A classic book that tries to identify what makes certain trends more popular than others, especially pertinent in an age where something can be launched from obscurity into being viral and universally known.
While the Be Seated service is happy to have modest growth rather than just be a viral flash in the pan, it obviously relies on becoming popular (after all the site needs people to actually review the venues).
One of Gladwell’s central points is the importance of 3 types of socially gifted people.
- Connectors: Those who know many people and can spread the idea amongst large groups.
- Mavens: Those with specialist knowledge or have a certain level of authority in a certain field so when they suggest something others tend to listen and the information is more often than not trustworthy.
- Salesmen: Those who can persuade others to use the service.
Any service should contemplate how to influence these people to get them on-side with their product, as they are all needed to make a site popular according to Gladwell. By collaborating with existing social networking sites, Be Seated should find connectors fairly easily. Mavens should be attracted by our ‘stickiness factor’ and our USP (unique selling point) of venue reviewing. It is a useful service and if we get enough mavens they should be able to spread the site effectively and popularise it. Salesmen may be needed in the early days of the site to encourage enough people to submit enough reviews. On the whole however Gladwell’s insights can be useful in targeting people who could be influential in popularising our service.
