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 * I'm good, Geoff's good, April? Hahaha - yes, I'm good.
 * OK It's Going! Awesome job guys!!!
 * I posted this on facebook, but I guess not everyone was in on the thread, so here it is: you guys rock! -Geoff
 * And its up! check it out guys, It look Really great =) I added some tags as well - again, awesome job! now get some sleep! =) - Liz
 * Looks great guys, good work everyone!! - Kira
 * Ditto everyone's comments. This is wonderful, I'm honestly so proud of our work! Love the pictures. It looks like a professional wiki. It's so interesting to see the progression of how we melded all of our opinions into one! Thanks for the tags Liz, great choices. We do rock. Thanks so much for all your work. See everyone in class on Tuesday! - Julia

Numerous changes mark events in everyday life that the average citizen does not understand – these changes are epidemics. This is the focus of Malcolm Gladwell’s book, //The Tipping Point//. Because of it's ability to explain epidemics and answer the following two questions: “Why is it that some ideas or behaviours or products start epidemics and others don’t? And what can we do to deliberately start and control positive epidemics of our own?” (Gladwell, p.14), readers learn a lot about how and why an epidemic occurs. For this reason, this novel would be useful in the study of communications and thus, should be considered as a future handbook for the Department of Communication studies as one of the “Useful Books to Guide Your Learning Journey.”

 Gladwell examines epidemics and their causes and credits three rules as being the source of every epidemic: The Law of a Few, The Stickiness Factor and The Power of Context. Gladwell’s first rule - the Law of a Few - discusses how select people, who possess a rare set of social skills, are involved in an epidemic in order for there to be a success. One can translate this into what Public Relations practitioners do: the success of the m essage depends on the specialized communication skills that are developed. Gladwell says that there are different people who have different skill sets that carry a social epidemic - or message – to its tipping point. He goes further and defines these select people as Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen. As future Public Relations practitioners"[our] ability to span many different worlds is a function of something intrinsic to [our] personality, some combination of curiosity, self-confidence, sociability, and energy” (Gladwell, p.49). As up-and-coming PR practitioners, it will be our job to fill these roles.

 Gladwell does an im pressive job at drawing one into his concept with case studies and examples from popular culture that make the book relatable and engaging. There are several practical uses of this theory in one's p rofession, especially in regards to social media. One drawback of this book, however, is that it was published in 2002, before social media really started to become integrated into present society. Nonetheless, // The Tipping Point // is an incredible book that gives readers a depth of view of how and why certain things happen the way they do.

 Being a Connector, a Maven, or a Salesman today is completely different. As a result of social media, one maintains contact with a much larger group of people spread over a significantly larger geographic area than Paul Revere ever would have. With a few clicks of a button one can instantly communicate with someone on the other side of the world. Danah Boyd, in her article, “ Why Youth Heart MySpace ,” indicates how the notion of networking and wanting friends has become popular within today’s society. In particular, Boyd discusses that when someone first creates a MySpace account, “…they are given an initial friend, Tom Anderson, [and then] they surf the site, hoping they [will] find and add additional friends” ( Boyd, 2006). It is clear that the more people collect friends on social networking sites, the more they will become, according to Gladwell, a Connector. Mavens, such as Canada News Wire, tend to focus on spreading a message to a large amount of networks. Salesmen, on social media, are people who communicate regularly through mentions on Twitter and comments on Facebook to persuasively relay their message. Gladwell explains that it is crucial for Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen to work together to spread a message. Therefore, comparing this notion to social media, it is evident that if all of the sectors work together, the message will get out faster. In other words, today’s Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen would be required to have a social media presence, or else they would not truly be fulfilling their roles.

 The second rule – The Stickiness Factor – is where Gladwell focuses on children’s television programs and talks about how both repetition of messages, coupled with something strange and alluring (such as a ‘cookie monster’ or a ‘snuffalupagus’) help cement the lessons in childrens’ brains. This is because the children are paying such close attention, likely in part because the monster characters presented to them are so unique. This argument makes sense, even translated into adult programming. If you’re walking down the street and see a poster for a yard sale, you might not remember the date even a minute later. Yet, if a talking cat came up to you and told you the date, you would probably never forget it. However, Gladwell’s argument becomes weaker when he writes about The Stickiness Factor as something indescribable. It is not that he is incorrect; as many of us know, the most viral videos on the Internet are usually incredibly random. However, the length that he goes to in describing this and then states that there’s no way to really pin stickiness down does not match the concise tone of the rest of the book.

 The third and final rule – The Power of Context - asserts that small changes in an environment can make big differences on its outcomes. Human beings are a lot more sensitive to their environment than they seem. So, by making subtle changes to the circumstances, we can bring about big changes in behavior and beliefs, thus changing the outcome. Gladwell’s example is the Broken Windows  theory, which helped New York City greatly reduce its crime rate from the bottom up. While major crimes like murder and drug trafficking were rampant in New York, the city cracked down on graffiti, fare-beating, and other misdemeanours which “could be a signal, a small expression of disorder that invited much more serious crimes" (Gladwell, p.144).

Gladwell's section on the Broken Windows theory is of great relevance to public relations practitioners. For example, much work in Internal Relations involves making small contributions to employee morale that are not directly connected to the organization's revenue. Internal relations often involves newsletters, intranet moderation, staff appreciation giveaways, rewards and recognition events, and various other small-stakes initiatives. Things like cupcake giveaways and casual Fridays may seem trivial, but in a similar fashion to the Broken Windows theory, they add up. One cannotbuy people new cars whenever their moral drops, or send them on a sunny vacation whenever they become frustrated, but through constant nurturing and maintenance, one can make everyone happier with their jobs overall. While Gladwell's examples were effective in helping the reader understand the Tipping Point and its laws, they all were American-based (for example, Hush Puppies, Sesame Street, New York City). Even more shocking is that Gladwell is a Canadian author. It would have been more effective to see some Canadian references.

 Overall, the theory of a Tipping Point requires that one reframes the way one thinks about the world. In fact, “When we are trying to make an idea or product tip, we’re trying to change our audience in some small yet critical respect: we’re trying to infect them, sweep them up in our epidemic, convert them from hostility to acceptance” (Gladwell, p.166). Just as Julie Rak indicates that, “Life online is beginning to make use of the same discourses and strategies that are found in life offline” (Rak, 2009), Gladwell’s theories pertaining to epidemics can be compared to the suppositions present within today’s society in relation to social media. Additionally, taking into consideration that the greater percentage of his audience constitutes university students, it is evident that providing examples they can relate to only enhances the book’s ability to be understood, and thus, become popular. Conclusively, as the author worked hard presenting his theories through popular examples, knowledgeable experts, and instances to which his audience was able to relate, Gladwell was able to turn his novel into a #1 National Best Seller. This effectively demonstrates that Gladwell truly understands the notion of a Tipping Point, not only in theory, but also in practice.

References

Boyd, D. (2006). //Identity production in a networked culture: Why youth heart Myspace//. Paper presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Retrieved from []. Gladwell, M (2002): The tipping point: How little things can make a big difference. New York: Little Brown and Company. Pearn, K. (2010). Joining the conversation: Are new media reviving the public sphere and what <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px;">does this mean for public relations? Unpublished Graduate essay for Communication <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px;">Theory course. Retrieved from [|http://moodlelive.msvu.ca/file.php/3139/Pearn] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px;">[|Communication_Theory_Final_Paper.pdf]. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px;">Rak, J. (2009). The electric self: Doing virtual research for real in Second Life®. Biography, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px;">32.1(Winter). Retrieved from [].