I often wonder what it is about something or someone that’s just so lovable that it becomes a phenomenon? How did the Beatles rise to stardom? How did people become so crazy about the Jonas Brothers, for example? How does a book or a clothing line or a television show ‘make it big’ in the local and much more, in the international scene?

Fortunately, I had a deeper understanding of this curious thought of mine when I read Malcom Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point”. In his book, the author discusses what is behind every social phenomenon. Answers are provided to questions such as “How did the shoe brand Hush Puppies become so popular?”, “What is it about ‘Blue’s Clues’ that was better than ‘Sesame Street’?, “How did the Rebecca Wells’ book ‘The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood’ suddenly become a bestseller?’, and a lot more. What is more interesting about the book is that you will find that the answers are just simple. It’s actually so simple that the thought of its simplicity will just leave one in awe. The most important thing that I found also was that the book made (absolutely) perfect sense.

As a business and communication student, I am quite familiar with the concepts that the author is discussing in the material. It is all about getting your message across. How do you do that? Do you leave it all up to chance? The tipping point of a product or anything for that matter relies on different factors–it could be the way the product is packaged, the people around ‘talking about it’, the locale in which the product will be launched, etc. Yet, it has to have a ’stickiness factor’. Something that could sustain a ‘buzzing effect’.

There were also case studies presented in the book that I thought were extensively discussed. It is a very good book that I recommend to everyone–not just to business executives who could be more enlightened like PR and advertising practitioners, or communication researchers. Everyone could relate to this book. The book’s tagline says it best, “How little things can make a big difference”. It is the thought that we all just have to keep in mind to make significant changes in various areas in our life–our relationships, our studies, our work, our future. Certainly, the book is brimming with that ‘needed’ optimism in these troubled times.