The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
by Malcolm Gladwell
June 26, 2020 — Unknown
Los Angeles, CA
Learning about social epidemics has made me think a lot about connectivity and marketing, two traits which I think I hold and practice well (based on examples mentioned in the book which I’ve been doing for a while now). However, what the book underlines which I haven’t been thinking of or practicing, is understanding the distinct details and mechanics of mass influence with a small pedestal. It’s the realization that more engines is not necessarily always more effective than having less engines of higher quality to make things move in the world.
The author discusses the law of the few, with the correct people and practices you can have larger impacts. Additionally, about stickiness factors of focusing on quality of the product, willingness to make adjustments to perfect the product, and how to keep people hooked on the product. The power of context is an important theme, time and places play big roles (but, people act based on their current situations) we should be patient to start off in the right place with a good product, that a cavity can lead to an infection, that the education from the world and the streets will always win over education from the family and schools. In a marketing and connectivity sense, it’s all related to people, and which ones you know. It turns out that close-knit-groups are best for social epidemics, with people connected to many people and people tied to many small groups being the people you want to have in your small network that shouldn’t exceed 150 people.
In the case studies, we understand that achieving visions can take a while, reasons why different entities take different measures of risks, the importance of being able to translate your ideas to the public, how rumors are leveled, sharpened, and assembled; furthermore, how different people hold different roles in passing on your ideas around. Additionally, in another case study discussions regarding the contagiousness of imitating others, the power of movement that comes from headlines and media, the influence of icons, how nature wins nurture, and understanding that consumership is tied to tolerance.