preview

Analysis Of The Tipping Point By Malcolm Gladwell

Decent Essays
Open Document

Journalist and speaker, Malcolm Gladwell, has worked as a staff writer at The New Yorker for twenty years now. In addition to being a staff writer, Gladwell is also the author of five books which focus primarily on sociology and psychology. In February of 2000, Gladwell released his debut (and most successful) book, The Tipping Point, and it gained national popularity as well as earned its spot on The New York Times Best Seller list. The Tipping Point seeks to explain how a trend and/or an idea, no matter how old or new, reaches a point where it “tips” and then begins to spread rapidly. Throughout the book, Gladwell examines several social epidemics in the world including the unanticipated revival of the Hush Puppies shoes, teen smoking in …show more content…

It reached number 10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, resulting in her eighth most commercially successful song at the time. However, now in 2016, some debate may arise on which one of the singer’s songs is actually the most successful. Thirteen years after its original release, the song has regained an enormous amount of popularity due to the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the Power of Context. This past summer, the #SoGoneChallenge began circulating all over social media with several athletes, comedians, actors, musicians, and more taking part in it. Since the creation of the challenge, “So Gone” has seen well over a 129% increase in streams on Spotify, a 309% boost in YouTube views, and a remarkable 407% spike in sales (Muhammad). The presence of Gladwell’s three rules of epidemics contributed to this abrupt upsurge in …show more content…

The Power of Context serves as a great explanation for this. As stated by Gladwell, “Epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which they occur” (Gladwell 139). Monica released “So Gone” in the early spring of 2003 while the #SoGoneChallenge gained popularity in the summer of 2016. Shortly after the release of “So Gone”, several events including a tornado outbreak sequence, the Riyadh compound bombings, and the killing of 33 civilians in Morocco due to a terrorist attack took place. These serious occurrences in the outside world overshadowed the success of the song. Although major outside events still exist in 2016 such as the Olympics and the buildup of the up-and-coming presidential election, this generation of teens and young adults seem to occasionally attempt to shed light on a numerous amount of situations. For example, some of the participants of the #SoGoneChallenge have actually addressed those events in their versions of the challenge in joking ways. Also, the presence of social media today increases the circulation of them. Likewise, social media serves as a platform for the aspiring rappers who partake in the challenge. Monica, who currently has 4.4 million followers on Instagram, has reposted her favorite videos which may persuade people to follow suit

Get Access