The multiplicity of messages through the Internet is both a blessing and a curse. But it only works if you surround yourself with your own niche. For everyone is a niche unto themselves. Now they may have and be part of greater and lesser networks – replete with mavens, connectors, and salesmen – but you really still have to be true to yourself.

That being said, you are free to adopt any new message that comes along which improves your quality of life.

Now, from the reverse view, in marketing you are trying to get out your message that you have a widely applicable solution to a fairly (or very) common problem. And that this solution is readily available.

There is a simple way to package information that , under the right circumstances, can make it irresistible/sticky and compels a person into action. All you have to do is find it. In order to be capable of sparking epidemics, ideas have to be memorable and move us into action. Content of the message matters too.

The key point where a new message "sticks" with us is where it is translated into an emotionally useful tool. A message is converted to a package which is then translated by a “salesman” so that we can emotionally “grok” what is coming our way, accept it, and use it. (Note: The word "grok" comes from a viral product, Heinlein's "Stranger In a Strange Land". Worth looking up.)

A very few individuals can control their emotional states. This takes quite a bit of personal training (which anyone, actually, can master on their own). We respond to the emotions of people around us. Practically, studies have been done which show what we hear and say are a small percentage of the communications we actually recieve. Gladwell’s book mentions several examples and studies of this area.

When you get a point across emotionally, you can appeal to the subconscious and activate patterns and habits the individual may not even know are there. This is what Madison Avenue has paid psychologists to study for years. They want to (hopefully, but in vain) find key push-buttons which will make selling easier. Push-button societies went out with the Internet’s rise.

The author is working on plastic packaging, insect control and roofing.