Publish at February 05 2008 Updated February 25 2025
Marketing professionals often call on a few prominent personalities to promote their message, assuming that customers will be influenced by these celebrities. Social networking research by Duncan J. Watts and Peter Sheridan Dodds - Influentials, networks, and public opinion formation - suggests that influence doesn't work this way.
Once an idea has spread to a critical mass of easily influenced people, it takes hold and continues to spread to other easily influenced individuals.
In some networks, it's much easier to spread and adopt an idea in this way than in others. The entire network structure is important, not just a handful of influencers.
Networking changes marketing tactics. You're more likely to be influenced by someone close to you than by an expert or celebrity.
The Power of Being Influenced on Jstor - Oxford - Journal of Consumer Research,
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