Malcolm Gladwell's Essay 'Tipping Points'

Improved Essays
The Effects of Intuitive Modern Medias Malcolm Gladwell’s essay called ‘Tipping Points’ identifies and explains his beliefs as to why changes in social behavers and trends happens quickly and sometimes unexpectedly (Gladwell). Gladwell likens these changes to outbreaks of infectious disease and epidemics. He demonstrates how word-of-mouth passing of information is just as effective as a news story. Drawing on historical figures such as Paul Revere and his midnight ride to inform colonial Americans that the British forces were arriving to support his thesis. Gladwell’s interpretations of how trends and information is distributed is classified as social Tipping Points. If one understands these Tipping Points, lends itself to a greater understanding of how the world works. Gladwell challenges all to create or start positive Tipping Points to influence others in a socially moving way. This is exactly what the modern media is producing today. Recent times have shown how the population is influenced by the stories presented in the form of 24 hour news broadcasts and social media barrages. Aside from how these can affect personnel opinions and perceptions, it has been documented how they skew the popular belief (Gunther). Data gathered under the authors referenced shows how two separate groups of people can have their opinions changed and or nearly radicalized one way or the other. This was accomplished by merely presenting both groups with information that was modeled to support the majority opinion at that time. Coupled with a constant diet of these news sources individuals and groups soon became hardened in their beliefs. These and other methods are blatantly used by modern media outlets to gather and keep viewership. The modern news media continues to keep the world on a consistent diet of doom and gloom. This is done to pray on the uniformed. Not to say that the world is unintelligent. It is to say that a strong number of people in modern society has neglected to pursue lifelong learning. This has directly lead to some media sources taking advantage of this demographic. Also, the large media conglomerates created in the current market has limited the variety of information being digested. These large corporations have conducted specific studies on how social media effects their workers. One such report demonstrates concern for how workers feel about the importance of social media (Marcia W. DiStaso). The report shows how employee’s views represented on social media are considered by employers as relevant and important. These and other trends are what Gladwell spoke of in his essay ‘Tipping Points.’ His was more of a call to action and identification of how views can …show more content…
No the less, his presentation was thought provoking and a glimpse into what is currently happing in the world with regards to social media. This particular brand of information sharing has become the gold standard for how people receive their news. As unfortunate as that may be, outlets such as Facebook and LinkedIn have become more widely used. The challenges this presents is that someone’s opinion can become another’s belief. This can quickly escalate into a mass belief and understanding that someone’s unchecked opinion is fact. This is evermore present in fake news stories that flash on millions of follower’s feeds. This and the modern fear monger media have triggered an unfathomable amount of mislead individuals who are registered to change world

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