In his book, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell describes three main types of people that are involved in what he calls the spread of a social epidemic. The Law of the Few is Malcolm’s theory that “The success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social skills.” (pg 33) These people are classified as Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen.

Connectors are the people who “link us up with the world” and “people with a special gift for bring the world together.” (pg38) They are the people who have a large number of connections with others not only inside, but also outside of their community. Almost always extroverts, connectors are always looking to spark new relationships. A network hub which connects many wires together so that they can act as a single segment is analogous to a connector. In fact, they are accurately described as the hubs of the human network.

Mavens are people who collect and release information along with their own opinions and the opinions of others. As “information specialists” (pg19), mavens have a large amount of influence on the network. They are the ones who circulate information throughout the network so that the rest of the network does not have to be as involved in the process. Gladwell gives an example of a customer service telephone number on the back of a bar of soap. He believes that only mavens who are knowledgeable about soap would actually call the number to give their opinion. Mavens pass their information and opinions to connectors who in turn distribute it to their many contacts.

Salesmen are charismatic people who excel at negotiating and persuading others. They have the unique ability of making people want to agree with them. When the information and opinions of connectors and mavens reach salesmen, they are the ones who really make the idea take off by convincing others in the network that the idea is a good one. To summarize, mavens generate the idea, connectors redistribute the idea, and salesmen package the idea and convince others in the network of its positive qualities. Popular politicians and news anchors are examples of salesmen.

Together, connectors, mavens, and salesmen contribute to the success of a social epidemic. Gladwell believes that these three types of people are the main players in causing the tipping point of such epidemics.

For more information on the three agents of change, read The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.