The Tipping Point/Gladwell 60-67

62 Mavens aren’t passive collectors of information.

What sets them apart is that once they figure our how to get that deal, they want to tell you about it too. A Maven is a person who has information on a lot of different products or prices or places.

They are more socially motivated

Over half of Americans know a Maven or close to the Maven’s description.

65 Mavens…are the kinds of people who are avid readers of consumers reports.

66 A Maven is someone who wants solve other people’s problems, generally by solving his own.

A Maven is someone who solves his own problems his own emotional needs by solving other people’s problems.

67 Obviously they know things that the rest of us don’t.
Mavens have the knowledge and the social skills to start word-of-mouth epidemics. What sets Mavens apart, though, is not so much what they know but how they pass it along. The fact that Mavens want to help, for no other reason than because they like to help, turns out to be an awfully effective way of getting someone’s attention