Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point was first published in 2000. When Gladwell wrote his book, there was no Facebook or Twitter. Facebook launched to Harvard students in 2004 and to the general public in 2006, the same year Twitter launched. Now we have so many sharing and social sites, we have to manage our time just for our online personas!

With the advent of social media, terms such as "connector" and "influencer" have graduated to a completely different level. "Social Media" is now a bullet on every marketing plan. We talk about how many followers someone has on Twitter, how many Facebook fans someone has, how many times a video on YouTube has been viewed and shared. We can measure influence in real time, and publicly.

Gladwell's thesis is that changes can be explained in a similar manner to medical epidemics; with the advent of social networking, this is all the more relevant today. The book sets forth three laws of epidemics: The Law of the Few, The Stickiness Factor, and The Power of Context.

The Law of the Few explains how distinct people can be the tipping point to change. There are three different types. The first, Connectors, have a vast network of more than one hundred friends, acquaintances, and colleagues. Mavens, the second type, are those who like to accumulate knowledge and use that knowledge to help others. Salesmen, or "persuaders," are the last type; they are able to negotiate effectively and use nonverbal cues to influence the behavior of others. These are the people who are able to tweet about a book they are reading and create a best seller or wear a dress that suddenly sells out everywhere.

The Stickiness Factor is about the content and message -- getting it to "stick" with the market. How do you go about creating a message that creates impact? A message that gets people to react the way you want them to? It can be a slogan, an infectious jingle, or a commercial that stays with you and prompts you to share with others.

The Power of Context is about realizing the importance of the environment around us. You do not need to solve a large problem to create change. Gladwell also discusses how the size of the group can affect how people react and how the environment can be manipulated to influence action. Of note in this section is Gladwell's Rule of 150, which states that humans can only have real relationships with 150 individuals -- what does this say in a world where people have hundreds of Facebook friends?

Ten years after the first time I picked it up, The Tipping Point is as relevant now as it was at the turn of the millennium.