Tag: social networks

In Malcolm Gladwell's book The Tipping Point, he popularised the theory of The Two-Step Flow of Communication (Lazarsfeld & Katz, 1955)¹ by explaining how innovation and information is spread in a two-step flow, from mass media to influencers - and then onto the masses via the influencers. Gladwell renamed this theory ‘The Law of The Few’ and colourfully reworded it as, "The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts (the ability to influence others)".² If you can overlook the blatant plagiarism, Gladwell must be congratulated for bringing the principles of the original theory back into the mainstream almost 50 years after its original publication, at a time when understanding influencers is more important than ever (if you're in marketing or politics).

Here I go blogging away, tweeting about my experiences, updating my facebook with “having a great day” and uploading photographs of a boozy night out with the gals.

Viral marketing is getting harder and harder as the web community grows more and more cynical. Being an elusive spread of a message through the population likened to contagion, Viral Marketing can either hit everyone or no-one at all.