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| Jan 01, 2009 4:51 pm |
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Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen |
Kurt Schweitzer
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Talking about twitter has gotten me to reread the section of Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" that talks about social epidemics. In it he describes three types of people important to the spread of social epidemics, i.e. rapid changes in social behavior such as "viral messages" or fads.
The first is someone he calls a "Connector". A Connector is simply someone who knows lots of people.
The second type of person is called a "Maven". A Maven is someone who is very knowledgeable about a given topic or idea.
The third personality type is a "Salesman". A Salesman is very good a persuading people.
According to Gladwell, a social epidemic starts with a Maven communicating an idea to a Salesman, who crafts the idea into a persuasive message and gets it into the head of a Connector. The Connector then spreads the word, and when you have Connectors talking with other Connectors the epidemic takes off!
Note that these are basic personality types. Yes, you can learn the skills of another type, but you need the basic personality to be really good.
So which are you, a Connector, a Maven, or a Salesman?
Kurt Schweitzer
Urban Village ScootersPrivate Reply to Kurt Schweitzer (new win) |
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