revere’s Ride August 18th 1775 -The beginning of the American War for Independence Why was he remembered and the other riders forgotten and why was he responsible for the most effective word of mouth campaign in history? 6

Connectors People with the talent of making friends and acquaintances Occupy many different worlds and sub cultures and niches Masters of the weak tie a friendly yet casual social connection Collect people personal information and enjoy putting people in touch with each other Their importance is a function of the kinds of people they know. But how do connectors get their information normally? 7

Market Mavens Accumulators of knowledge: information brokers and experts Passionate about sharing that knowledge and wanting to help Have the power and credibility to provide the right kind of advice that provokes reactions in people But Mavens are not good at persuading people to take up ideas! 8

Sales People “What separates a great sales man from an average one is the number and quality of answers they have to the objections commonly raised by potential clients.” – is this the only factor? Persuaders, charismatic people with powerful negotiation skills based on energy, enthusiasm, charm likeability very, very powerful optimism something else 9

Sales People The power of human expressions and conversational rhythms “An indefinable trait that goes beyond what they say, that makes others want to agree with them.” The power of human expressions and conversational rhythms Motor mimicracy: unconscious imitation The ability to infect each other with our emotions Falling into physical and conversational harmony Good sales people dictate the terms of this interaction. 10

The Law of the Few Paul Revere’s word of mouth epidemic! The power of collaboration between these personality types Connectors Mavens Sales People Paul Revere’s word of mouth epidemic! 11

The Stickiness Factor The specific content of a message that makes it Memorable Creates impact. Turning information into personal and practical advice to become memorable i.e. the tetanus experiment Use of a narrative style to help tell a story increases the stickiness of a concept “Measuring viewing behavior is as easy as simply observing how people look at your information.” 12

The Power of Context Fundamental Attribute Error “The immediate context of your behavior is more important in guiding your actions than the content of your thoughts” Fundamental Attribute Error Diffusion of innovation theory (draw) Other examples 13

Conclusions Law of the Few: In releasing your communications concentrate your energy and time on involving those important people or media. They will do the work for you i.e. optimize for Google not MSN or Yahoo The Stickiness Factor: think about how you personalize your communication to make it memorable and create impact i.e. speak to people on a social level by providing information that is helpful to make your ideas a social experience! The Power of Context: remember the power of the group, and be clear with your meanings by understanding the context of the people you are communicating to. 14

Conclusions The key to learning and improvement is performance measurement: “Those who are successful at creating social epidemics do not just do what they think is right, they deliberately test their intuitions” Remember “We are actually powerfully influenced by our surroundings, our immediate context, and the personalities of those around us.” The slightest push in the right direction can cause a tip no matter how stayed or change resistant the culture. 15

Putta says read the book … again! 16