The Power of Being Influenced

Marketers rely on a few prominent people to promote their message, assuming that we will be influenced by celebrities (”be like Mike”). Research on networks suggests influence doesn’t work that way - The Power of Being Influenced: “A key reason some ideas are so successful, conventional wisdom has held, is that a few highly influential people espouse them…It’s a compelling idea, but does it really work?…Once an idea spread to a critical mass of easily influenced individuals, it took hold and continued to spread to other easily influenced individuals. In some networks, it was far easier to get an idea established this way than in others. The entire structure of the network mattered, not just the few influential people.”
The person sitting beside you often has more influence on your thinking than experts or celebrities.