"The Tipping Point" - Have You Read It?

Discussion Open Forum
1

I was watching a video about using a blog for interent business (a very goog video I thought “Affiliate Summit 2006 East - Blogging Best Practices: Maximizing Your Success”.) The guy mentions that book and says something like “Go buy it, now!”

The funny thing is after reading some reviews on Amazon and the author’s site people making comments like that is supposidly exact what the tipping point is all about (the speaker in the video says that as well.)

My question to you is do I need to go and buy it (or get my hands on it somehow), now?

2

It’s a great book: interesting, educational and easy to read. As you probably know by now, it’s about how seemingly tiny and fairly insignificant changes can tip a situation leading to dramatic changes, such as tiny matters that can cause sales of a product to suddenly skyrocket (the authors use the example of Hush Puppies, a brand that was on the verge of bankruptcy when its retro-trendiness in a few neighborhoods and with a few celebrity fans caused it to rebound big-time), or cause a crime rate (NY city) to suddenly plummet (not due to tough policing, as many would surmise, but due to a dedicated program of removing grafitti and other “minor” annoyances, which led to reductions in rapes, murders and muggings – the widely renowned “broken windows” doctrine), and other such situations.

It’s an odd phenomenon, because we’re accustomed to thinking that small changes make small differences and big changes make big differences, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes it’s a matter of the straw that broke the camels back, and the book is packed with fascinating psychological studies, case studies and other actual examples that will change how you see the world. It’s a quick read and a lot of fun.

I give it :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

3

Would you happen to have a copy? :smiley:

In the video the speaker mentions how some guy that has a tech section in the New York Times can just mention a company, and if you pay attention in the following months that companies stock will be affected by what he said.

4

Would you happen to have a copy? :smiley:[/quote]

Yea, I’ll be happy to lend it to you. If you’re really desperate you can come by my place one evening this week; otherwise we can hook up next weekend. I’ll give you a call.

I don’t doubt it. There have been cases of young teenagers hyping a stock with false reports on the internet, causing it to make large gains, and they’ll reap a hefty profit before they get arrested for fraud. Here’s just one of many, by way of example:

[quote]The Securities and Exchange Commission has settled a civil fraud suit against a 15-year-old boy who allegedly used the Internet in a “pump-and-dump” stock scheme that netted profits of $272,826.

According to the SEC, which has never before brought charges against a minor, the boy purchased large blocks of inexpensive microcap stocks. He then used various aliases to promote, or pump up, the stocks on message-board postings before quickly selling, or dumping, the shares for a profit.

The SEC said the youth made the first trades and postings when he was 14. In some cases, he allegedly set triggers that would automatically sell the shares at certain levels so as not to miss out on any run-ups while at school.

The Cedar Grove, N.J., teen claimed in one of his messages, which were primarily posted on Yahoo Finance, that a company trading at $2 per share would be trading at more than $20 per share “very soon,” according to the SEC. Other postings claimed that a stock would be the “next stock to gain 1,000 percent” and was “the most undervalued stock ever.”

In at least 11 different instances between Aug. 23, 1999, and Feb. 4, 2000, the pumped-up shares rose in value. In some cases the stocks reached a 52-week high for both volume and price, at which point the boy dumped the shares for profits of between $11,000 and $74,000. [/quote]
news.com.com/2100-1023-246013.html

Not suggesting that other guy is fraudulent, but one who knows how to generate publicity can achieve big results (look at dragondude finding owners for 20 cats after doing a news story).

5

Yeah, it’s a good book. I prefer “Blink” by the same author.
There’s also an interesting talk, by Gladwell, available here in audio format, and here in pdf.

6

Next weekend’s good. That economics book in my sig isn’t exactly “light” reading.

7

The Tipping Point is an easy read, although it strikes me as a series of anecdotes that try to explain things instead of careful, thoughtful research.

Take the crime rate drop example above - I much prefer Steven Levitt’s explanation for the fall in crime. Here is something from Gladwell wrote on his blog about Freakonomics and Levitt’s own ideas about why the crime rate really started to fall in the early 90’s - inspite of Guiliani, Bratton and the Broken Window approach.

8

All three books (Tipping point, Blink, and Freakonomics) are on my must read list. And there are few non-SciFi books on that list.

9

Gladwell is an easy read thats for sure. Lots of “Oh yeah, why didnt I think of that” type revelations. But I always walk away from reading his books feeling I was duped. They seem a little flat in hindsight. Too easy… dunno, hard to explain.

Seth Godin writes well and always offers solid implementable advice.
sethgodin.typepad.com/

Guy Kawasakis books and blog are also essential reads for blog world stuff.
blog.guykawasaki.com/

Google video has some Godin and Kawa presentations to watch.