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Summary Of Malcom Gladwell's 'The Tipping Point'

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Connectors, Mavens, and Salespeople In Malcom Gladwell’s, The Tipping Point, the second chapter discusses the law of the few. While many people think it doesn’t matter what person an idea comes from, Gladwell explains that there are three main groups of people that help epidemics spread. When you think of the word epidemic, usually people will think of some kind of sickness. Gladwell uses this word to mean when an idea or trend hits its tipping point, it becomes popular and many people begin knowing about it, so it becomes an epidemic. Through Gladwell’s research, these people, known as connectors, mavens, and salesman, have fundamental roles in creating tipping points. Gladwell uses the example of Paul Revere’s midnight ride to illustrate …show more content…

Gladwell’s arguments are structured well and he has many examples to back up his research. Although none of the examples fit together, each one relates to the law of the few. Watts was able to prove Gladwell wrong about connectors when he revisited the Milgram experiment. Gladwell’s examples are compelling, but Watt’s examples are more up to date. The big picture is that these three people are crucial to epidemics because of their abilities, but if Connectors are not as crucial as they used to be, there is now a whole different argument. Gladwell’s argument is that Mavens give news to Connectors who then share the news with everyone. Since Watts has disproved that connectors are crucial in creating epidemics, there is only the Mavens and the Salespeople. There is no need for Connectors because of new technology, but there is still need for Mavens because of their knowledge, and Salespeople because of their persuasion. There is still a need for Connectors when it comes to some things. For example, someone is more likely to wear clothes that a famous person has on than clothes that a random person has on because everyone knows the famous person. Although the importance of these three types of people have changed because of technology, they are still needed to create a tipping

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