Imagine a network in which one person has several contacts. These contacts, for the sake of argument, are not connected despite the likely influence of triadic closure, and thus stem from the person in question like spokes from a wheel. The people at the end of these spokes have their own friends who may or may not know each other and this large network component branches out from our single, central individual.

I would like to make a point about the importance of reaching the “right” person with a product, advertisement, or viewpoint. In our current class lectures about popularity, we have seen that it only takes one person to change their mind about a product, program, idea, or person to set off a trend of people making similar choices. The more people change their mind, the more people will change their mind.

Given these insights, it seems that reaching some people in a network might be more profitable than others. For example, using the IM chat programs example mentioned in class, suppose that a person at the far end of one of the branches mentioned earlier decides to convert to a different program as the result of a special promotion. In theory, this decision might influence those directly surrounding to change their IM program as well. Eventually, assuming the program maintains momentum, it might spread throughout the entire network as people convert to match those people closely connected to them.

Now imagine that the central figure in the network changes IM chat programs. This change will produce a much larger and faster effect on the network as a whole. Each of the people on the spokes will be dissatisfied and change and then everyone in their branches will likely change. Rather than starting at the extremities of the network and slowly creeping across, a change which is initiated at the center of the network produces much larger initial effects and is therefore less likely to sputter out before reaching its full potential of users.

Put simply, if the most popular person uses the product, it is more likely to be picked up by others. This can be seen in the use of popular athletes endorsing athletic products or when celebrities wear certain clothes to promote a specific designer. These examples however are not the limits of the potential for this phenomenon. If producers can find a way to map network activity relative to the product they intend to market, then they may increase the likely success of their product by targeting a central figure in the network. Email sites might target a person sending the most emails to the most diverse group of people. Car companies might target people who drive more frequently to expansive areas or in high profile areas for exposure. Shampoo companies might target people with reputably good hair for their ads. Many other examples may be formulated similarly and many are already in use, but I felt that this was a noteworthy thought about popularity in play.