The name of Malcolm Gladwell’s new book isn’t The Power of Ideology, but after viewing his passionate discussion on CNN with Fareed Zakaria, you could be forgiven for thinking the same thing. Although very inspiring I have always found the simplicity of the ideas in Gladwell’s books frustrating. Frustrating, not because the books are bad, but simply because they are such simple instinctive thoughts, that you wish you had generated them yourself. Blink is all about going on your instinct, The Tipping Point do the right things with the right audience, and Outliers the people that are most successful have worked incredibly hard to get there. Gladwell is a fine example of this.
Yesterday, Gladwell was interviewed on CNN by Fareed. The discussion point was the power of social media around the revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East. This has been a talking point amongst many experts in the industry and until now these revolts had been justified as being one of the powers of social media. Social media having a political impact for change.
Gladwell disagrees, passionately. He rightly harks back to revolutions, riots, the Berlin Wall, showing that technology doesn’t have to be the main driver. In fact, in all cases where technology is available its a secondary driver, merely a tool. The first driver is a collective feeling. The driver is ideology and purpose, not technology.
I think this is a really interesting point of view. It certainly helps to shape a way of thinking for brands, that we should be focused on ideology and purpose, not the technology. A clear ideology ( a set of values and principles) and a defined purpose (why the hell are we here?) is a powerful stimulant to any brand.
Once this ideology and purpose are defined, the tools that are used through social media become much more powerful, creating the driver that we see in revolutions and revolts. If the ideology and purpose is clear, then it is easy for communities to form, grow, and accelerate. I thought I would sketch a model to see where I got to on this and believe the sketch below is a good model of Ideology. Would love to hear thoughts on this?
