Debunking The Tipping Point

A fascinating article in the February issue of Fast Company about Duncan Watts, a researcher at Yahoo, who questions some of the core concepts of Malcom Gladwell's book The Tipping Point

[T]astemakers, Gladwell concluded, are the spark behind any successful trend. "What we are really saying," he writes, "is that in a given process or system, some people matter more than others." In modern marketing, this idea--that a tiny cadre of connected people triggers trends--is enormously seductive. It is the very premise of viral and word-of-mouth campaigns: Reach those rare, all-powerful folks, and you'll reach everyone else through them, basically for free.

Yet, if you believe Watts, all that money and effort is being wasted. Because according to him, Influentials have no such effect. Indeed, they have no special role in trends at all.

Read the article at Fast Company