Spread of an Idea
For an idea to spread, it needs to be sent and received:
No one “sends” an idea unless:
a. they understand it
b. they want it to spread
c. they believe that spreading it will enhance their power (reputation, income, friendships) or their peace of mind
d. the effort necessary to send the idea is less than the benefitsNo one “gets” an idea unless:
a. the first impression demands further investigation
b. they already understand the foundation ideas necessary to get the new idea
c. they trust or respect the sender enough to invest the time
Too Godin! I stumbled upon this forgetten gem of analysis via Kottke who goes on to relate each point to his blogging style. We often are unable to understand why certain things get more popular than others. Success is often attributed to smart marketing gimmicks or effective promotion but in today’s age of ubiquitous computing (love that phrase!), the costs are minimal and reason varied. No one can really explain why the Numa Numa video was such a rage or why the Dancing Baby, back in the slower days of the Internet, caught on. Nothing intellectual or earth-shattering about those, right? When something spreads, all we can say is that, it was an idea ‘whose time had come’.
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