The Influentials

From decades of research at RoperASW, Edward Keller and Jonathan Berry identify the one American in ten who shapes what the rest buy, where they eat and how they vote. These Influentials, they argue, are neither the wealthiest nor the best-educated tenth, nor the early adopters, but the people most engaged in their local communities, such as church vestrymen, library supporters and campaigners for open space. The research goes back to when Standard Oil of New Jersey hired Elmo Roper to build a model for spotting opinion leaders. In word of mouth, the authors find, who speaks matters more than what is said, and they explain how to reach a group that can now opt out of mass advertising.

Seth Godin included it on a reading list, noting that it studies one influential group of early adopters in depth and that its thinking carries over to every hive he could name.