Customer Review(s)
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Interesting stories, not that useful
Comment: With 900 other reviews, I'll keep this one short. The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell is an enormously interesting read. It tries to answer the question why and how certain ideas 'tip'. How they spread and become popular. Malcolm uses a huge amount of interesting stories from different domains to try to make his points. For me, the collection of stories was probably more interesting than the points he tried to make. The stories were well written.
Related to tipping, he argues that there are three rules related to an social epidemic. The law of the few (a few people can have a huge impact), the stickiness factor (a message can be constructed to be more sticky) and the power of context (the context can influence the message which is being spread enormously). The rest of the book contains chapters related to each of these rules. Every chapter summarizes the rules and tells stories of where the rule applied.
Tipping Point is extremely well written and easy to read. The bunch of amazing stories make it fun and it's no wonder that it's one a major best sellers in the world. I found the message the author tries to communicate less interesting, though. Never the less, I'd recommend the book to everyone for the sake of the stories and the learning that can be taken out of every individual story.
Customer Rating: Summary: Fundamental Reading
Comment: With social networking and user generated content (UGC) flooding the web, businesses are struggling to find ways to harness and direct this power. There exists an extensive collection of blogs, books, news articles and podcasts that offers advice about techniques to jump-start user adoption and gain stickiness, but these tend to focus on execution and not on concept. The dialogue generally advocates creating new communities, controlling messages within existing communities, and monetizing concepts, but fails to answer the fundamental question, "Why do people adopt certain ideas and not others?"
Enter Malcolm Gladwell's book,
The Tipping Point. This is not a new book. It was published in 2002 and doesn't mention a single Internet technology or concept, instead focusing on how "epidemics" spread - From Paul Revere's success in his midnight ride to why kids love Blue's Clues to syphilis' spread in Baltimore in the mid-90's. Gladwell dissects the masses and exposes the population segments that serve as the kindling for raging success.
Connectors - The people that know everyone and revel in making mutually beneficial introductions. These are the catalysts or accelerants that help bring the key components together.
Mavens - The experts. These are the people that know everything about certain topics. Everyone has friends that they trust when it comes to food, music, sports, electronics, etc., the friends that are almost freakishly knowledgeable and passionate about their interests.
Sales people - These are the people that sell ideas and visions - the evangelists. They get people excited and spread the word - like the sales person mentioned in the Holiday Inn commercial that once had a heart attack and within an hour had sold the paramedics 12 sets of steak knives.
If you can come up with a great product or offering that has amazing value for those that take advantage of it, you're off to a good start, but the challenge is just beginning. The Tipping Point presents some of the foundational relationships and interactions that must occur to be successful. Coupling the above personality traits with a discussion of the various adopter types - from Innovators to Late Adopters - and you have a powerful recipe. Blending together the right mix of Connectors, Mavens, and Sales People with Early Adopters sets the stage for success... then all you need is a phenomenal idea. Easy right?
I recommend the book.
Marcel Crudele
innerEcho - Atlanta, GA
Customer Rating: Summary: Gladwell Points Out Some Very Insightful Tips!
Comment: "The Tipping Point - How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference" by Malcolm Gladwell gave me insight into trends as seen through his eyes. I loved it!
Gladwell caught me off-guard when he discussed the racial tipping point that affects the real estate market of a neighborhood. But that was not the most surprising. What surprised me the most was how low a percentage of new property owners could influence the change from a sellers market to a buyers market.
There were many times when he seemed to veer off his subject and I started wondering where he was going with the point of the story. Then he would pull it all together and I could see exactly why he said something the way he said it.
Gladwell points out common traits in typical public interest/popularity and how that relates to sales and marketing.
In each example, he explains the patterns that show the slow beginnings, the steeper climb, to the sharp growth in popularity to the hesitation at the top, then the crash and (except for a few examples) a sudden end of all growth.
His intention is to provide enough information to duplicate or create a path towards a tipping point in your business. And, with the proper actions, manipulate how long your business is able to remain at the top of the sales chart.
I was surprised that Gladwell used stories about the popular children's show Sesame Street in his examples. But, once I read his in-depth, behind-the-scenes stories, I realized how complex and how much innovative thought went into producing that very successful television show.
Now, I find myself paying closer attention to eye, face, and body position and movement when I discuss business (and personal) matters. And, I am noticing the signals I (un-intentionality) send to others.
Gladwell is able to describe and chart the same patterns of tipping points in every example he gave. He investigates the how, why, where, and when of his research. Then he presents it to his readers in easy to digest pieces.
His description of Connectors, Mavens, and Salespeople is clear and fascinating. It is easy to visualize how the traits of connectors, mavens, and salespeople live in each of us.
One of the most interesting viewpoints Gladwell shared, was that there are only three elements that create change. The first element is "The Law of the Few." You'll have to read his book to find out Gladwell's other two agents of change.
By the way: It was fun taking Gladwell's Manhattan Phone Book Test. I scored eighty-seven points the first time around. After thinking about it, I believe I could add another ten to thirty surnames to my known contacts list.
I strongly recommend you read and then use Gladwell's information to create your own (series) of tipping points for your business' growth.
And while you're at it, get involved in replacing broken windows, painting walls and cleaning up areas in need. (Read the book and you'll understand.)
Little things can make a huge difference when properly executed/initiated.
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
