Three characteristics of a tipping point are:

1. contagiousness – ideas, products, messages, behaviors spread just like viruses creating epidemics
2. the fact that little causes can have big effects
3. change happens not gradually but at one dramatic moment

1. Law of the few – driven by the efforts of a handful of exceptional people
2. Stickiness factor – a message makes an impact. You can’t get it out of your head. It sticks in your memory.
3. Power of context – says that human beings are a lot more sensitive to their environment than they may seem.

Mavens: those who accumulate knowledge. A maven is a person who has information on a lot of different products or prices or places. This person likes to initiate discussions with consumers and respond to requests. What sets them apart is that once they figure out how to get that deal, they want to tell you about it too.  A maven is not a persuader.

Salesmen: with the skills to persuade us when we are unconvinced of what we are hearing – they are critical to the tipping of word-of-mouth epidemics.

What these three types of people do to an idea in order to make it contagious is to alter it in such a way that extraneous details are dropped and others are exaggerated so that the message itself comes to acquire a deeper meaning.

Examples suggest that there are simple ways to enhance stickiness and systematically engineer stickiness into a message.

Ideas have to be memorable and move us to action.

There is a simple way to package information that, under the right circumstances, can make it irresistible. All you have to do is find it

c) Power of Context: epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which they occur.

The kinds of contextual changes that are capable of tipping an epidemic are very different than we might ordinarily expect.

The essence of the Power of Context is that in ways that we don’t necessarily appreciate, our inner states are the result of our outer circumstances. There are specific situations so powerful that they can overwhelm our inherent predispositions. When we think only in terms of inherent traits and forget the role of situations, we’re deceiving ourselves about the real causes of human behavior.

Small, close-knit groups have the power to magnify the epidemic potential of a message or idea. If we are interested in starting an epidemic – in reaching the Tipping Point – what are the most effective kinds of groups? Is there a simple rule of thumb that distinguishes a group with real social authority from a group with little power at all? Yes, it’s called the Rule of 150, and it is a fascinating example of the strange and unexpected ways in which context affects the course of social epidemics.

The figure of 150 seems to represent the maximum number of individuals with whom we can have a genuinely social relationship, the kind of relationship that goes with knowing who they are and how they relate to us. It offers the benefit of unity. The Rule of 150 suggests that the size of a group is another one of those subtle contextual factors that can make a big difference. If we want groups to serve as incubators for contagious messages, then we have to keep groups below the 150 Tipping Point.

Merely by manipulating the size of a group, we can dramatically improve its receptivity to new ideas. By tinkering with the presentation of information, we can significantly improve it stickiness. Simply by finding and reaching those few special people who hold so much social power, we can shape the course of social epidemics. In the end, Tipping Points are a reaffirmation of the potential for change and the power of intelligent action. Look at the world around you. It may seem like an immovable, implacable place. It is not. With the slightest push – in just the right place – it can be tipped.