Gladwell identifies the three groups of people that are needed in order to effect change: mavens, connectors, and salesmen. Most people and most industries have mavens-people who know a lot about a subject. Most people and industries have salesmen. But connectors can be harder to find. These are people who know people. They have contacts in many different worlds and they bring ideas from one world to another. Obviously, new technology today seems to become popular very quickly. Applying Gladwell's three groups, we probably know many technology mavens and salesmen. But there must be many connectors as well. People who know about technology but who also can talk about it to people not in the technology world.
What do you think? Do you think that there are areas in which there are few connectors so that ideas in that area cannot become popular. What about Classical Music for example? Why aren't many people talking about new, talented Classical Music performers?
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In this vein, I think from the book it could be said that "it's good to know someone"...
...but not everyone knows 'someeone'. What can be done then? I think something like the Internet is quickly becoming the uber-maven. If you don't have a tech-guru in your life, you can go on a best buy/circuit city/amazon.com page and get all kinds of customer reviews...many sites also have buying guides. OK, there may be some bias, but the internet has connected people like nothing before.
In fact, it's allowing us to discuss this book and gain insights and depth that we might not have reached!
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