Here is a pretty cool lesson in the structure and travel of information in the Blogosphere (that’s bloggers on the Internet talking to each other about each other). If you haven’t read the book The Tipping Point yet, then you are really missing something because it sets the foundation for how future electronic communications are going to happen in the future.
Using The Tipping Point definitions, there are four types of people that historically served to unleash a social epidemic or an “IdeaVirus” as master Seth Godin would say.
I’m arguing here that the truly successful people on the Internet (meaning the ones making a fantastic financial living and who are also communicating with the most individuals on a consistent and constructive basis) will be the ones who can hone each of these talents and essentially create an uber-information dissemination model that will work to protect our individual freedom as well as secure the public welfare!
Connectors: These are the people who have made connections with many, many people. They spread Idea Viruses by mentioning them to everyone they see and still maintain at least low quality level communications with.
Mavens: These are the people who know everything there is to know about one or many subjects. These are the obsessive bastards that we can only see on a semi-annual basis by choice because their OCD personalities drive us to the edge of our sanity. Mavens are very important because these are the people that everyone goes to when they need information. They become what Seth Godin calls “Heavy Sneezers,” which are people who, when they give advice or information, you damn well better to listen to them because it’s like it’s coming straight out of Yoda’s mouth.
Salesmen: These are people who could convince you to purchase a debilitating disease for yourself if they talked long enough. These are the truly impassioned actors of our society, much more animated than even the best movie and television actors. If you don’t believe me, then just listen to that voicemail again–I’d buy anything from that guy.
So the truly successful people on the Internet will be, in a sense, super-human with the ability to connect to people, gather massive amounts of information about topics people want to know about as well as develop a unique style of delivery that appeals to peoples’ emotions and we will begin communicating in a BlogoCentric way.
Here is how it happens: Some dumb ass takes a funny voicemail he receives as an e-mail attachment that was part of a mass forward; he changes the communication medium to something accessible to a few technologically enlightened people now (I’m talking about podcasts here). A major podcast expert, Blogger and Connecting information Maven who is also developing a particular style of communication that appeals to people at large Salesman, picks up that voicemail podcast on the unknown dumb ass’s site and directs thousands of Internet users towards this little nugget of information which just happened to be something most folks were willing to invest their time in listening to: a funny ass voicemail where a guy witnesses a traffic accident that ends up with four old grannies beating the crap out of the loudmouth who caused the wreck in the first place.
Some of these people stopping in to review a particular piece of information begin looking around your site, which contains all sorts of great content. Some of these people will even leave their e-mail address with you so that you can send them your newsletter and keep them up to date about what’s going on with you. Some people will even become lifers when it comes to you–they will put you in their circle of trust and look upon you as a necessary information resource that makes living life in modern day society easier.
And the wonderful truth is that each one of us is an expert and is passionate about at least one thing. We can each become information Mavens who Connect easily with people and communicate with them in a distinct way that attracts and holds their attention. And we can use the the current information tools which allow immediate quality exchanges of information. This communications process will completely revolutionize the way human beings share knowledge, ideas and emotion.
It’s Blogocentric Communication and I will be further exploring this fascinating changes of human social evolution in my upcoming book Flipping the Temple which will only be available through http://JoshuaMinton.com.
Send an e-mail to moreminton@aweber.com for more information related to this topic.
Joshua Minton, B.F.A Creative Writing is an electronic self-published author, website developer and Internet marketer. He spent the last five years analyzing business process models at the nation’s largest health insurance provider and is currently applying that knowledge to the publishing and information processes society is currently using. Joshua has dedicated himself to opening up the Internet doors for creatively talented individuals who seek to develop and market their information and fiction products to the world.
Send an e-mail to moreminton@aweber.com to let Josh keep in touch with you about new developments in his life and thought.
