I finally finished reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. This was one of the most well-written books I’ve ever read, and I already can’t wait to read his next book, Blink. The Tipping Point is an attempt to understand how certain phenomenon happens rapidly and dramatically once a critical mass or “tipping point” is reached, almost like the spread of an epidemic. For example, how do you understand the sudden rise of teen smoking, or the multiplying effect of word of mouth? The Tipping Point describes three principles that are critical to understanding the Tipping Point phenomenon.

The first principle, the Law of Selected Few, says that not everybody is capable of starting an epidemic. On the contrary, only a few exceptional people are capable of starting one. These special people are classified as the Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. Connectors are those who are gifted in bringing people together. Mavens are those who are extremely knowledgeable in certain subject matters. Salesmen are those with exceptional persuasion skills. These people can start the kind of epidemics that most people cannot because of their unique personality, knowledge, and credibility.

The second principle is the Stickiness Factor, which says that to be effective information must to be conveyed in ways that make it memorable and “sticky”.

The third principle, which I think is the most powerful, is the Power of Contexts. This is also known as the Broken Window theory, which says that broken windows (context) cause increase in the number of crimes. This theory implies that the right context causes people to behave differently than they normally do. This is scary to think about, and it even suggests that some attributes of a person, both positive and negative, may not be as absolute as we’re used to thinking.

In Afterword (which was written after the original Tipping Point was published back in 2000), though it sounds contrary to the arrival of the Information Age, the author argues that we’re about to enter the age of the word of mouth. As the amount of information increases and the size of the technological networks of people (via phone, fax, and email) expand, people develop immunity, that is, people will learn to use it selectively. Increasingly people will rely on the Selected Few, in particular Mavens in the Information Age, to deal with the complexity of the modern world.